Police are investigating the past of an odd-job man amid fears that he could be responsible for a string of unsolved murders over the last 40 years.
Detectives want to find out more about the movements of Scots handyman Peter Tobin after human remains were discovered at one of his previous homes.
Hampshire Police said it was carrying out a "scoping" exercise in relation to Tobin and was asking other forces for information.
Tobin, 61, of Bathgate, West Lothian, has lived in various parts of Britain and has reportedly been linked with a number of murders and missing person cases dating back to the 1960s.
Officers investigating the disappearance of Dinah McNichol, of Tillingham, Essex, 16 years ago are focusing their inquiries on one of his previous addresses. Police sources said the Scotsman lived in Irvine Drive, Margate, Kent, for a short time in 1991.
Detectives examining human remains found during a search at the house for the missing student have confirmed they are a woman's.
But personal effects found near the remains were not thought to have belonged to Miss McNichol, of Tillingham, Essex, who vanished 16 years ago after attending a music festival in Liphook, Hampshire.
Police said she was last seen alone in a car with an unknown man on the M25 in Surrey. They think she hitched a lift after leaving the festival.
The spokeswoman said it was not possible for experts to gauge the age of the dead woman or say when she died.
"Some personal effects were discovered," added the spokeswoman. "Inquiries are now being made about these items as they are not consistent with the information we have about Dinah McNichol."
