Our lovely sister home
Years ago. Now her sisters have launched an appeal to can provide answers to the heartbreaking mystery
she visited a friend but never returned. The sisters have been told Duncan was seen near the friend’s house that day around the time of Mary’s visit.
The sisters believe Mary never gave birth a second time. Sadly, baby Laura died when she was 18 months old.
“Laura had bronchial pneumonia. Mum got a doctor out and was told to steam her,” Debbie remembers. “Mum then took Laura in beside her to settle her. And I’ll never forget the sound of her screaming. It was like an animal.
“Laura died in her arms. And mum never slept upstairs again. For the rest of her life, she slept on the couch.”
Laura’s death devastated the family. The sadness remains to this day. But along with that sadness there’s a determination to find out what happened to Mary. Following Debbie’s revelations in 1999 and Mandy’s statement to police earlier this year, a case against Duncan started to build.
Then, Detective Constable Iain Cameron and an investigating team made a crucial breakthrough. DC Cameron managed to find a 40- year- old blood sample which proved Duncan had committed historical sex abuse. It was compelling evidence. The jury agreed unanimously on all but one charge, and he was found guilty of the abuse of the girls.
When allegations like the ones Duncan was convicted of are made, the ripples are felt throughout a family. Marion McFarlane, who is Debbie, Mandy and Mary’s sister, was left reeling when she learned of her sisters’ experiences. She has been equally heartbroken by Mary’s disappearance.
“I was devastated when Debbie and Mandy came out with their allegations – for them and for him,” she says.
“I thought so many people would suffer – our family, his family. But you can’t argue with the evidence. It was crushing. I used to follow him around like a wee sheep – I adored him when I was younger.”
Mandy agrees. She becomes tearful as she explains: “I take no pleasure in seeing a 71-year-old man jailed. I could hardly bear to listen when the jury returned.
“When he was found guilty and I saw A quiet teenager, Mary enjoyed pop music and sewing. But she was also a devoted mum – and that’s why her sisters believe there’s no way she would have fled and left daughter Laura behind.
Smiles in a family photo... but this is a family that has endured tragedy. them put handcuffs on him, I thought, that’s supposed to be my dad.”
Debbie adds: “I went through the whole gamut of emotions. And the sentence will never take away the decades of hurt we’ve gone through.”
Debbie, Mandy and Marion hope that, while he reflects in jail, Norman Duncan will find it within himself to tell them anything he knows about Mary that could help them find out what happened to her.
And they appeal to the public, too. Even though Mary disappeared 40 years ago, they hope someone might be able to provide them with further information.
For now, though, the family is living with their memories of Mary, the much- loved sister who simply went to visit a friend and never came home.
“We all met up to celebrate Mary’s 50th birthday,” Debbie says. “There was a real sense of coming together. We all went back to where we grew up and gathered round the tree we used to play. It was emotional and we shed tears. More than anything, we just want to bring our lovely sister home.”