confession

Thursday's search happened in Balgownie, on a small pocket of woodland mentioned in a confession made by a teenage boy.

Ekkalak had initially been handed the death penalty, but that was commuted to life imprisonment because of his confession to the killing, the court said on Friday.

Balgownie was the location mentioned in a confession made by a teenage boy - also from England - a year after the toddler vanished.

A judge later ruled the confession could not be presented as trial evidence.

The elderly criminal was said to have wanted to get the theft off his conscience - but his confession to a newspaper journalist could never be proved.