LONDON, May 27 — British police said today they had not found any human remains during excavations in their hunt for a missing teenager who may have been the victim of a notorious serial killer.

Forensic teams began exploratory work at a cafe in western England earlier this month after they were given information by a team of filmmakers possibly linking the location with 15-year-old Mary Bastholm.

"We can confirm no human remains or items of significance to the investigation have been found,” a police spokesman said.

Bastholm was last seen alive in January 1968 and worked as a waitress at the cafe. It was thought she could be buried in a cellar at the site.

Fred West, who killed himself in jail in 1995 while awaiting trial accused of 12 murders, including his 16-year-old daughter and eight-year-old stepdaughter, is said to have confessed to killing Bastholm to his son.

The 52-year-old builder’s wife, Rosemary, now 67, is serving life in prison without possibility of parole for 10 of the murders.

The pair tortured, raped and murdered an unknown number of women over a 20-year period before they were caught.

Bastholm’s body was not recovered during an excavation of the Wests’ infamous home on Cromwell Street in Gloucester, which was dubbed the "House of Horrors”. — AFP