A paedophile’s former home should have been searched ‘much sooner’ in the hunt for missing teeanger Leah Croucher, an expert has said.

Charlie Hedges, a retired missing persons detective with 36 years’ experience, said the police have posed more questions for Leah’s family than answered.

It comes after human remains were found along with her items at a house in Milton Keynes, after a three-year search.

However, police today confirmed the house the remains were found in had never been previously searched.

Despite it being less than half a mile away from where she went missing.

Officers dropped leaflets through the door, but never went back for follow-up enquiries it has been revealed.

Mr Hedges has worked as a liaison officer for the UK Missing Persons Bureau, working with forces and the families of missing people since 2007.

He said officers could have been busy but ‘not looking in the right places.’

Following the discovery of human remains Mr Hedges said questions have been raised over why police suspicions didn’t lead to them searching the house sooner.

He said: ‘Police really should see all these things coming together, not getting a response and enquiries into the house, would have thought it would have been of interest and raised suspicions.

‘If nobody was answering, and nobody was living there, then why didn’t they make sure to come back.

‘It’s an incremental process, you start with a question mark, and you do have to see whether it’s a serious question mark. This sounds like it could be a very serious one, that police have missed.

‘There does seem to be a bit of a concern and question marks over this.’

He added: ‘All house-to-house enquiries should be logged and monitored, as to what the outcome and flagging those where they don’t get a response.

‘It was surprising it wasn’t picked up sooner, if you’re going to do that you should be able to rule it out or flag as suspicious.

‘If they had maybe gone back to that house sooner, they should have found her.

‘But maybe there was a good reason they didn’t do it.’

‘It tends to suggest if they weren’t getting a reply and not doing a follow up, then it asks more questions than it answers.’

Speaking about the officers on the case he said: ‘You can be really busy, but you can be busy not looking in the right places

‘A busy person doesn’t mean they are efficient or effective.’

But Mr Hedges hope Leah’s family may now finally have a sense of closure.

He added: ‘The family have been living with ambiguous loss, and this is clearly the worst possible news they could have ever thought would happen, but it might give them some closure.

‘It might allow them to be able to grieve now.’

Thames Valley Police said they had found human remains at the property on Wednesday, and that investigators would be there ‘for some time’.

They began searching the house after a tip-off from a member of the public on Monday.

A murder inquiry was then launched when they found a rucksack and other personal belongings of the teenager.

The force confirmed on Thursday this is the first time its officers have entered the property as part of the investigation.

A spokesman said ‘the address was visited as part our house-to-house enquiries as part of the investigation, during which we visited more than 4,000 addresses’.

He added that ‘there was no response at the property and as such leaflets would have been dropped through the letterbox’.

Ms Croucher, 19, was last seen on CCTV in Buzzacott Lane, Furzton, just after 8.15am on February 15 2019 walking in the direction of Loxbeare Drive and Chaffron Way.

A faded Thames Valley Police missing person sign with a £5,000 reward, probably from the time that Leah Croucher disappeared, was still tacked to a tree just yards from the suburban property where human remains were found.

The sign was a short distance from the police cordon where forensic experts appeared to be at work building a structure in the back garden of the house.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter said the scene there is ‘difficult and challenging’ and ‘thorough and respectful’ searches may take some time.

He added: ‘The call from the member of the public that we received on Monday was the first occasion that we were alerted to this address, and we thank them for contacting us immediately to report their concerns.

‘Our thoughts remain with Leah’s family and friends, and we will continue to offer them all the support that they need.’

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