The bodies of Dinah McNicol (18) and Vicky Hamilton (15) have been recovered and Peter Tobin (61) has been charged with murdering Hamilton. The remains of McNicol, from Essex, were found in the garden of the property on Friday. The body of Hamilton, from Redding near Falkirk, was recovered on Monday. Both women went missing in 1991.

On Saturday two detectives from Lothian and Borders Police laid a bouquet of flowers . . . on behalf of her father, Michael, and her sister . . . at the spot where Hamilton's body was found.

Forensic archaeologists have resumed their search of the three-bedroom council house in Irvine Drive.

The tent covering the place where McNicol's body was found has now been moved to a different location at the bottom of the garden. Radar is being used to check for any abnormalities in the property which might pinpoint areas to search.

A statement read out on behalf of the family who lived in the house in Irvine Drive said events had turned their lives "upside down".

In the statement, house owner Nicola Downing said: "We found the news devastating and unreal.

I can only describe it as a nightmare that seems to get worse every day. We lived in that house for 12 years and we had a happy family home.

"Since we moved out, the developments have been shocking for all of us . . . our hearts and our thoughts are with the families involved."

Detective Superintendent Tim Wills, of Essex Police, said the post-mortem examination of McNicol's body was complete.

Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lowton of Essex Police said it was "too early to tell" if any arrests over the death of McNicol were imminent.

The remains of Hamilton, who went missing from Bathgate in West Lothian, were found in a sandpit in the back garden of the house.

Peter Tobin, who once lived in the property, was charged with the 15-year-old's murder and appeared at Linlithgow Sheriff Court on Thursday.

The body of McNicol, who was last seen returning from a trip to Hampshire, was discovered close to a patio area.

Detectives have carried out house-to-house inquiries in Irvine Drive and have appealed for any residents who lived in the area at the same time as Peter Tobin to get in touch with them.

It is thought a number of other murder cases are being re-examined in the light of the Margate discoveries.

These are believed to include the murder of Jessie Earl, who disappeared from Eastbourne in East Sussex in 1980 and was found dead nine years later, and the deaths of three women killed in Glasgow in the late 1960s by a man dubbed 'Bible John'.