Documents relating to the disappearance of a schoolgirl nearly 50 years ago will not be released following a decision by the Scottish Freedom of Information Commissioner.
Kevin Dunion has declined a request to release the files on the unsolved case of 11-year-old Moira Anderson.
The youngster went missing in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, in 1957, after going on a shopping errand.
Moira's body has never been found but many believe she was abducted and murdered.
The documents are believed to contain a confession by James Gallogley, claiming that his former friend Alex Gartshore had killed the girl before dumping her body in a spot called Tarry Burn.
The ruling of the commissioner is expected to influence future decisions not to release material from unsolved cases. He said he could not release the sensitive personal information contained in private police statements.
Sandra Brown, Gartshore's daughter, has stated that she believes her father murdered Moira, and backed the calls for disclosure.
In 2004 Strathclyde Police submitted a report to the procurator-fiscal after Gallogley made the deathbed confession from his prison cell. Gartshore and Gallogley are now both dead.
Mr Dunion's decision states: "I know that my refusal to accede to this request will be very disappointing to family members and to friends who, understandably, are desperate to solve the mystery of Moira Anderson's disappearance.
"However, that would not justify setting aside the privacy to which those making statements to the police are entitled to expect. Nor can I justify the real damage to the integrity of conducting police investigations which would entail."
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 hereComments are closed on this article