A MAN accused of murdering a Bolton teenager appeared in an Australian court today.

James Robert Duggan, aged 19, of Quinns Rock, near Perth, Western Australia, was remanded in custody by magistrates and is expected to enter a plea at a committal hearing on August 18.

He was charged in May with the wilful murder of Rebecca Ryle, also 19, who was found strangled in a school playground yards from her new home in Mindarie on May 6.

Rebecca, formerly of Hardy Mill Road, Harwood, had moved to Mindarie just six months earlier.

The former Turton High School pupil had been spotted drinking in a local bar with a man but failed to return home.

Her semi-naked body was found by a man walking his dog at Mindarie Primary School.

Following a brief appearance at Joondalup Magistrates Court, Duggan was remanded in custody until August 18 when he will reappear before the court.