UK UK - Moira Anderson, 11, Coatbridge, Scotland, Feb 1957

[ctaylor]

A new update on the search for Moira...

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cops-will-dig-up-eight-graves-1489016

Police to dig up eight graves in bid to find murdered Moira Anderson who went missing in 1957

14 Dec 2012 00:01

POLICE are to open a grave containing eight bodies in a bid to find an 11-year-old girl murdered 55 years ago.

Moira Anderson’s family suspect that her killer dumped her in the grave in 1957, days before one of his friends was laid to rest in it.

A sheriff yesterday granted their request to exhume the bodies in a bid to find her remains.

The Upton family, whose relatives are buried in the plot, gave their consent to the move.

...

More at the link above...

 

[wfgodot]

Police searching for body of schoolgirl, 11, who went missing 56 years ago prepare to open family grave (Daily Mail)

She has been missing, presumed murdered, for 56 years, but yesterday the search for schoolgirl Moira Anderson reached what is certain to be its final destination.

In a graveyard a short distance from the 11-year-old's former home, police erected protective tents around a family lair where eight bodies are known to be buried.

As officers prepare to begin exhuming the bodies, they may learn whether there is a ninth set of remains buried in the Upton family plot in Old Monkland Cemetery, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire.

If an extra body is found, forensic tests will establish if it is that of Moira, who would have been 67 if she had lived. If nothing untoward is uncovered, then her disappearance will continue to haunt her family and hometown forever.
---

the rest at the link above

 

[wfgodot]

Sandra Brown believes Moira Anderson suspect father was paedophile (BBC News)

She said it was her belief that there was a "paedophile ring" operating in the area at the time the schoolgirl went missing.
---
Mrs Brown said that when she first raised the issue of a paedophile ring in the area in the early 1990s, she was treated with "scorn".

She added: "Given recent events with Mr Savile, people are now realising that this is not a modern phenomenon. It has gone on for a long time."

Mrs Brown, who has received an OBE for services to child protection, set up the Moira Anderson Foundation in 2000 to tackle sexual abuse of young people.
---

more at the link

 

[wfgodot]

Lengthy article here at Daily Record:

Moira Anderson search: Sex beast's daughter prays grave will solve the mystery of missing schoolgirl

---
Alex Gartshore was the driver of the bus Moira boarded on a trip to the shops – and the last person known to have seen her alive.

A month earlier, he had been charged with raping his family’s 13-year-old babysitter.

He was later jailed for four years for the offence.

But no one other than his father, also Alexander, and daughter Sandra ever asked him to account for Moira’s disappearance.

Gartshore’s father ripped up the floorboards in his son’s house to check Moira’s body was not there.

He also went with him to the local bus depot and forced him to open the boot of his vehicle.
---

more at the link

 

[wfgodot]

Fate of schoolgirl who went missing 56 years ago
remains mystery after grave exhumation fails to find body (Daily Mail)

 

[Veidt]

Fate of schoolgirl who went missing 56 years ago
remains mystery after grave exhumation fails to find body (Daily Mail)

At the end of the article it says that LE said that it could take a long time because of the several layers of ground, do you know if they're going to keep examining the grave or if they've already finished?

 

[wfgodot]

At the end of the article it says that LE said that it could take a long time because of the several layers of ground, do you know if they're going to keep examining the grave or if they've already finished?

Pretty sure it's all over. Mail sometimes lacks editing and the LE statement would appear to be an earlier one, during the dig.

 

[wfgodot]

Better article here, from the Guardian:

Moira Anderson: forensics experts fail to find girl's remains in grave
Disclosure will be a blow for family of schoolgirl who vanished
after boarding a bus during a heavy snowstorm in 1957

Another, from Scotland's Daily Record:

Missing Moira Anderson's remains not in Coatbridge grave

 

[wfgodot]

(from the Guardian article, above)

---
The meticulous operation to reopen the grave, which contained seven bodies from the Upton family and dated back more than 100 years, began on Monday. Radar scans of the graves had shown signs which suggested something else might have been buried there.

But the exhumation disclosed that the anomaly was broken stone, not a child's remains.

"About seven feet down there were a lot of bricks and slabs, and they showed up on the radar," Brown said on Wednesday.

