Peggy Knobloch: Remains of 9-year-old German girl found in woods after 15-year search

DNA tests 'unequivocally' show bones are those of missing child

Police in Bavaria confirmed the remains of Peggy Knobloch had been found (AFP/Getty Images)

The remains of a nine-year-old girl who went missing in 2001 have been found by chance by a mushroom forager.

Police say the skull and bones found in an area of woodland between Nordhalben and Rodacherbrunn, central Germany, belong to Peggy Knobloch, a young girl who failed to return home from school 15 years ago and has never been found.

The skeletal remains were found less than 10 miles from where the girl once lived with her parents, and on Tuesday Bavarian authorities announced DNA tests “unequivocally” showed the bones were those of the missing child.

There were also items found at the scene which suggested they may have belonged to the nine-year-old.

Witnesses last saw Peggy Knobloch 50 yards from her front door, and the international search for her spanned several neighbouring countries including Turkey and the Czech Republic.

At the time it was presumed she had been kidnapped and murdered, although police will now be able to launch a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

Local prosecutor Thomas Villwock told German newspaper Bild: “Obviously wild animals picked up the scent and dug up the remains. They were discovered by a mushroom-picker on Saturday. Personal items were also found that pointed towards Peggy.”

A man with learning difficulties was wrongly jailed for Peggy Knobloch’s murder in 2004, and had his conviction overturned 10 years later.

It was revealed he had been questioned up to 40 times without a lawyer present and only confessed to the crimes under duress, spending his imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital.

Peggy's case has been compared to that of Madeleine McCann, the British three-year-old who went missing in an Algarve resort in 2007.