17/09/2016 BBC Newsline

A police search near Castlederg has ended.

The family of Arlene Arkinson who went missing in 1994 has been

informed that nothing suspicious was found.

The police search at the derelict farm near the village of Killen

in West Tyrone continued this morning as the operation

Police were alerted by a farmer who became suspicious after finding

a mound of clay and stones behind a derelict house.

A forensic team was brought in from England and and began work

The old farmstead is located at the end of a remote lane close

to a road where Arlene Arkinson was seen in a car with the convicted

child killer and rapist Robert southward.

The 15 year old disappeared in 1994 on her way home from a disco.

Robert Southward was the main suspect.

The local community will hope her remains have been found, it is hard

for everyone. But this afternoon

the police search team withdrew from the search site

and confirmed the operation had ended and that nothing

suspicious was found. The Arkinson family

have been informed. Opposition politicians have

expressed concern about the use of a special legal procedure

to appoint a new Stormont It's emerged that the First

and Deputy First Ministers used powers under what's known

as the Royal perogative to create the role for the former BBC

journalist David Gordon. Here's our political

editor, Mark Devenport. The First and Deputy First

ministers expressed delight at the appointment of David Gordon,

editor of BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show and a former

Belfast Telegraph journalist. They said they wanted

their new Press Secretary to provide them with expert advice

and spearhead the communication But Mr Gordon won't be a civil

servant, and the Newsletter has discovered that the law was changed

using a highly unusual procedure to enable the press

secretary's post to be filled Opposition politicians

are critical of the move. The First Minister has had every

opportunity to choose the regular process of bringing a proposed

amendment to the law, to the Assembly, subject to a motion.

Instead, they have chosen this obscure, questionable routes of

Royal prerogative. To change the law, pushing Sinn Fein so they could

appoint yet another spin Dr. That makes it about 160. How many spin

doctors do they need at Stormont? Quite a lot if they are going to

abuse power. The first and Deputy First Minister 's are entitled to

make the appointment, the statement said. The displaced the reaction as

panic and hysteria. The man who died in a road accident

in Belfast City Centre yesterday was William James Walker

from the north of the city. The 64 year old was knocked

down by a lorry at Dock street shortly after three

o'clock yesterday afternoon. The police are appealing for anyone

who was travelling on Dock Street or Brougham Street at the time

with a dashboard camera fitted Sport, and Jonathan Rea saw his

World Superbikes Championship lead cut to 26 points after crashing out

in Germany today. The reigning champion wasn't injured

in the crash on lap six. The race was won by

Welshman Chaz Davies, It was a lovely sunny day

in most places but it looks Here's Angie with

the weather forecast. We have some rain in

the forecast for tomorrow, but for tonight and this evening,

it is staying mainly dry. Maybe a little bit of brightness

to end the day in the East, but generally speaking it has

been clouding over. And we'll see a good

deal of cloud moving Temperatures, well,

they are holding at around 11 to 13 degrees in the towns,

but they may just dip into single Tomorrow, we do have a change

on the way. We have a weather front

which is moving in off the Atlantic, edging its way eastwards

through the day. That's going to bring a spell of wet

weather for all of us at some stage. But to begin with,

it is looking fairly decent. Dry, maybe some bright spells

for the Belfast Half Marathon. Maybe just a hint of that rain

edging in towards lunchtime. It is getting into the western

counties during the morning. Turning persistent,

heavy bursts of rain. Also moving across the

Republic of Ireland. And this band of rain continues

to edge its way towards the east of Northern Ireland and the Republic

for the early afternoon, also edging into

the West of Scotland. Ahead of it, apart from a few

showers in the south-east, we have variable cloud,

some sunshine coming through, through central parts and down

towards the south-west. Not as warm as recent days,

but temperatures near average, fairly pleasant in the low 20s

towards the south-east. In behind that rain band

in the afternoon, things start to improve for the latter part

of the day, turning Maybe a bit of a fresh feel

with temperatures of around Into the new week, it is not looking

too bad until Wednesday. Variable amounts of clouds but some

bright spells, too. BBC Newsline will be back

at 6.50 tomorrow evening. You can keep up to date with local

news on BBC Radio Ulster, From everyone on the BBC Newsline

team, enjoy your evening.