Image caption Arlene Arkinson disappeared in 1994 after a school disco in County Donegal

A former senior detective who led the investigation into the disappearance of County Tyrone teenager Arlene Arkinson has told the inquest into her death he destroyed all of his notes on the case.

The schoolgirl's body has never been found after she went missing in 1994.

Eric Anderson said there was no provision for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to store the notes.

He added that police rules were that detectives were to keep documents for 10 years after their retirement.

Mr Anderson was giving evidence to the inquest for the first time, and appeared by video from his home.

He told the inquest he destroyed all of the notes "by burning and shredding" and did not keep copies, adding he had been under serious threat and found it difficult to keep the documents in a safe place.

He decided that destroying them "was the desirable thing to do".

Pointed

Arlene, from Castlederg, disappeared after a night out in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.

Convicted child killer Robert Howard, who died in prison last year, was the main suspect in her disappearance.

Mr Anderson told the inquest it had been his decision to arrest Howard six weeks after Arlene disappeared because his inquiry pointed quite strongly to Howard having killed the girl.

Asked why Howard had not been arrested earlier, Mr Anderson said detectives wanted to get more information on Howard in order to successfully question him.

Howard was later released, and Mr Anderson was asked in court if he had concerns about that decision.

"It was the only decision open to us," he said.

"Did I want to charge him? Yes. Could I charge him? No."

Pillar

It also emerged that after Howard's release, a 24-hour surveillance operation was put in place to track his activities and movements.

But Mr Anderson said Howard did nothing to incriminate himself.

Two years after Arlene disappeared, police searched and dug up parts of her sister's house and garden looking for the body.

Nothing was found.

Mr Anderson said the decision to carry out the search was taken by the then RUC chief constable Sir Hugh Annesley.

Sir Hugh ordered the search based on information from a "pillar of society", Mr Anderson added.