CLIFF FALL BOY: COPS FIND BODY ON BEACH
Family told it’s pretty certain to be their missing Ralphie, 18
POLICE hunting for the body of a teenager who plunged off a cliff have found a body washed up on a beach.
The family of autistic teenager Ralphie Smith, 18, who disappeared on February 25, have been informed of the tragic find.
The grim discovery was made by a member of the public at Victoria Park in Arbroath yesterday at 9am.
Robert Stratton, 42, has appeared in court charged with their murders and the attempted murder of a third person.
The beauty spot was cordoned off by police officers while forensics officers examined the scene.
Ralphie, from Dunfermline, had been out for a walk with his dad when he is thought to have been spooked by the wind before running off over the cliff.
A relative wrote a message thanking everyone who had helped over the last few weeks. It read: “I had the police at my door to confirm they’ve found the body of a young man they believe to be my son.
“They won’t be able to confirm this until they do a DNA test. We will be suspending all searches until this is confirmed but we are pretty certain that it’s wee Ralphie.
“I would just like to thank everyone who has been out searching continuously for our son.
“We have had 80-year-old men, people with disabilities, planes in the sky, boats in the water along with my friends and locals of all the wee towns up and down the coastline out on a daily basis.”
Police said: “The identity of the male has not yet been established, but it is not believed there are any suspicious circumstances.
“The family of missing person Ralph Smith from Dundee have been informed of developments.”
The day Ralphie disappeared was made more tragic after two relatives were murdered at a family gathering.
Julie McCash and David Sorrie’s bodies were discovered in a Dundee street early on Sunday, February 26.