VIDEO: 'New evidence' in search for missing Moira Anderson in Coatbridge
Some of the UK’s best search and forensic experts have been drafted in to Coatbridge as the search for 11-year-old Moira Anderson continues – 60 years on.
Some of the UK’s best search and forensic experts have been drafted in to Coatbridge as the search for 11-year-old Moira Anderson continues – 60 years on.
Led by Detective Superintendent Pat Campbell, the investigation team will today, focus on a site at the Monkland Canal in Carnbroe, between Airdrie and Coatbridge, after new evidence came to light in the investigation into Moira’s disappearance.
Moira disappeared after leaving her grandmother’s house in Coatbridge on 23 February 1957 to buy margarine at a local shop and never returned.
Police Scotland (and the former Strathclyde Police) has worked closely with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service over the years to investigate her disappearance and examine any new evidence. This has led to the site at Monkland Canal being identified with the aim of finding any trace of Moira.
The initial four-day search includes the use of enhanced technology including Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Sonar Scanning to identify any anomalies at the base of the three-metre deep canal. Magnetometry (Identification of magnetic anomalies) and earth science techniques will be applied to determine if there is any evidence of Moira’s remains at the bottom of the canal.
This location is one of a number of potential deposition sites that were considered by the expert group. There are a number of evidential strands linking the disappearance of Moira to this location. No speculative searching will take place.
Moira’s next-of-kin are aware of this activity and fully support the work of Police Scotland and the subject matter experts involved in this work.
They will work with Police Scotland’s specialist search advisors and support teams and in conjunction with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Detective Superintendent Pat Campbell said, “We have continued to investigate the disappearance of Moira over the years and new evidence has come to light that has brought our attention to the Monkland Canal in Carnbroe.
“We have engaged with a number of leading experts to assist us with this case and they have helped to identify this specific site. These people are experts in forensic soil analysis and the use of innovative search techniques and they will very much play a live part in the search of this site.
“Certainly in my policing career, this is the first time so many agencies have come together to work on a specific site search and I am grateful for their assistance.
“At this stage, we are hopeful of finding any evidence that could help us resolve the investigation into Moira’s disappearance. This canal has been largely left undeveloped for many years and it is hoped the ground-penetration radar and sonar scanning can help to identify any anomalies within the silt layer at the base of the canal.
“This is a positive although extremely challenging step in the investigation due to the passage of time, however I remain optimistic about the forthcoming search.
“Ultimately we hope to identify a deposition site and to recover the remains of Moira, which would bring some form of closure to her family and the local community, who have endured years of uncertainty.
Stephen McGowan Procurator Fiscal for High Court cases at COPFS said: “The disappearance of Moira Anderson sixty years ago devastated her family and the community in which she lived. Throughout that time, the community never gave up hope that one day her remains might be found. The painstaking work which has been carried out by some of the UK’s foremost experts in forensics and soil analysis has helped us to narrow the basis for this search and gives Moira’s family the best chance there has been to date to find her remains. Given the passage of time since the disappearance of Moira Anderson the search is extremely challenging but it is right that we use the advances there have been in scientific techniques to try to find her remains.”