No criminality in Stefan Sutherland case despite 16 month major review
Enquiries found "no evidence of criminality" in relation to his 2013 death
The family of a Caithness man who died in mysterious circumstances have said a number of their key questions remain unanswered following a review into his death.
Police have found no criminality in the 2013 death of Lybster man Stefan Sutherland after his body was found on a beach in nearby Occumster 11 days after he went missing.
After a long campaign from Stefan's family, a new probe from the major investigation reviewed the case over 16 months.
Officers spoke to more than 500 people, looked into statements from previous witnesses and reviewed forensic evidence.
Mr Sutherland's sister Katrina Sutherland spoke to MFR News, with little progress on the 25-year-old's death.
"How did Stefan die, why did Stefan die, where did Stefan die, and when did Stefan die?"
"We have no more information now than we did in 2014. We've waited a long time for the answers and a lot of the information we provided was overlooked"
Speaking on the investigation, Katrina said, "They've done a very thorough Facebook investigation on Stefan, but there are many other Facebook messages that the Police seemed to have ignored"
"Stefan allegedly sent a Facebook message to his Dad, but he was never friends with him on Facebook, so how is that possible? Yet that's gone into the Crown Report - that message was sent to someone else"
Stefan's family dispute his death was accidental and say blood was found at a house he visited before he disappeared.
"I know that many, many people gave up hours of their time to help the investigation", said Katrina, "It would appear as though the Police have chosen the parts they want to put over to the Crown, and which parts they want to overlook"
"We've provided the Police with every single scrap or shred of evidence we have. The information to the Crown seems to be a very select part of what we gave them"
However Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins said: “Stefan’s death was a tragedy for his family, his friends and the close-knit Caithness community.
"Officers from Police Scotland’s Major Investigation Team spent 16 months carrying out a comprehensive review into all aspects of Stefan’s death, which included taking more than 200 statements, speaking to over 500 people locally, re-interviewing witnesses from the original investigation and tracing a number of new witnesses.
"I recognise the years of campaigning by the Sutherland family, who have rightly sought answers to a number of questions surrounding Stefan’s death.
"The review found that many of these questions and concerns were based on unsubstantiated information being passed to them which understandably caused significant grief and worry to the Sutherland family and the local community.
Police Scotland said it would investigate any new information received.
As to where the family go now, Katrina said to MFR News, "It's very recent following our meeting and we've not really had a chance to assess our options, but their is the option to ask the Crown to review it, so that is a possibility"
"We're entirely grateful to the local community for all their support throughout the last 8 years and we're very grateful to all those who've come forward to give the Police information"