Do these billboards conceal the final resting place of missing Moira?
Tunnel flashback delivers new lead to police hunting for schoolgirl
Police hunting the body of schoolgirl Moira Anderson more than 60 years after her disappearance have been urged to search a derelict railway tunnel.
Detectives have been told of a 800-metre tunnel under a dual carriageway in Whifflet, Coatbridge, after a man had a flashback to his childhood. He recalled stepping on what he believes was a human ribcage while exploring the tunnel and had suppressed the memory until a hospital visit last year.
The tunnel is less than a mile from where 11-year-old Moira was last seen in February 1957. Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Campbell, who leads the cold case investigation into the search for the schoolgirl’s remains, said: “The matter is being examined. Moira’s sisters are aware this piece of work is being assessed.” Det Supt Campbell added: “We are not sure what relevance this may have to the investigation and whether or not there is scope for search or recovery, but the information has come in good faith.
“We are doing some work with the local authority and the coal authority, but we are a bit away from going on the ground.” Police have made several attempts to locate Moira’s remains in recent years.
Six years ago, a plot at Old Monkland Cemetery was exhumed and in 2017 sections of Monkland Canal were searched, as was land near a farm. Sandra Brown, whose paedophile father Alexander Gartshore was the last to see Moira alive and would have been charged with her murder by the Crown Office if still alive, was stunned by the development.
“It sounds like that film, Stand By Me,” said Sandra, who has spent more than 25 years ensuring Moira’s disappearance is not forgotten.
“A group of young boys found a way into the tunnel and would often go exploring.
“It had been used by the old Rosehall Colliery, but was sealed up for a long time before being used as an air raid shelter. It was then closed up again, but there were points where people had made access.
“It was around 1963 when the boys used to go down there. What they discovered only came to light last year when one was in hospital for X-rays. When the consultant was explaining the results, he asked if he had ever seen a human ribcage and the man broke down.
“He told the doctor of going into the tunnel as a child and stepping on what he believes was a human ribcage.
“The consultant said from his reaction it appeared he had been traumatised by this, and advised him to tell the police.
“The boys never told anyone.” It is understood officers have since been in touch with the man’s childhood friends.
Detectives have also been in touch with the surveyor of a housing estate built in the ’90s to look at plans, as well as working with authorities to see if it’s possible to access the tunnel.