A LANDFILL site in West Dunbartonshire is being searched by police investigating the death of a 19-year-old woman whose torso was washed up on the banks of the River Leven, it emerged yesterday.

Acting on fresh information, Strathclyde Police are searching refuse at the Jameston site near Balloch in an effort to find ''an item in connection with the murder''.

Police would not say what the item was, but stressed that it was ''not body parts''. The search began on Monday and is expected to continue for several weeks.

The naked torso of Amy Anderson was found on the banks of the River Leven on May 9. Her head, arms, and legs had been severed.

Ms Anderson, a drug addict and mother of one, had been sleeping rough in Alexandria, near Dumbarton.

Leading the investigation, Detective Superintendent Stephen Ward urged anyone with information on the teenager's death to come forward.

He said: ''Although three months have passed, there is no let-up in the search for the person or persons responsible for Amy's murder.

''The support services officers will be looking for an item in connection with the murder of Amy Anderson. I am not in a position to reveal what the item is, but would stress that it is not body parts.''

Despite an extensive investigation, including a leaflet campaign and an appeal on Crimewatch UK, police are no nearer to finding Ms Anderson's killer.

A fresh appeal for witnesses was launched in June, and last week police released pictures of the clothes she was wearing before she died.

Police have ruled out a link between Ms Anderson's death and that of Daniel Hutcheson, 23, whose torso was found five miles away at Old Kilpatrick in April.

Scott McAulay, 22, of Budhill Avenue, Greenfield, Glasgow, has been charged with helping to dismember Mr Hutcheson's body and putting his torso in the Clyde near the old Erskine Ferry slip road.

Two other men, Andrew Ferguson, 18, and Christopher Hutcheson, 23, have been committed for trial on similar charges, and with strangling and murdering Mr Hutcheson.