Two held over disappearance of woman not seen since 1999

● Police take action after search of home fails to offer any clues

A man and a woman have been detained by police investigating the disappearance of a woman who has not been seen for almost 18 years.

Margaret Fleming, 36, was reported missing by her two carers in October last year from her home in Main Road, Inverkip, Inverclyde.

But the last independent sighting of her was at a family event on 17 December, 1999.

Police forensic teams spent months sifting through the house Ms Fleming lived in for any documentation of her life, and a large garden at the property was excavated as part of the search.

The carers moved out of the property and no clues as to Ms Fleming’s whereabouts were found by police as the search was extended to nearby water and woodland.

Police Scotland confirmed yesterday that two people had been detained.

Ms Fleming is thought to have lived with her father in Port Glasgow before he died in October 1995.

She then lived with her grandparents and her mother, but later moved in with carers in 1997 and has been estranged from her mother ever since.

Her carers, Eddie Cairney and Avril Jones, told BBC Scotland in an interview earlier

0 Police spent months searching the house and garden in Inverkip for any sign of missing Margaret Fleming, without success once. Not here, not to the house, but we have seen her once.”

He added: “She has come to no harm unless she has got harmed in the past couple of weeks.’’

In August Inverclyde Council ordered the Inverkip property to be demolished unless urgent repair works were carried out, saying it was in a “serious state of disrepair”.

The property was reportedly sold last week for £120,000.

Ms Fleming is 5ft 5in with a heavy build, collar-length black hair and brown eyes. When reported missing last year, she was said to be wearing a green tartan fleece, dark trousers, dark Karrimor boots and was carrying a handbag.

BBC Scotland said the original police contact was triggered by a call from a benefits agency as it appears her Disability Living Allowance was being replaced by a Personal Independence Payment and she needed to attend an assessment.