[Niamh.]

Glimmer of hope for missing toddler’s heartbroken family

“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