POLICE hunting the killer of Amanda "Milly" Dowler said yesterday they expected to know by the end of the week if they had found a match for mystery DNA found on the schoolgirl's clothing.

The unidentified male DNA, discovered on clothes recovered from Milly's bedroom, has been matched to DNA found at the scene of a burglary at a church in Sunderland.

Last month, officers from Surrey Police took DNA samples from 46 male worshippers and people linked to the church.

They were sent to the Forensic Science Service for testing in a bid to identify the mystery sample, which did not belong to those responsible for the burglary.

A police spokesman said yesterday that detectives were expecting to know by Friday whether any of the samples matched the one on Milly's clothing.

"We will then be in a position to know whether we have a match or whether we need to make further inquiries in Sunderland," he said.

"We will not go back until we have got the results of the analysis, and if we do get a hit we will go back to speak to the individual concerned."

The spokesman said police had received a handful of calls from the public offering information about the DNA link.

"People are trying to be helpful, but there is nothing which has taken us in a direction that we need to go," he said.

Milly disappeared while walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, on March 21 last year. Her remains were discovered in Yateley Heath Woods, Hampshire, on September 20.