New hope for missing toddler, 40 years later
 

“The whole world joined the search for Maddie McCann and Ben Needham, but forgot all about our Sandy.”

A missing person mystery which has caused a family heartache for almost 40 years could be tantalisingly close to being solved.

In 1976, four-year-old Sandy Davidson vanished from an Irvine garden. Now the Davidson family has fresh hope after Sandy’s “age progressed” picture triggered new leads.

A DNA test has been carried out and the family await results this week. It’s a glimmer of hope amid decades of pain. Ali Kirker spoke exclusively to Sandy’s sister Donna.

Irvine’s Bourtreehill is a respectable area.

The gardens are well-kept and there’s a corner shop here and there. At Broomlands Primary School, mums and dads, grans and granddads wait to pick up their wee ones.

It seems there’s nothing much to single out the area. There are housing estates like this in towns right across Scotland. But Bourtreehill is the home of an enduring mystery.

In April 1976, four-year-old toddler Sandy Davidson went missing from his gran’s garden. It’s possible someone still in the area knows what happened to the cute-as-a-button toddler with the curls.

At the time, a huge police operation swung into action. Doors were knocked, sheds checked, rivers dragged. Nothing. And there’s been no trace of Sandy ever since. It’s as if he just vanished into thin air.

Sadly, you could say Sandy is Scotland’s Madeleine McCann.

For his family, the pain has never gone away. And for sister Donna, who was there the day he disappeared, it’s something she’s lived with since she was a two-year-old. She says she’s “always known it was there”.

Donna and her family are trying to raise awareness of Sandy’s disappearance.

Now, after an internet campaign to help provide the family with answers, two people have come forward to say they know someone who bears a strong resemblance to Sandy’s “age progressed” picture.

One agreed to take a DNA test. He’s the same age as Sandy would be and lives around 20 miles away.

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views...amily-1.154556


Never even heard of this case but I hope for the families sake they get some closure on it

It would be great if he is re-united with his "real" family all these years later, but tbh the damage is done and those missing years can never be recaptured.

also he may have new parents and brothers/Sisters whom he thinks are his real family so it could be a major shock to him.

Still the truth needs to come out if it does turn out to be the same person, why did he go missing ? who was responsible for it and why have his new family not investigated his background more...???

This could end up being quite a story indeed..........

That's true but it would still be good for his family anyway. It must have been sheer hell for them all these years, imagining the worst etc I feel sick to my stomach even thinking about it happening to one of my kids

What an absolute nightmare to live through. I remember when this happened.
If this is her son she will at least have closure, but can never put the clock back. My heart goes out to the family.

Nothing would ever take away from the fact that your child had gone missing, of course, but I kind of wonder if after so many years you would even really know what to feel if you were ever unexpectedly reunited with your missing child? Like, 40 years later, this person is a fully grown adult who hasn't a clue who he "really" is - like say one of these people coming forward is actually Sandy, he's not going to suddenly go by the name Sandy if he's been known as Jimmy for the last 40 years. Is he going to call his real parents mum and dad? It's just all so bizarre... surely it must come to a point where, even if you do get reunited, it's as if they died the day they went missing. The child that you loved to pieces ceased to exist because they were taken away from you and you didn't get to take them to school, watch them get their first job, fall in love for the first time, you don't know their friends or their hobbies, you don't even know what their voice sounds like... just so crazy to think about.

I hope there is a happy ending for them after all these years... but I'm not sure they can even have a happy ending - they might get a resolution but I don't think they'd ever be happy, not really...