THE MOTHER OF a missing 15-year old girl was told live on television in Italy that her daughter had been murdered, it has been reported.

According to The Guardian, 3.5million people watched Concetta Serrano on their screens as she was told that her brother-in-law had confessed to the killing of her daughter, Sarah Scazzi.

Serrano was a participant on the programme ‘Chi l’ha visto ‘, run by state broadcaster RAI, which covers disappearances.

Various reports from a news agency covering the police investigation into the disappearance came into the RAI studio and were read out to Serrano as she sat in her brother-in-law’s house from where the programme was being broadcast through a live link.

She was told late on Wednesday night that an accused had allegedly confessed to the murder of her daughter Sarah and that the body had been found.

The Associated Press report that Serrano sat in shock and murmured “my brother-in-law is innocent,” and “I can’t believe it.”

Sarah Scazzi had disappeared on 26 August 2010 as she walked thr0ugh the town of Avetrana en route to her uncle’s house. A body thought to be Sarah’s was removed yesterday from a cistern which was covered by leaves, soil and stones, and DNA testing will be done to positively identify her.

The Associated Press say police officials report that she had been strangled after refusing sexual advances.

Concetta Serrano had agreed to appear on the TV programme live from her brother-in-law’s house with other family members gathered. Police began interrogating her brother-in-law as the show went on air.