Police hunting the killer of Milly Dowler today said 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 an item of Milly's clothing recovered from her bedroom, has been matched to DNA found by chance at the scene of a burglary at a church in Sunderland.

Officers from Surrey Police took DNA samples from 46 male worshippers and people linked to the church last month.

They were sent away 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 today detectives were expecting to know by Friday whether any of the samples matched the one on Milly's clothing.

''We have sent away these DNA tests for analysis with the sample we have got and are expecting the results back by the end of this week,'' he said.

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

''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.

The vicar of St Paul's Church in Ryhope, Sunderland, where the matching DNA was discovered on a coffee cup last October, today denied that his worshippers were living ''in fear'' of the test results.

The Rev David Meakin said: ''It is the sort of story that is still being talked about in the village, but I don't think it is being talked about in fear I suppose people are just curious.''

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