Scot living in France could hold key to solving mystery of disappearance of Moira Anderson

“She was in the middle of nowhere when she heard a scream and saw footsteps in the snow. There was no explanation for what she saw or what she heard”

A Scot living in France could be the key to unlock the mystery of Moira Anderson’s disappearance.

Friday will be the 61st anniversary of the 11-year-old Coatbridge schoolgirl’s disappearance on February 23, 1957.

Sandra Brown, the daughter of her suspected killer and who has campaigned relentlessly to find her body, believes two people could help crack the case.

One is a conductress believed to have been on the bus where Moira was last seen while the other is an ex-pat who has lived most of her life in France.

It is understood detectives from Police Scotland’s Cold Case Unit regard the woman, who still suffers nightmares about the incident, as a credible witness.

The woman, in her late teens at the time, was walking back to a remote farmhouse where she was lodging on the outskirts of the Lanarkshire town when she heard a scream.

In the heavy snow she spotted a set of footprints, which the couple in the farmhouse knew nothing about.

She has now given a statement to police, at least 15 years after she contacted Sandra Brown, daughter of convicted paedophile Alexander Gartshore.

The Crown Office has indicated Gartshore would have been charged with Moira’s murder were he still alive.

Sandra wrote a book blaming her father for Moira’s disappearance and later received a letter from the woman now living in France.

Sandra said: “She told me she came off the bus in the town centre and walked back to the farmhouse, which was owned by a family friend.

“The road she had to walk along turns into a farm track and is very isolated.

“She heard a scream and then saw footprints, which she didn’t understand because no one would be on this lonely farm track late at night in the snow.

“She told the couple in the farmhouse, but felt they dismissed her concerns even though she thought it should have been reported to the police.

“She told me she’s never understood why they were so reluctant.”

Sandra said: “My book, Where There Is Evil, was released overseas between 2000 and 2002.

“My publisher would send me letters from readers and one came from this lady in France, explaining what she’d experienced that night in 1957.

“I wrote to her with my telephone number but years passed before she called. When she did, I told her to contact the police.

“Last October, her son contacted our charity, the Moira Anderson Foundation, and asked to speak with me, but I was overseas.

“My colleague gave him Detective Superintendent Pat Campbell’s details and Pat has since spoken at length to both the lady and her son.”

The farmhouse and land around it has not been examined by police. However, it is close to areas that have been scrutinised during the investigation.

The latest chapter in the heartbreaking story comes just weeks after Moira’s sister, Janet Hart, appealed to a bus conductress to speak with police.

Police have made several attempts to locate Moira’s remains in recent years.

Five years ago, a burial plot at Old Monkland Cemetery was exhumed and last year sections of Monkland Canal were searched, as was land near a farm.

There were three other areas earmarked following witness statements, but these are either too vast or have been redeveloped.

DS Pat Campbell continues to appeal for information.

He said: “The investigation is still very much alive and Moira’s family has been kept updated. Anyone with information on the case should contact their local police office.”