PARENTS and staff were numb with disbelief last night as French police investigated the murder and rape of a 13-year-old British girl.

Caroline Dickinson was found dead on Thursday morning in bed in the room she was sharing with four others while on a school trip to France.

As authorities continued inquiries into the rape and smothering of the pupil, Devon and Cornwall police set up a liaison team to help parents whose children are still with the tragic party in Brittany.

Other children and teachers who attend Launceston College in Cornwall will be offered counselling to help them try to come to terms with the tragedy.

Head teacher Alan Wroath said the 1200-pupil comprehensive school was ``absolutely devastated'' by Caroline's death.

``Caroline was a lovely girl. She worked hard, had lots of friends, and always had a ready smile. She was quiet and gentle - a credit to the college''.

Chief Inspector Frank Porter said: ``At this stage, we have no idea when the party will be coming home. That is very much down to the authorities in France.''

Grieving staff released a smiling school photograph of Caroline, a popular Year 8 pupil who was among 40 children and five adults staying in a youth hostel in the holiday village of Pleine Fougere, 30 miles east of St Malo, in the Brittany-Normandy area.

The school party left by coach at 8am last Sunday to catch a ferry to St Malo to enjoy educational visits and practise their French.

The group of 48 children and five adults was due to return today but last night there was no indication when they would be allowed to travel home.

Mr Wroath said: ``It is too early to say when the rest of the party will be coming home.

``We will do our best to get them home as soon as possible and then support them through this in every way we can. From what I have been told from France, I believe the pupils have been coping admirably - in so far as they can.

``Our thoughts are with her mother, father, and family.''

Mr Wroath explained how the hostel had been used for three years as a base for an activities week and was chosen because it ``very quiet and away from towns''.

Mr Wroath said staff on the trip were ``experienced and dedicated professionals who have my total support''.

He added: ``We believe that the opportunity to travel and to stay abroad is a particularly valuable educational experience.''

Mr Wroath arranged for Caroline's father, John, and his wife, Sue, to travel to France with three senior teachers, one of whom is a French national. The Dickinsons are separated and Caroline's younger sister was being cared for by relatives last night.

The head teacher said a meeting with parents had already been held in Cornwall to give them as much information as possible.

French police have previously come under fire over investigations of cases of Britons murdered in the country.

They faced claims from friends and families of victims that they were dragging their feet, with some cases unresolved.

Language student Joanna Parish, 20, from Newnham, Lancashire, was sexually assaulted and strangled in 1990.

Her naked body was found in the Yonne river.

Detectives believe her killer answered the Leeds University undergraduate's advert in a local newspaper, offering English lessons.

No-one has yet been charged with the killing and Joanna's parents Roger and Pauline believe police have been too casual in pursuing the case.

Teachers Lorraine Glasby and Paul Bellion, from East Anglia, were killed while cycling in Brittany in 1986.

They were bound, gagged, and shot in the back. Their bodies were dumped in a corn field. A suspect was later arrested and interviewed but released without charge.

The couple's parents have been critical of police who believe Lorraine and Paul may have stumbled across terrorists or a criminal gang.

As in the case of Joanna Parish, French police said they could justify further investigation only if new evidence emerged.

In another case, newlywed Fiona Jones, 26, was stabbed to death in 1989 by Frederic Blancke after her bicycle broke down near Compiegne, about 50 miles north of Paris.

Blancke, 26, received a 15-year sentence for the apparently motiveless killing of the teacher, from Colwyn Bay, Clwyd.

Even after the conviction, her husband Mark and her parents remained unconvinced by French justice.

They claim evidence that Blancke returned to the scene of the crime to finish off Fiona should have produced a conviction of premeditated murder, allowing a longer sentence.