Germans open criminal investigation into missing nurse

German police have belatedly agreed to begin a criminal investigation almost a year after Louise Kerton, a student nurse from Britain, disappeared while on a trip to Aachen.

Ms Kerton, aged 24 at the time, was a former classmate of Lucie Blackman, the British bar hostess murdered in Japan. She was last seen when her fiancé's mother dropped her at the city's train station on 30 July.

Ms Kerton's father, Phil, of New Ash Green, Kent, was told about the German investigation by Kent police officers who have returned from Germany. A Kent police spokesman said yesterday: "The German public prosecutor has decided to record Louise's disappearance as a criminal investigation.

"This is a significant shift from the initial classification of that of a missing-person inquiry. The objective has always been to convince the public prosecutor that Louise's disappearance was more than a simple missing-person inquiry and this has now been realised. We sincerely hope Mr and Mrs Kerton and Louise's family and friends will draw some positive outcome from this development. We and the public prosecutor in Germany continue to keep an open mind as to what may have happened to Louise."

Ms Kerton's family has been offered advice by the parents of Ms Blackman, who was found dead seven months after she disappeared in Tokyo.

Mr Kerton, 57, who had hired a retired Scotland Yard detective to discover what happened to his daughter, said he was pleased a criminal investigation had been launched but added it should have started earlier.

"Now something is happening, but it should have been under way six months ago," he said. "It was only in October last year that we realised that we weren't making any headway with the German authorities and since then it has cost all this pain and agony along with £30,000 to get things moving. It has been totally frustrating but now the case is in the hands of people who have the power and resources to fully investigate the matter."

Ms Kerton lived in Broadstairs, Kent, with her fiancé, Peter Simon, 39, and went to Aachen to visit his mother, Ramana. Mrs Simon, 66, told police that she had given Louise a lift to Aachen rail station from where she was meant to catch the train to Ostend.

Since then there had been a report of Ms Kerton being seen in Aachen in the company of a Polish immigrant. Kent police stress that is unconfirmed.

Mrs Simon, who lives in Strassfeld, near Aachen, refused to meet Ms Kerton's relatives when they went to Germany. She has also refused to give German authorities permission to search her home.

She is said to spend much of her time with her eldest son, Michel, 42, who stood trial for, and was acquitted of, the murder of a 79-year-old woman in Broadstairs, Kent. The victim was battered to death with a champagne bottle. The trial at Maidstone in 1993, was told Mr Simon was schizophrenic.

Because Mrs Simon was not a suspect in Ms Kerton's disappearance, and it was not a criminal investigation at the time, a judge refused to issue a search warrant.

According to Ms Kerton's relatives, her fiancé, Peter, telephoned them on the day she disappeared, accusing her of being promiscuous. In another call, a few days later, he claimed to have been in contact with Louise's spirit. According to Ms Kerton's sister, Francesca, he said: "She was in great pain, but now she is dead. Her body is in Ostend."