Hunt continues for Briton's body parts

Detectives are continuing their gruesome search for the remaining body parts of a 17-year-old Briton found dismembered in Brazil.

Cara Burke's torso was found in a suitcase dumped on a rural riverbank near Goiania in the south American country on Monday.

Police said Mohamed D'Ali Carvalho Santos, 20, confessed to stabbing her on Saturday and cutting up the body in an attempt to hide the killing.

However, speaking to journalists from his cell he claimed he was so high on cocaine he could not remember what happened.

But officers said he killed Miss Burke after she threatened to tell his parents he was a drug dealer.

Santos has taken specialist officers to the river to help them locate the rest of her body.

But Police have revealed they are looking for another suspect who might have helped Santos get rid of Miss Burke's head and other body parts.

Police claim he placed her severed head on top of her torso in the manner of a Taliban execution, and took photographs on his mobile phone.

Santos also spoke to a Brazilian local newspaper and said he dismembered the corpse so he could remove it from the apartment, adding: "The best method I could think of was putting her inside the suitcase."

And asked why he allegedly took photographs, he is reported to have said: "I took them in order to send to a Brazilian in England, who she stole money from. He said he was going to kill her.

"I was going to send them by email to show him that although he didn't have the courage to do it, someone here did."

Miss Burke's mother, Anne, described her daughter's killer as a "monster".

She said: "I'll never recover from this. My baby is in bits, they can't even find her. I need her back, I just want to get my baby back where she belongs.

"That monster has taken my girl. He took her life and I want his. She wasn't an angel but she didn't deserve that."

The teenager met Santos when he was living in London and travelled to Brazil with him several months ago.

Her family said Miss Burke had been due to return to London two weeks ago but was injured in a motorcycle crash on the way to the airport.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.