Detectives hunting the killer of teenager Milly Dowler, who was murdered in 2002, have arrested a 57-year-old man, Surrey Police said today.

Milly, 13, went missing on her way home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in 2002. Her body was found in a Hampshire wood six months later, exactly three years ago.

A huge manhunt by Surrey Police, who have questioned 2,885 people, taken 4,288 statements and carried out 127 searches, has so far yielded no charges, although there have been previous arrests.

A police spokesman said this morning: “Surrey Police have arrested a 57-year-old man from the Greater London area on suspicion of the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler.

“He is currently at a Surrey police station being questioned and an address in Greater London is being searched by officers from Surrey Police.”

It is understood officers want to question the man, who has not been named, under caution in order to determine his whereabouts at the time when Milly was abducted.

On the afternoon of March 21 2002, Milly got off a train from school at Walton-on-Thames, and at 4.08pm a friend standing at a bus stop saw her walking down Station Avenue towards her home.

That was the last confirmed sighting of her alive. Six months later a couple picking mushrooms in Yateley Heath Woods, near Fleet, Hampshire, about 20 miles from Walton-on-Thames, discovered Milly's body by chance. This year detectives gave details of a red car they believed might have been used in her abduction.

The Daewoo Nexia - a 1996 N registration - was spotted on the road where Milly, whose real name was Amanda, was last seen alive.

The car, which appeared to have very low-slung suspension, was caught on CCTV as it pulled out of the junction of Copenhagen Way and Station Avenue in Walton-on-Thames less than half an hour after Milly was last seen. Detectives say the car may have been driven by someone who had local connections.

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