Are we close to solving the mystery of Moira?

A MAJOR new search for the remains of missing schoolgirl Moira Anderson, led by a team of forensic experts, will take place next month.

An elite set of specialists from across Europe will gather for the search near a Lanarkshire canal aimed at finally locating Moira’s remains – and solving one of the longest-running mysteries in Scottish criminal history.

Moira’s eldest sister Janet Hart has returned from Australia for the first time in two decades to make a poignant visit to the site and mark the 60th anniversary of Moira’s disappearance on Thursday.

The police chief leading the hunt, Detective Superintendent Pat Campbell, told The Sunday Post: “We want to find Moira and bring her back.

“We’ve already had a site visit and a meeting where we had 18 experts from various authorities across Europe, many of whom were there of their own accord, such is the interest in trying to find Moira.

“The investigating team will use sonar and ground-penetrating radar as well as magnetometry, where magnetic properties of soil can be measured and mapped.”

The search is expected to last at least two weeks and will be conducted at a site near Monkland Canal in the Carnbroe area of Coatbridge.

DS Campbell said: “We feel it’s proportionate to search there.

“Of course, it’s extremely challenging to find remains of a child in water after 60 years and if we do search we need to know we can find something.

“Would the body have degraded to such an extent there is nothing left? Specialists tell us there would still be skeletal remains.

“Due to technology, we can carry out lots of non-invasive searches for anomalies, too.

“We are 60 years down the line, people are getting on, and that’s a challenge.

“I remain convinced there is someone out there who has information they haven’t shared. We want to bring closure to this.”

The new search is the culmination of several years’ work, dating back to the failed exploration for Moira’s remains in a graveyard plot at nearby Old Monkland Cemetery in 2013.

The heartbreaking cemetery dig made headlines around the world.

Among the leading forensic scientists taking part in the new operation are Professor Sue Black from Dundee University, Professor Lorna Dawson of The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen and specialists from Queen’s University, Belfast.

DS Campbell added: “The fact it’s coinciding with the 60th anniversary is unintentional, this is something we’ve been working on for a long time.

“We are very positive we can eliminate this as a possible deposition site.

“If she’s not there, we will move on to the next area of interest.”

This is Janet’s first trip home from Sydney in 16 years but, despite the distance, she has never been far from the story.

Every night before she goes to sleep, Janet asks God to find her little sister – who was 11 when she went missing – so she can finally be laid to rest.

“I still think of her every day,” says Janet, who has a daughter named after Moira.

“I pray each night that she’s found and I still have nightmares, although not so often now.”

Visiting the canal will be tough for Janet, who has another sister, Marjorie. “It’s something I have to do,” she said.

“All we want is closure. As well as visiting the suspected site, Janet will also make a trip to her parents’ graveside in Kirkcaldy on Friday, which would have been her mum’s 100th birthday.

And the day before, Janet will visit the Airdrie offices of the Moira Anderson Foundation, a child sexual abuse charity set up by Sandra Brown, the daughter of Alexander Gartshore, the man police believe murdered Moira.

Sandra said: “We’ll release 11 doves to mark each of Moira’s years and we’ll also involve local school pupils in the day’s events.

“It’s quite surreal that the police are going to be searching for Moira while Janet is here.”

And for Janet, the search might just be the breakthrough she has prayed for all these years.

“I try not to get my hopes up,” she said. “But I can’t help it, because maybe things are at last going our way.”