"Moira's two sisters now know but I've explained that although the grave is closed, it's not the end of the story and we strongly believe that Moira still wants to be found," Brown said.
---
"We've had experts here working with the police with the highest integrity but the people who did this crime were devious in the extreme and their wickedness knows no bounds. My belief is that Moira is not far from us but she remains concealed by extremely wicked people."
---

 

[Ms Suzanne]

This is very sad.I pray they find out what happened to her.

 

[Veidt]

This is very sad.I pray they find out what happened to her.

I agree - it's sad. I'm disappointed that this search had no results (wfgodot thanks for clarifying). I hope LE finds some kind of clue soon enough so her family can have some closure and peace.

 

[wfgodot]

The thing with those ground radar scans - this one featured an "anomaly" that wound up being bricks and slabs and not an additional body - is that they're veritable Rorschach tests in which one sees what one wants to see. One shouldn't get one's hopes up about their results until their radar technology improves precipitously. Here, confirmation bias turned bricks and stones into the body of a girl missing for over half a century. So, in effect, Moira Anderson has disappeared all over again.

 

[josie1986]

I only live about 15 minutes from here, im not old enough to remember this when it happened but read about it over the years.

I always hoped if they got permission to exume the grave site they would find moira.

This is heartbreaking, I feel so bad for them.

Where do they go from here? I cant see them just giving up

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Vic87]

Prosecutors believe a convicted child abuser who died in 2006 was responsible for the murder of schoolgirl Moira Anderson in Lanarkshire in 1957.

Link: BBC News

Some justice at last but still no body recovered.

 

[wfgodot]

From Vic87's link above ^^^

A further new witness also came forward who saw a man dragging a young girl by the arms at a place near a bus terminus in Carnbroe, Coatbridge.

This was said to have happened on 23 February 1957 - the day Moira was last seen alive.

The description of the young girl matched the description of Moira Anderson.
---
Prosecutors said the witness had given an explanation for not coming forward earlier "which is considered to be credible".

 

[ctaylor]

A new search will be made for Moira's remains...

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/worlds-end-murder-expert-to-head-search-for-moira-anderson-body.1429885074

World's End murder expert to head search for Moira Anderson body
Friday 24 April 2015

A forensic soil scientist who gave evidence at the World's End trial is to help search for the remains of a schoolgirl who disappeared nearly six decades ago.

Professor Lorna Dawson of the Hutton Institute will take on the "painstaking" work of helping to find the body of Moira Anderson.

The schoolgirl was 11 when she disappeared from her home in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, in February 1957 while running an errand for her grandmother.

Prosecutors last year took the unusual step of announcing that convicted paedophile Alexander Gartshore, who died in 2006, would have faced prosecution for the schoolgirl's murder if he were still alive.

The Coatbridge bus driver, who was 85 when he died, was the last person to see Moira alive and had long been connected with the case.

....

 

[wfgodot]

Well, one can but hope.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

"Ignored by police for 60 years - the evidence that could solve Moira Anderson murder case"

http://www.sundaypost.com/ignored-by-police-for-60-years-the-evidence-that-could-solve-moira-anderson-murder-case-1.901008

However, The Sunday Post has learned three key witnesses have come forward with crucial information detectives believe could break the case wide open and reveal the tragic youngster’s final resting place.

Witnesses have also reported seeing a parked bus near to a key search site, which police have also deemed highly significant, as Moira is believed to have been killed by paedophile bus driver Alexander Gartshore.

Gartshore’s daughter Sandra Brown, who has spearheaded the search for more than 20 years, said: “This is the best chance we have ever had to get closure for all those affected.”

Moira’s sister, Janet, who lives in Sydney, Australia, has been kept informed of the latest developments.

She said: “I’ve learned not to get my hopes up too much after all this time, and I will always remain angry about the police who investigated at the time.

“I believe if they had carried out their duties properly we’d have found Moira long ago, and perhaps seen a trial.

“She would have been 70 this year, and her whole life has gone, but I would sleep better for the rest of my time if I knew we’d been able to put my sister to rest.”

 

[ctaylor]

A new update on the search....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-35664891

Search area narrowed in Moira Anderson remains probe

Forensic experts have narrowed the search area for the remains of a schoolgirl who disappeared in North Lanarkshire nearly 60 years ago.

Moira Anderson was 11 when she disappeared from her home in Coatbridge in February 1957.

Bus driver and convicted paedophile Alexander Gartshore, who died in 2006, is suspected of the murder.

Last year the Crown Office enlisted the help of forensic soil scientist Prof Lorna Dawson to identify search sites.

...

 

[jpo74]

praying she will be found. lease: