THE body of the 11-year-old daughter of a man serving life for the killing of a teenage prostitute was exhumed at dawn on Tuesday.

Phyllis Porter's remains were excavated from the churchyard at St Luke's Church, Orrell, as part of a police investigation to reveal the cause of her death six years ago.

Detectives hope to obtain DNA to give them vital clues as to how she died.

Her father is murderer Geoffrey Porter.

He was jailed in December last year for killing 17-year-old prostitute Carly Bateman in November 2001.

Porter was informed of the exhumation by his solicitor on Monday in Wakefield Prison, where he is serving his sentence.

Detectives now intend to interview Porter.

It is hoped advanced DNA techniques will provide answers to his daughter's unexplained death on November 20, 1996.

Phyllis, who was described by police as a "very lively, perfectly healthy and well-liked girl who was really bubbly and friendly", was found face down on her bed by her mother as she got up for work. A Home Office pathologist failed to find a cause of death and a coroner recorded an open verdict at an inquest.

The decision to exhume Phyllis's body came after questions were raised about her death during the investigation into Carly's murder.

Porter, aged 40, of Columbia Road, Bolton, was found guilty of strangling Carly and dumping her partially clothed body in an alleyway off Crawford Avenue, The Haulgh.

At his trial Porter was described as an "oddball" with an obsession for vice.

A police spokesman said today: "In light of Porter's conviction for murder it is prudent we re-examine the circumstances of his daughter's death.

"At this stage there is no evidence to link him to his daughter's death."

As exclusively revealed in the Bolton Evening News earlier this year, police relaunched the investigation into Phyllis's death in January.

Det Chief Insp Tony Cook said: "We always treated Phyllis's death as suspicious.

"We are hopeful the exhumation will bring new information to light. DNA techniques have moved on and we have now called in the best experts.

"We have decided to go down this route to try to seek out further evidence. We will be conducting new tests that haven't been done before.

"We are also looking for historical information and are speaking to people who had contact with Phyllis up to her death.

"We have a lot of people to speak to and have interviewed many people including officers involved in initial inquiries into her death.

"The enquiry into Phyllis's death has never closed and it is our duty both to her and her family to follow whatever avenues we can to establish exactly what happened to her.

"We have been liaising closely with Phyllis's family and although this is a difficult time for them they understand and support the investigation.

"The exhumation was done today as sensitively as possible."

Phyllis was found dead in 1996 after she went to bed with a "sniffle" at the family home in Kitt Green Road, Marsh Green.

Her mother Ann-Marie found her dead, face down on her bed when she went to rouse her for school at 8am. The previous night she had been in the house with her father.

Her mother had gone to visit her brother, Geoff Wrigley, and returned home about midnight.

Police said Mrs Porter had heard the sound of Phyllis snoring before she went to bed and Porter got up at 3.30am for a 4.30am start at work at Great Universal Stores. Phyllis attended Highfield School in Mosley Common -- which catered for youngsters with special needs.

DCI Cook said: "Phyllis was a perfectly healthy, well-liked pupil who was really bubbly and friendly.

"As far as her school was concerned there was absolutely nothing wrong with her."

Phyllis Porter's mother was informed yesterday of the exhumation decision.

Two crime scene examiners who helped in Kosovo after the discovery of mass graves after the conflict there supervised today's exhumation.

A second post mortem examination was performed this morning at Wigan Infirmary after which Phyllis was due to be reburied at St Luke's Church at Orrell on the outskirts of Wigan.

Her new coffin is identical to the original and relatives were invited to the reburial ceremony.

Police have sealed off the church grounds.