Ten years on: ‘Help us find Suzanne’
● Ten years on from her murder, family are still seeking closure
The family of murdered Suzanne Pilley say they have been unable to ‘say a proper goodbye’ as they pleaded for help to find her body in a fresh appeal to mark the tenth anniversary of her disappearance.
The family of murdered Suzanne Pilley has pleaded for help to find her body as they marked the tenth anniversary of her disappearance.
Ms Pilley’s sister said loved ones have been left in “limbo” since she went missing in Edinburgh city centre, unable to “say a proper goodbye” until her body is found.
Her father passed away knowing Ms Pilley had not been found.
The 38-year-old’s former lover, colleague David Gilroy, was convicted of her murder in 2012 and was ordered to serve minimum 18 years in jail.
But Gilroy, now 57, from the Silverknowes area of the city, maintains his innocence and will not reveal where Ms Pilley’s body was hidden.
The military, police, mountainrescuers and other experts scoured the huge Argyll Forest Park in an attempt to find her, without success. They believe Gilroy used an unscheduled work trip to Lochgilphead to move her body and have focused their searches in Glen Croe, and near the popular Rest and Be Thankful beauty spot on the A83. Damage discovered under his Vauxhall car suggested he had taken it off road on a forest track.
A decade on from when Ms Pilley was last seen on her way to work as a bookkeeper at a
Thistle Street office in Edinburgh, her sister Gail Fairgrieve said: “For the past decade we have lived in a state of limbo, waiting for the news that Suzanne’s body had been found, but we’ve never been able to get that closure. We accept that Suzanne was murdered and believe that the person responsible is in prison, but we feel we cannot say a proper goodbye until her body is found.
“Both my mother and I want to again thank the public who have continued to contact the police, which has always given us hope that Suzanne has not been forgotten.
“We understand that only one person can tell us where Suzanne is but has refused to do so.
“Police Scotland will respond to any information and are committed to bringing us some form of closure.
“Their investigation can only conclude when Suzanne is found and so I would plead with anyone who knows something but hasn’t come forward to search their conscience and get in touch.
“Not for our sake, but for Suzanne’s.
“Please let us give her the burial and send-off she deserves .”
Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Houston, from Police Scotland’s specialist crime division, said it was “deeply regretful” that Suzanne has not been found and insisted officers will follow up any fresh leads – and that they are ready to search the Argyll Forest again.