POLICE forensic experts digging for the body of tragic Sheila Fox have reached a depth of more than three feet in the back garden excavation.

The diggers -- now in their third day -- are methodically searching the ground and every bit of debris removed from the scene.

Tonnes of earth has so far been removed from the back garden plot in Barton Road, Farnworth, which is covered by a large tent to preserve the scene.

Det Chief Insp Paul Buchanan, of Bolton CID, said: "We have gone down three feet and deeper in places. This has been a very labour intensive operation."

The team of forensic anthropologists, scenes of crime officers and senior detectives returned to the property at 8am today.

It is understood soil is being sieved to search for any clues which could lead to the the little girl's body while excess spoil and turf has been removed to a skip in front of the semi-detached house.

But yesterday some neighbours spoke of their concerns that any potential evidence may have been disturbed previously by unsuspecting workmen laying a sewer at the rear of the Barton Road properties.

One man revealed to the BEN that a main sewer had been put in place about 25 years ago along the boundary where gardens from Barton Road and Greenfold Avenue back on to each other.

He added: "The work came about a third of the way up our gardens and they were using bulldozers to clear the area.

"The trench they dug must have been 10 feet wide. You just don't know what that could have disturbed."