New witness comes forward in case of murdered schoolgirl Moira Anderson 63 years on from disappearance

A new witness has come forward in the case of murdered schoolgirl, Moira Anderson.

Today marks 63 years since the 11-year-old disappeared from her hometown of Coatbridge, when she was last seen on a bus driven by convicted paedophile Alexander Gartshore.

A member of the public approached police last month with information relating to Moira, which was passed to the cold case unit investigating her death.

Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Campbell said: “The ongoing focus is the recovery of Moira’s remains and a number of areas remain significant and of interest to this investigation.

“We are carrying out viability assessments around such sites based on new witness testimony, which is then overlaid with the information and data we already hold, to examine the potential for any further search or excavation.

“This is a dynamic process and over recent weeks we have received additional information from the public which we are now considering, again focusing on sites of interest within the Coatbridge area.

“This is at an early stage and there is no intention to carry out any further search at this time.

“However, we would appeal for anyone with any additional information about Moira, and who the investigation team has not already interviewed, to contact their local police office or call 101.

“This is a live investigation and Police Scotland will continue to pursue all lines of inquiry to recover the remains of Moira and to bring closure to her family.”

It’s eight years since Moira’s disappearance was upgraded from a missing person case to a murder investigation.

Two years later, the Crown Office announced that Gartshore would have been arrested for Moira’s murder were he still alive.

Police have made several unsuccessful attempts to recover Moira’s remains in recent years, including exhuming a burial plot in the town’s Old Monkland Cemetery and combing parts of the Monkland Canal.

A charity, the Moira Anderson Foundation, marks its 20th anniversary this year and has helped thousands of victims of historic and current sexual abuse in that time.

It was set up by campaigner Sandra Brown, who first accused her father, Alexander Gartshore, of being involved in Moira’s disappearance in 1992.