A court in Alabama in the United States has declared Natalee Holloway officially dead, US media report.

The court heard that no evidence had emerged to suggest that Ms Holloway was still alive. Her father Dave Holloway had asked that his daughter be declared officially dead. He lives in Alabama.

US teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared in 2005 while on holiday on Aruba, a Caribbean island which is an autonomous part of the Netherlands. Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot was arrested several times as a prime suspect in the disappearance case. He was never charged because of lack of evidence. Ms Holloway’s body was never found.

Van der Sloot is now in custody in Peru. He has confessed to the killing of Stephany Flores one and a half years ago in a hotel room in Lima. He is due to be sentenced for the crime today.

(mw/hs)

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