Father’s grief 40 years after son vanished
THE father of a toddler who went missing 40 years ago has spoken for the first time of the moment when he found his son had gone.
Sandy Davidson was only three when he disappeared after chasing the family dog out of his gran’s garden in Irvine, Ayrshire, on April 23, 1976.
The youngster had been playing with his two-year-old sister Donna and their pet, Kissie, after being dropped off by his parents, Phil and Margaret.
Despite a massive search operation and numerous pleas for information over the decades since, Sandy has never been found.
His father Phil Davidson, 66, said: ‘I remember that day like it was yesterday. It’s hard for me to believe that 40 years have passed. It could be 40 minutes.
‘I was working laying the road for the motorway. My brother-in-law came over and said, “Come with me, Sandy’s gone missing”. I just dropped everything and ran.
‘You never think something like this will come to your door. It was a terrible time.’
Over the years several people have come forward with information, but nothing came of it. One neighbour said that they had seen Sandy getting into a car with a man and that he did not appear to be struggling.
Police Scotland have issued a new plea for information on Sandy, with an ‘age-progressed’ picture of what he may look like now.
Mr Davidson and Sandy’s mother split up over the strain of the disappearance.
However, the family, including the couple’s daughter Donna, have never given up hope of finding him. Mr Davidson said: ‘Donna is the crusader. She was there with him and she will keep going. You don’t get over something like this. It’s the not knowing.
‘If Sandy was to walk through that door I’d be the happiest man in the world. I don’t know whether
‘I think about him all the time’
he will come back but I always live in hope.
‘If they found Sandy and he was dead, which obviously I hope is not the case, at least we could bury him and know where he was. Not knowing where he is kills me. We are all in limbo.’
Mr Davidson, who now lives in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, remarried and has seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He added: ‘I think about Sandy all the time. His nickname was Sheepskin because he just had a mass of curls, like a sheepskin rug. He was a lively wee thing.
‘I don’t have many photos of him around the house but I don’t need them anyway.
‘I can see him right in front of me. He’s not 44 to me. He’s only almost four.’