Mother of missing man faces time-waste charges

THE mother of a man who has been missing for nearly two years has been charged with wasting police time.

Carol Roy’s son Shaun Ritchie vanished in woodlands after a night out on Halloween 2014.

Mr Ritchie, who was just 20 when he went missing, was last seen running from a farmhouse near Strichen, Aberdeenshire, after a party with a group of friends.

The group split into two and each thought Mr Ritchie was with the other.

Despite a huge search, he has never been found.

Five days after he was last seen, search teams recovered items of his clothing.

It later emerged that two phone calls were made from the area to police on the night of Mr Ritchie’s disappearance – one calling for help and a second cancelling the request.

Officers leading the investigation are adamant there has never been any evidence of criminality.

However, Ms Roy, from Fraserburgh, has long been convinced that foul play was involved in her son’s disappearance and has repeatedly called on the police to consider this possibility.

She even brought in a psychic medium to visit the search site.

Now, as the second anniversary of Mr Ritchie’s disappearance approaches, Ms Roy has herself been charged by police.

It is believed the charges relate to anonymous text messages sent to close friends and family of Mr Ritchie, suggesting he was killed.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “Police Scotland can confirm a 38-yearold woman has been charged in connection with wasting police time.

“A report has been sent to the procurator fiscal.”