shirleymckie.myfastforum.org

scotkaz · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 527

Nov 9 2008 By Euan Cameron

THE body of an elderly man which lay undiscovered for two months despite a police search was found in his garden by a ratcatcher.

Former RAF sergeant Alan Goulden, 64, was spotted by chance in the hedge of the communal area at his home on Friday.

Ratcatcher Andrew Burns, who had been called to deal with a complaint about a dead animal, said: "The body was lying in the middle of a shrubbery against the wall."

He said the shrubbery was 6-7ft high, thick and prickly.

He added: "I got down on the ground and saw his leg immediately."

Police investigating Alan's disappearance were yesterday interviewing Andrew to establish how he managed to find the body they missed.

Alan, whose son Graham, 40, is a Lothian and Borders Police inspector, vanished on August 30.

He was thought to have been walking his dog when last seen.

His disappearance sparked a massive manhunt involving divers, helicopters and dozens of officers searching the garden and open ground near the flat in Maybury on the west side of Edinburgh. A specialist tracker dog was brought from Wales and it traced a trail for over a mile from diabetic Alan's home to a bus stop.

Officers interviewed bus passengers and leafleted the neighbourhood.

Yesterday one neighbour said: "They've been at my door several times asking if I had seen or heard anything. But not since they discovered the body."

A forensic team were examining where the body - which has yet to be formally identified - was found.

Temporary deputy chief constable Bill Skelly has called in Strathclyde Police to establish what went wrong with the initial search.

SUNDAY EMAIL

reporters@sundaymail.co.uk
[url]
http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/...p-in-garden-78057-20881230/[/url]

_________________
Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins." - Old Native American Indian Prayer that my dad taught me.

W.Roughead · Joined: 25 Oct 2008 Posts: 120 Location: Scotland.

Big Wullie has already started a thread on this case.

http://shirleymckie.myfastforum.org/about234.html
_________________
“Send not to know for whom the bell tolls – it tolls for thee.” John Donne.

Big Wullie · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 1149 Location: Glasgow

Would the police be best to recruit from Rentokil (Expert Pest Control Services)

How people could walk past this hedge and not smell anything is beyond me

scotkaz · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 527

Apparently sniffer dogs had already traced this poor mans steps after he was reported missing.

_________________
Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins." - Old Native American Indian Prayer that my dad taught me.