GRAN WAS ALIVE FIVE DAYS AFTER TIP-OFF BLUNDER
Witness saw missing OAP day before her body was found
A GRANDMOTHER found dead after going missing from her home was still alive five days after police failed to investigate a sighting of her. Widow Janet McKay, 88, who suffered from dementia, sparked a police hunt when she vanished earlier this month.
Two days after Mrs McKay was reported missing, an officer forgot to tell detectives a member of the public had seen the OAP on a bus.
But we can reveal Mrs McKay was spotted again by another member of the public the day before she was found dead – meaning she was still alive five days after the original sighting.
The disclosure heaps further pressure on Police Scotland following the M9 crash scandal, when a woman was left dying by the road
side for three days because of police failures.
Last night, as an independent investigation into the latest blunder began, Scottish Labour justice spokesman Graeme Pearson, said: ‘Coming so soon after the police failings around the M9 tragedy, it is very concerning that once again vital information from the public has not been passed on.
‘ Government ministers who created Police Scotland must not hide behind frontline officers.’
Mrs McKay was last seen by her neighbours in the Knightswood area of Glasgow about noon on Wednesday, September 16.
Two days after her disappearance, a member of the public told officers making door-to-door inquiries that the church-going widow had possibly been seen on a bus.
This crucial information was not passed to call-handling centres or to the inquiry team.
Another person rang police on Wednesday, September 23, with similar details and this was acted on, leading to the discovery of the OAP’s body the following morning on wasteland i n Clydebank, Dunbartonshire.
Janice Kelly, 52, of Clydebank, who lives opposite the area where former sewing machinist Mrs McKay was found, told the Mail she had seen her on Wednesday afternoon.
The full-time carer said: ‘I saw a lady matching that description wandering about. She was just under 5ft and had grey hair.
‘I took the dog down there. It’s an industrial estate and I saw her at the bus stop. She was carrying two carrier bags with clothes and she had green training shoes on.
‘It was exactly 1 pm on Wednesday afternoon. It just looked so out of place. You never see people walk up and down that place.’
In a statement, Mrs McKay’s family said they were ‘devastated’ and that their ‘dear mother’ would be ‘sadly missed by everyone who knew her’. They added: ‘We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the support from the many officers involved in the search to locate our mother. We have been constantly updated on the progress of the investigation throughout.’
Mrs McKay’s son Gordon, 57, said: ‘We’ve been very happy with the way the police have dealt with it. They’ve been very supportive to us. Any wider issues are a matter for Police Scotland, but we have no criticisms to make of them.’
But writing on Facebook, family friend Elizabeth Lamont said Police Scotland was a ‘disgrace.’
The Rev Thomas Wilson of Knight- swood Congregational Church paid tribute to Mrs McKay, who was known to friends as Jenny.
He said: ‘Jenny’s best friend had sadly passed away at the end of August. Although Jenny wasn’t aware of this, it is comforting to think they are now reunited again.’
Mrs McKay’s husband John, a plumber, died aged 81 in 2004. The couple married in 1952 and had two children – Gordon and Rhona, 62, who has a son Greg, 38, with her husband George Walters.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson yesterday insisted that an independent investigation by the Police Investigations and Review
Commissioner (PIRC) must not be pre-empted.
But Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, representing rank-and-file officers, attacked Police Scotland for creating a ‘firestorm’ by failing to offer an ‘honest explanation’.
He tweeted that a ‘young officer with very little experience received second or third-hand information’ during door-to-door inquiries, but the officer was ‘exceptionally busy and forgot to pass it on’.
Responding to Mr Steele’s comments, a spokesman for Police Scotland, which has apologised to Mrs McKay’s family, said: ‘The statement to media was issued in the interests of transparency and openness.’
It is understood the force decided to refer itself to the PIRC after comments raising concerns about delays in the investigation were posted on social media.
Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, QC, has also referred Police Scotland to the PIRC.
In a radio interview yesterday, Mr Matheson was asked five times if he would resign over a string of Police Scotland failings – but each time he repeated the same comments about the need for ‘a thor- ough and timely investigation into this matter.’
Chief Constable Sir Stephen House last month announced he would stand down earlier than expected f ollowing sustained public and political criticism over call centre failings and controversies over stop-and- search and armed police patrols.
The latest incident follows the deaths of John Yuill and Lamara Bell, who lay undiscovered for three days despite a sighting of their crashed car off the M9 being reported to a police control room.
Mr Yuill, 28, died when his blue Renault Clio veered off the motorway near Bannockburn, Stirlingshire. Mother-of-two Miss Bell, 25, lay critically injured for 72 hours after officers failed to follow up a report of the crash. She died in hospital a week after the collision and the case is now the subject of an independent investigation.
Last night, Scottish Tory justice spokesman Margaret Mitchell said: ‘We already know that with the creation of Police Scotland, vital local intelligence has been lost and a more centralist approach adopted. Communication is obviously a big issue in the single force, which must be addressed as an absolute priority.’
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie described Mrs McKay’s case as ‘terribly sad’.
He said: ‘I think it’s too early to tell exactly what’s happened here.
‘What is clear is that Police Scotland have apologised and I thank them for having done that and being so upfront so early.
‘I think the fact the Lord Advocate has instructed a PIRC inquiry into the case means that we will in due course get the full facts coming out because that’s exactly what we need in order to retain confidence in the police force and how it’s operating.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Janet McKay’s death is clearly a tragedy for her family and friends and the Scottish Government offers its deepest sympathies to them. Our priority now must be to establish the facts relating to this case.’
‘Communication is obviously an issue’