Moira Anderson Case Sees Grave Exhumed

A family grave in Scotland is to be exhumed as part of an attempt to solve a murder mystery dating back more than 50 years.

Police will dig up the grave at Old Monkland Cemetery in Lanarkshire as they try to find the remains of 11-year-old Moira Anderson, who disappeared in 1957.

She is thought to have been murdered, although her body has never been found.

Her family now believe her killer may have dumped her body in the grave of one of his friends, Sinclair Upton, who died around the time of Moira's disappearance.

They have sought permission through the courts to have the grave exhumed. Mr Upton's family has agreed to the request.

The prime suspect behind Moira's disappearance is convicted paedophile Alexander Gartshore, who died in 2006.

The girl disappeared after taking a trip on a bus that he drove.

The theory being pursued, 56 years on, is that he abducted and killed Moira before burying her body under a coffin in the Lanarkshire grave, which was open at the time.

Underground radar checks on the grave in 2007 indicated an anomaly consistent with the presence of the remains of a child.

The exhumation will begin later under the direction of forensic anthropologist Professor Sue Black.