Spaniard on trial over British girl's murder
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-08 09:42

A 54-year-old Spanish traveller has gone on trial in the French city of Rennes over the rape and murder of British girl Caroline Dickinson eight years ago on a school trip to France.

Francisco Arce Montes, who faces life imprisonment if found guilty, admits breaking into the Brittany youth hostel where the 13-year-old girl and her classmates were staying, but denies intending to murder her.

A 54-year-old Spanish traveller stands trial in Rennes on Monday for the rape and murder of British schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson (pictured) eight years ago on a school trip to France.  [Reuters]

Dressed in a pink and beige shirt, he looked on impassively as the trial began on Monday in the presence of Dickinson's parents and her 19-year-old sister.

Dickinson was attacked and suffocated as she lay in bed in a dormitory she shared with four other girls, who were not disturbed by the attacker.

"Caroline Dickinson's parents expect a lot from this trial," their lawyer, Herve Rouzaud Le Boeuf, said. "First of all they want to know more about the circumstances of the drama."

The court rejected calls for a delay to the start of the trial by Arce Montes' lawyers who said they had not had enough time to prepare the defence.

Accusations of police incompetence following the arrest of a local tramp, who initially said he carried out the crime, prompted an overhaul of French criminal investigations.

Four judges and 25 policemen led an inquiry that included genetic tests of every man in the town of Pleine-Fougeres where the murder took place.

Arce Montes was placed on the suspect list when they found his name connected to an incident in another French youth hostel in 1994. He was convicted of several rapes in Germany in the 1980s.

Arce Montes was tracked down in 2001 when a U.S. immigration official saw his name in a list of suspects published by the Sunday Times. He had been arrested in the United States in March that year for sexual aggression in a Miami hotel.

Genetic tests showed semen on Caroline's body matched Arce Montes' DNA.

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