Investigating officer gives update on Dinnington murder probe into death of teenage girl

The body of a girl, named locally as 16-year-old Leonne Weeks, was found by a path just off Lordens Hill on Monday at around 11am.

Detective Chief Inspector Martin Tate spoke to the press near the police cordon in Dinnington where specialist officers are carrying out their enquiries.

He said the investigation was in its 'early stages' and the formal identification process was not yet complete.

An 18-year-old man from Dinnington has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is currently in police custody being quizzed by detectives.

Forensics and police have widened their search to a property on Doe Quarry Lane.

DCI Tate said: "This is clearly a murder enquiry. We have found the body of a female and as you can see we are working very very hard to gather as much evidence as we can.

"Unfortunately, and it's difficult for the family, these things do take a lot of time and it really really important that we do it methodically in a slow manner and we've got specialists people who are working to do that.

"We have got an 18-year-old from the local area under arrest and obviously we'll be progressing that as a line of enquiry.

"It is very early stages of the investigation, we are working with a local family who have a girl who has been missing. But it's absolutely important that we work through this methodically and release the identity of the victim when we're absolutely 100 per cent sure and that is going to take us a little bit of time.

"We are working with the family and providing them with information as we get it. I know it's frustrating but that's really as much as I can say at this time and I appreciate everyone's patience."

Hundreds of tributes have been left online for the teenager and dozens left flowers near to the scene.