Site dug up in boys inquiry

Former Shropshire agricultural worker, Brian Field, pictured, currently serving life for the murder of a 14-year-old boy, has been questioned about the whereabouts of the missing boys, David Spencer, 13, and Patrick Warren, 11.

They went missing from their homes in Chelmsley Wood near Birmingham on Boxing Day in 1996.

A digger was being used to clear rubble dumped in the field, off Old Damson Lane, Solihull, over the years to take it back to the level it was at in 1996.

Forensic archaeologists and specially-trained search officers will then be sent in to sift through the soil looking for items, including clothing, linking the site to the investigation.

Chief Superintendent Gordon Fraser, leading the inquiry, was keen to stress that this search was not being conducted as a result of information received from Field.

Mr Fraser told reporters gathered at a police cordon on the waste land that the reasons this site had been chosen was because Field had had access to it over the period in question.

He said: "This land was used by a man named Brian Field when working in Birmingham and Solihull as a gardener and odd job man.

"Field had access to this land during the Christmas period 1996. Field has made no reference to this land when interviewed."

The missing boys vanished after going out on a bicycle one of the boys had received as a Christmas present. Their bodies have never been found.

Detectives announced earlier this month that they were questioning the convicted paedophile and murderer about their disappearance.

Paedophile Field, 70, who lived at Pant Glas near Oswestry, worked for agricultural companies in Shropshire in the 1960s and 70s before becoming a relief milker in the county.

In 1986 he was jailed for four years after kidnapping two boys at St Martins near Oswestry. On his release he moved to the Solihull area.

By Sue Austin