Sussex Police are to be asked to investigate whether the killer of Caroline Dickinson struck in Brighton.

Spanish waiter Francisco Arce Montes, jailed for 30 years on Monday for the rape and murder of Caroline, lived in the South-East for four years.

Now Devon and Cornwall police will ask forces bordering London's Metropolitan police area to re-examine their files on outstanding sex attacks and attempted abductions.

After Montes's conviction in Rennes on Monday, the full file prepared by the French authorities on the case will be released to officers in Britain.

This includes full details of when the serial sex attacker entered and left the country.

Montes, 54, lived in London between 1993 and 1997 - at the height of his campaign of sex attacks across Europe - and has admitted stalking hostels in the UK.

He rented a flat in Earl's Court and regularly crossed to France, including the visit to Brittany in July 1996 when he killed Caroline.

Montes routinely approached female backpackers near his home in Earl's Court, offering them cheap accommodation in his flat when he went away.

He would then return to his apartment after nightfall, saying there had been a "change of plan", and that he would in fact be sleeping in the same room as them.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said the force would assist with any request from Devon and Cornwall.