Laura's brothers and sisters were said to have been playing in the street when news filtered through of the discovery of the body. Their neighbours in the village of Penshaw, near Sunderland, filled the nearby church yesterday to pray for the children and their mother, Carol Kane, 37. One villager said: "Laura was a beautiful little lass, a real treasure. It is unbearable that a thing like this could happen to her. I can't stand to think of it."

 Bainbridge, 34, who has a girlfriend and a six-month-old son, was said to have regularly visited the Kane home for Sunday lunch, and been so friendly with Laura and her six brothers and sisters that they called him uncle. He played darts in a local league with Mrs Kane and her brother. 

A regular at a pub where they played darts said yesterday: "When I heard who had been arrested I couldn't believe it for the simple reason that he and Carol got on so well. They were a happy group and always seemed to have a laugh. It's hard to take in."

 Bainbridge, an electrician, was also said to have worked at the Kane family home recently. Many in Murton yesterday appeared stunned by his arrest. Jimmy Duffield, who was yesterday looking after Bainbridge's pet collie-cross dog, said: "We were highly shocked." One of his neighbours said: "He was always parading up and down the street with his beautiful baby. He came across as a very nice bloke." About 150 people had gathered in silence as police searched the house before removing an adult-sized coffin after more than seven hours.

 Flowers were being laid yesterday at the property, in a rundown cul-de-sac where many of the houses were due to be demolished. One woman carrying a bunch of carnations wept as she said: "It is horrible to think that I have walked past this house while she was in there. It is just awful."

 Northumbria Police said yesterday that they were awaiting further forensic tests before a formal identification could be made of the body. But they confirmed that the search for Laura had been called off. A team of specially-trained police officers was yesterday with Laura's family, who were staying with friends.

 Laura, who was due to go back to school on Wednesday, vanished on Aug 25 after saying she was going to play with a friend. A 140-strong team of mountain rescue volunteers and police scoured the area but found nothing, and in the days that followed Mrs Kane and her estranged husband, Martin, 39, became increasingly anxious.

 As police admitted their only hope of finding Laura alive was if she had been abducted, Mrs Kane appealed to anybody keeping her daughter captive: "Please, please don't hurt her."

 Police last night applied to magistrates for permission to continue questioning a man in connection with the death.