BODY IS MISSING MUM
Murder investigation reopened as skeleton discovered near stately home is identified as woman who vanished 15 yrs ago... and whose son was sensationally accused of killing her
‘He may become of interest’
HUMAN remains discovered near a country estate were yesterday confirmed as those of a woman missing for 15 years.
Louise Tiffney disappeared from her Edinburgh home in May 2002, sparking a murder hunt that has become one of the nation’s most notorious open cases.
But yesterday police announced they have used dental records to match the skeletal remains found near Gosford Estate in East Lothian last weekend with the missing 43-year-old.
The discovery of her ‘disturbed’ remains spurred hope that the single mother’s killer may be brought to justice and her family given closure.
Shortly after the laundrette worker vanished, her son, Sean Flynn, was arrested for murder when police found her blood in the boot of his car.
Despite no body being discovered, Flynn stood trial at the age of 21. He walked free from court in 2005 when a jury found the charges not proven.
As a post-mortem examination began yesterday to gather evidence from what remains of the body, police insisted that Flynn is currently of ‘no interest’ to their investigation.
However, a detective said the 33year-old, reported to have moved abroad, could fall back in the spotlight as the investigation progresses.
Detective Chief Inspector Keith Hardie said: ‘We have no reason to speak to Sean Flynn at this time, and he’s not of any interest to us at this point in the inquiry.’
But, he added: ‘There may well be a second inquiry that progresses and he may well become of interest. The biggest development today is that we can confirm 100 per cent the remains found are that of Louise Tiffney.’
Police said the body was identified using forensic dentistry and further DNA tests will be carried out to confirm the findings.
Miss Tiffney vanished from the flat she shared with her children in Edinburgh’s Dean Village on May 27, 2002.
The troubled mother, who had suffered depression, was reported missing by Flynn, then 18, the next day.
The search that followed was one of
Has the body of missing mum been found 15 years on? From Wednesday’s Mail
the largest in Scottish police history and saw her six-year-old daughter Hannah take to TV to beg her mother to return.
But eventually suspicions fell on Flynn, who was four days away from a trial for causing the deaths of a cousin and friend by dangerous driving in a 2001 street race when his mother vanished. Flynn lost control of his modified BMW and crashed into a lamppost at 80mph in a 30mph zone.
It was feared Miss Tiffney fled her home under the pressure of Flynn facing imprisonment and her sister Lulu grieving for her son.
But in the investigation that followed it emerged Flynn and his mother argued frequently.
Miss Tiffney was said to have been distressed that Flynn had embarked on an affair with the mother of his friend who died in the crash, Yvonne Solo – who was older than she was.
Solo also gave him a car in the days after the crash, apparently fuelling further disputes between the mother and son.
Officers discovered they had argued on the night Miss Tiffney was last seen.
Flynn claimed she had ‘stormed out’ of their home but she had not taken her keys, bank cards or cash, nor had she made childcare arrangements for her daughter.
Investigating further, officers found blood matching Miss Tiffney’s DNA in the boot of his car along with mud and vegetation.
Botanical experts insisted they came from a man-made environment, such as a garden or a large wooded area. The discovery prompted a search of the 60,000acres Gosford Estate but no trace of Miss Tiffney was found.
Flynn was sentenced to three years and nine months in a young offenders’ institution after pleading guilty to the dangerous driving charges, before appearing again at the High Court in Perth on charges of murdering his mother in 2005.
In a four-week trial, the jury was shown CCTV footage appearing to show a car like Mr Flynn’s heading east out of the city at 1.20am, and back into the city at 2.31am.
Police claimed they had traced every white Nissan in Britain and ruled out all but Flynn’s.
Giving evidence, Flynn denied making the journeys. He was also unable to say why mobile phone records placed him in East Lothian on the day after his mother’s disappearance at a time he said he was in Edinburgh.
His defence team suggested his troubled mother had been suffering depression and could have fled after their row to kill herself.
Defence QC Frances McMenamin also said that far from a doting mother, Miss Tiffney seemed more like a ‘troubled, extravagant, volatile, impulsive, needy and very self- ish person whose family and children are all there as mere crutches to help her get through every night and day’.
The court heard she had been facing spiralling debts and had considered accepting a sham marriage or prostitution to solve her money worries.
They were also told that on the day she vanished, Flynn told his father, taxi driver Keith, 50, that his mother was ‘f***ing up’ his life.
After the jury returned a verdict of not proven, members of Miss Tiffney’s family heckled the cleared Flynn outside court.
Speaking after the verdict, her sister June Tiffney said: ‘She is dead and there is no doubt about that. Her name has been dragged through the mud by her son.’
Since the trial, the murder investigation has remained open, but with scant developments until a cyclist found the remains near Gosford House, a shooting location for TV show Outlander.
After the skeletal remains were found, only 25ft from a road outside the estate, police sealed off the area to remove the evidence, which they finished yesterday
Earlier this week, June Tiffney, 59, said: ‘This is a bolt out of the blue. I really hope these remains are my sister – I want her to be found. Our family has suffered a lot of loss over the years. It’s been an absolute nightmare.
‘Learning of these remains takes me back to the time when she first went missing. It was an area that was searched thoroughly by police at the time. After the trial, I used to go out on my own and search East Lothian and my family are the same. It made me ill.’
‘I used to go out and search’