EVIDENCE linking a predatory child murderer to the disappearance of a teenage girl 38 years ago has been sent to prosecutors.

But the father of Genette Tate, who went missing on her newspaper round in a country lane in 1978, said the development has come too late as the suspect died in prison in January and will never face justice.

A file containing scores of pages of witness statements and evidence gathered by Devon and Cornwall Police has been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.

It points to Robert Black having abducted and killed Genette, then aged 13, who was born in Taunton, where she lived in Wedlands and attended Priorswood Primary School.

Her body has never been found since she vanished near the village of Aylesbeare, near Exeter, and her case is believed to be the country's longest-running missing person inquiry.

Black, who always denied having anything to do with Genette's disappearance, was serving 10 life sentences for the abduction and murder of four other young girls.

Her terminally ill father John Tate, who lived in West Buckland in the 1990s, told ITV said there had been some talk of the file being handed to the Crown Prosecution Service last autumn, in which case Black would have gone to his grave knowing he faced a trial for Genette's murder.

Mr Tate said: "You cannot add yet another life term to a dead serial child killer.

"Black was not going anywhere but he has denied us our day in court. That is hugely disappointing for the family and the police."

Devon and Cornwall Police allocated a team of eight detectives to the case over the past two years, including officers who worked on the original inquiry.

It is understood they found two new witnesses, who helped strengthen the circumstantial case against Black.

A force spokesman said: "This has been a long and complex enquiry and we have kept the family of Genette Tate informed throughout.

"We now await further direction from the CPS on how this may progress in the coming weeks."

The CPS, which ruled in 2008 that there was insufficient evidence to charge Black, said it does not charge dead suspects.