Dutch police said on Thursday they have had more than 200 tips about the possible whereabouts of the 55-year-old man suspected of killing 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen over 20 years ago.

On Wednesday police revealed that dna found on the boy’s body corresponded with that of Jos Brech, a survivalist and former scout leader who was reported missing by his family in April. He had left the Netherlands in October last year for a chalet in Vogezen, a mountainous area in eastern France.

Police suspect that Brech is abroad and he has been placed on Europol’s most wanted list. In particular, French media have focused attention on the case.

Brech lived at the time of Verstappen’s death with his mother in Simpelveld, some 13 kilometres from the spot where Nicky’s body was dumped .

He was spotted in the vicinity a couple of days after the murder and questioned by police. In 2001 he was questioned again. It also emerged that Brech was a suspect in an earlier sex crime, but that case was eventually dropped.

One neighour has reported seeing him in Simpelveld in April, which may have been connected to the death of his mother, but that sighting has not been confirmed.

The Nicky Verstappen cold case is the third to have been solved by mass dna sampling in the Netherlands.