POLICE continued to search a rubbish dump near York today, hoping to find the remains of a murdered woman.

The boss of the landfill site revealed police had told him they were focusing their search there because they had information about where the body had been disposed of.

The Yorwaste dump at Rufforth is the final destination for waste from many private companies based in York.

Officers from West Yorkshire descended on the site on Monday to carry out an intensive search for the body of Sarah Elizabeth Mournian.

Their gruesome investigation at the Harewood Whin site, next to Rufforth Airfield on the B1224 York to Wetherby Road, is expected to continue into next week.

More than two dozen police have been painstakingly searching the site for any clues as to Miss Mournian's resting place.

A 40-year-old man has been charged with her murder, despite her body not being found.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said 32-year-old Miss Mournian was last seen in September 2007 in the Huddersfield area. Kevin Newton, 40, of Grisedale Avenue, Birkby, Huddersfield, is in custody awaiting trial for her murder.

Steve Grieve, the managing director of Yorwaste, the North Yorkshire recycling and waste management company, said the landfill's day-to-day operations were unaffected.

"We're obviously co-operating and whatever the investigating team requests, we're trying to give them," he said.

"They're not really releasing any information to us. I presume they'll tell us if they find her."