A judicial inquiry in Britain on Thursday into the circumstances surrounding the death of British schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson during a trip to France recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.
The inquiry, known as an inquest, was a legal formality and does not affect the hunt for her killer which is still going on in France.
Caroline, 13, was raped and murdered on July 18, 1996, as she slept in a hostel in Pleine Fougeres, Brittany, northern France.
The inquest was intended to decide the cause of the schoolgirl's death, not to establish the identity of the culprit.
It had not been held till now to avoid "impeding" the French probe, a court spokesman said.
Representatives of the French police, and the French investigating magistrate, attended the inquest in Bodmin, southwest England, near the Dickinson family home.
Evidence given to the police by Caroline's roommates, heard in public for the first time during the inquest, indicated they heard her thrashing about but thought she was having a bad dream so they went back to sleep.
"A male intruder entered the room that night and assaulted and murdered Caroline," said the coroner presiding over the inquest, Edward Carlyon. "There can be no other conclusion."
"Caroline was a victim of a vicious sexual assault involving deliberate suffocation to prevent her attracting help," he said. "This was a criminal offence of the utmost gravity."
British government pathologist Doctor Guyan Fernando said the absence of injuries on Caroline's neck indicated that she had been suffocated by placing a pillow or sleeping bag over her face.
After the verdict was delivered, Caroline's father, John Dickinson, told Sky News: "It's simply a legal formality, today's inquest."
"I want to stress that it in no way means an end to the investigation into Caroline's murder in France which is still very much active and ongoing."
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