Sandringham Murder Inquest Opened

Detectives have not yet been able to establish how a 17-year-old whose body was found on the Queen's estate died, an inquest has heard.

Opening the inquest into the death of Alisa Dmitrijeva at Norwich coroner's office today, Norfolk coroner William Armstrong said further tests were taking place.

But Mr Armstrong said a post-mortem carried out by pathologist Nat Cary had found the cause of death could not yet be ascertained.

Police are however treating the death as murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Jes Fry, who is leading the investigation, said the decomposed state of the body had complicated the process of identifying a cause of death.

He said: ``It is not that there were no injuries but we have not been able to establish any at this stage.

``It is, for example, possible that she was stabbed but the state of the body means we cannot identify the wounds.''

The body of Latvian Miss Dmitrijeva, from Wisbech, was found in a field on the Sandringham estate by a dog walker on New Year's Day.

She was last seen alive in King's Lynn on August 30.

Mr Fry said the force was now focusing its inquiries on a one week window up to September 6.

Officers are keen to speak to anybody who may have seen Miss Dmitrijeva in this period and members of the Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian communities.

The inquest was adjourned to a later date.