THE family of missing student nurse Louise Kerton have admitted they are now starting to fear the worst. The news comes after a second unsuccessful attempt to track her down in the German city of Aachen where she was last seen in July.

A party of some 20 friends, relatives and neighbours, which included Adele Cox, a former classmate of Louise and murdered Sevenoaks girl Lucie Blackman, left the Kertons' family home in New Ash Green, near Gravesend, last week. They had one possible sighting. Men operating a ticket scam at Aachen railway station believe they may have tried to sell a pass to Louise on October 21.

Her father, Phil, said: "As more time passes, our fears for Louise's safety are growing. We are now starting to fear the worst."

The Kertons suffered a setback abroad when they discovered false information had found its way into a file on Louise's disappearance held by the German police. Mr Kerton claimed the erroneous details included a report on Louise running away from home at 16 when in fact she did not. "This is a lapse on good police procedures. We are angrily pointing this out to them," he said.

The family has been in contact with the private investigator used by the family of Lucie Blackman, whose remains were eventually found in a beachside cave in Japan, to try and progress their search.

Relatives are composing an e-mail outlining the details of Louise's disappearance to forward to key authorities and agencies in neighbouring countries Holland and Belgium believing she could have fled there. They may even concentrate their next search on one of the countries.

Louise, who lived in Broadstairs and studied at Christ Church College in Canterbury, had been staying with her fiance's mother near Euskirchen - 60km from Aachen.