VANISHED
Riddle of Finnish teacher, 38, who travelled 1,600 miles in 3 days then disappeared after airport trip
FEARS are growing for a Finnish woman who vanished in Edinburgh after making a series of bizarre trips and abandoning her belongings at airport security.
Riina Elisabeth Sjögren was last seen in the city centre at York Place tram stop, without a coat, around 10.20pm on Tuesday last week.
The seasoned traveller had spent Christmas with her sister and mother in Helsinki before flying to London Gatwick, arriving on January 7.
Receipts in her belongings show she took a train to Edinburgh the next day, then a tram to the airport.
The 38-year-old, a qualified theology teacher, spent hours at the airport before returning to the city and visiting Edinburgh Castle in the evening.
Officers do not know where she stayed overnight but the next day she returned to the airport in the early hours, bought a ticket to Amsterdam and passed through security.
But Miss Sjögren never boarded the flight. Instead, she left her coat and bag at a security gate, walked from the airport to Gogarburn tram stop and boarded a tram to the centre of Edinburgh, where CCTV last captured her movements. By that time she had clocked up just over 1,600 miles since leaving home.
Her family has said Miss Sjögren – who speaks several languages – seemed distant and withdrawn before she flew to London in search of work.
Her sister, Kirsi Maria Sjögren, 30, said: ‘Everybody is so afraid. We have no idea what happened to Riina.’
She added: ‘We didn’t know that she was going to Edinburgh. She just left and didn’t tell anyone where she was going. It’s completely out of character. Riina has never done anything like this. If somebody has seen Riina or heard from her, please call the police. Riina, if you see this, please call mum. She is sick with worry.’
Police say there is no suggestion of criminality and that their main concern is Miss Sjögren’s wellbeing.
Her abandoned bag contained her purse, phone and passport, although officers understand she still has a bank card and some British currency. She worked in London 15 years ago and still had contacts in the area.
But her decision to travel to Edinburgh remains a mystery. Though she had visited years earlier, she is not known to have any friends in the city.
Appealing for information, officers say it is possible she bought the ticket to Amsterdam as the first leg of a cheaper journey home to Finland rather than flying directly. Speaking at the tram stop where she was last seen, Chief Inspector Stevie Sutherland said: ‘She’s an accomplished traveller – she’s been all over the world, quite often travelling by herself – so that’s not a fear for her at all.
‘The weather wasn’t that good last Tuesday, so that in itself could have been quite unusual for someone to see somebody getting off a tram with just a cardigan on.
‘There’s an appeal now to try to see anybody who was here at 10.20pm last Tuesday night.
‘There’s nothing in the inquiry at all which would suggest criminality or that she’s come to harm. It’s more a concern that her mental health appeared to have deteriorated.’
Miss Sjögren is described as white, 5ft 3in tall, of medium build with long, dark brown hair. She also wears glasses.
When last seen she was wearing dark trousers and a blue cardigan with a red or pink top underneath and a black and white scarf.
‘Completely out of character’