Body recovered from River Don formally identified as Hazel Nairn

The remains of a woman recovered from the River Don last month have been formally identified as Hazel Nairn, police have confirmed.

The 71-year-old vanished after being swept into the River Don, near Monymusk, on Friday, November 18, 2022, after the area was affected by severe flooding.

Detectives said last month that a body of a woman had been recovered from the River Don near Kemnay, Inverurie, on Tuesday, May 7.

More than a month later, formal identification has confirmed that the remains found were Hazel and her family has been informed. Police have said the death is not suspicious and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.

Hazel was carrying her West Highland terrier, Rory, alongside a friend when they were all swept into the River Don, which had burst its banks.

A huge search operation was launched, involving marine divers, sniffer dogs and a police helicopter in an effort to bring some relief to the heartbroken family.

Specialist divers from Beneath the Surface also searched the River Don last year, on the one year anniversary of Hazel disappearing.

Hazel's daughter, Anneka Gray, 38, previously told the Record how she had even taken up kayaking in an effort to try and find her mum.

She explained: “What has happened to our family has been a living nightmare. For months we used to walk the banks every day searching for her, then at night I’d wake up worrying that I’d seen something we might have overlooked.

“My partner and I have been having kayak lessons so we can safely get into the water and search for her. For a long time after my mum disappeared, the river remained high but now water levels have dropped.

“At the very least, we might have expected to find a piece of her jacket on the barbed wire fence of one of the flooded fields she was initially swept across. It’s like she vanished into thin air.”

A weather warning had been issued in the area due to the torrential rain and Anneka explained that this led to her mum abandoning her car and walking home.

She explained that Hazel's friend had a lucky escape and only avoided being swept away due to her clothes being caught in barbed wire.

Anneka continued: “Because of the flooding, my mum knew she couldn’t take her car over the little bridge she crossed to get home but the route was walkable with wellies. She’d got most of the way home when she met a friend.

“Mum had Rory in one arm – the water was too deep to walk through – and she had linked her other arm with her friend. They were walking on what was a raised track when they slipped.

“Her friend thinks there was a current that caused the rubble under their wellies to move. They both fell into the water and were dragged by the current, ending up fully submerged in the fields that had been flooded with fast-flowing water.

"Mum’s friend hit a fence. Her joggers stuck on the barbed wire – that’s what saved her. She could still see Mum but by this time she was a fair distance away.”

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