TWO YEARS after Torridgeside teenager, Scarlett Keeling, was found dead on an beach in Goa, charges have finally been brought in India.

Samson D'Souza, 28, and Placido Carvalho, who is in his 30s, are facing charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, intent to outrage a woman's modesty, administering a drug with intent to harm and destruction of evidence.

Scarlett, 15, from Bideford, Devon, was found dead on Anjuna beach in Goa in February, 2008.

The pair will appear in court next week on a bail hearing and Scarlett's mother, Fiona Keeling, is hopeful she will finally have a start date for the trial.

Ms MacKeown, who has battled with the Indian authorities to get justice for Scarlett, said she would be travelling to India for the trial.

She said: "At the beginning of the year I just hoped it would be over by the end of the year and it looks like that might happen."

After Scarlett's body was found, Indian investigators said she had drowned, but a second post-mortem, carried out at Ms MacKeown's request, revealed evidence of attack injuries.