Police have begun excavating a meadow in the hunt for the body of murdered estate agent Suzy Lamplugh.

Officers used a mechanical digger to create a shallow trench in a field off the B4084 between Pershore and Drakes Broughton, in Worcestershire.

They are set to use ground-penetrating radar to examine the earth to see if it was disturbed at the time of Miss Lamplugh's disappearance 24 years ago.

Forensic experts Professor David Hawksworth and Patricia Wiltshire were at the scene advising officers on the search.

Miss Lamplugh, 25, disappeared in July 1986 after leaving her west London offices to meet a mystery client known only as Mr Kipper. On the day of her disappearance, witnesses reported seeing her argue with a man outside a property in Shorrold Road, Fulham.

Her white Ford Fiesta was later found a mile and a half away. She was declared dead, presumed murdered, in 1994.