A child killer and rapist who was jailed for life after a teenager girl’s body was discovered in Northfleet has died in prison.

14-year-old Hanna Williams' corpse was discovered buried in the cement works in March 2002.

The south London teenager had been strangled to death by Robert Howard the year before.

Howard died in HMP Frankland on Friday (October 2) at the age of 71. He is believed to have died of natural causes.

Double murderer?

Howard was also the chief murder suspect in another case, of a 15-year-old Irish girl who has been missing, presumed dead, for 21 years.

Arlene Arkinson went missing after a night out at a disco in Co Donegal in August 1994.

Arlene was last seen with Howard. He was acquitted of her murder in a trial eleven years later in 2005.

By this time, Howard had already been convicted of Hanna's murder - but the jury were unaware of his history.

Despite extensive searches Arlene's remains have never been found.

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In eight years of preliminary proceedings a number of dates for Arlene's inquest have been scrapped due to delays in disclosing papers.

At the time of his death, Howard was due to give evidence at a hearing in November.

Following Howard's death, Arlene's sister Karleen Arkinson accused northern Irish police of deliberately stalling inquest proceedings, and claimed her family had been let down by authorities.

Miss Arkinson said: "I am 100 per cent critical of the police.

"They have held back and held back for 21 years.

"They have waited so long until he died. I am so angry, we are all angry."

A new hearing has now been listed for February.