An investigation is ongoing into the death of a young girl on the Isle of Bute.
Alesha MacPhail, from Rothesay on the island, was reported missing at 6.25am on Monday.
The body of a young girl was found in woodland on the site of a former hotel in Ardbeg Road by a member of the public at around 9am.
Floral tributes near a house on Ardbeg Road (Jane Barlow/PA)
Formal identification is yet to take place but it is believed to be that of the six-year-old.
Police are treating the death as unexplained and have launched a major investigation.
The death was said to have impacted all those living in the “tight-knit community”.
Councillor Len Scoullar said: “Everyone is very shocked, very sympathetic and concerned.
“We will all be offering our very sincere condolences to the family.
Floral tributes near a house on Ardbeg Road on the Isle of Bute (Jane Barlow/PA)
“We are a very small island community, people are genuinely grieving for the family.”
Extra officers including forensics specialists have been sent to the island to help with the investigation.
High Road in Ardbeg, near Rothesay, was shut by a police cordon and a floral tribute had been laid near police accident signs.
A separate cordon was set up outside houses on Ardbeg Road and police tape set up at the seafront on the opposite side of the street.
A police cordon outside a house on Ardbeg Road on the Isle of Bute (Jane Barlow/PA)
Messages on floral tributes laid outside the homes read “sleep tight little angel” and “forever in our thoughts”.
Detective Superintendent Stuart Houston, from Police Scotland’s major investigation teams, said on Monday: “This death of a six-year-old child has shocked the tight-knit community of Rothesay and it is imperative that we find out what has happened.
“I understand that there are real concerns in the community, however please be assured that a team of detectives are working on this investigation to ascertain the circumstances leading up to the death of this young child.
“Specially-trained officers are supporting the family during this incredibly difficult time.”
Anyone with information is asked to call officers at the Major Investigations Teams via 101 quoting incident no 0695 of 2 July 2018.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here