TV crews on the trail of vice girl's murderer after 26 years

Published on Wednesday 18 February 2009 08:58

PART of Edinburgh was transported back to the 1980s as detectives mounted the latest bid to solve a 26-year mystery.

Television crews yesterday reconstructed the final movements of murdered Edinburgh prostitute Sheila Anderson, 27, as part of a new appeal due to be shown on the BBC Crimewatch programme.

The mother-of-two's mangled body was found by two radio enthusiasts just before midnight on April 7, 1983, on Gypsy Brae in Granton. Her injuries were symptomatic of a car having driven backwards and forwards over her body.

Detectives hope that the televised appeal will spark renewed public interest in the case, which was reopened last year.

A red 1971 Morris Marina – the oldest of its kind on the road in Britain – was used in the reconstruction, as well as a brown Morris Marina from 1978.

The actors taking part in the re-enactment were dressed in period clothing and two bunches of colourful flowers marked the spot where Sheila's body was discovered.

A police spokesman said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the investigation to receive information that has not previously been available."

Television crews began filming just before 4pm yesterday at Gypsy Brae, before moving on to Commercial Street in Leith at 8pm. An exact date for the programme to be shown on BBC1 has not yet been released, but it is expected to be before the end of the month.

The murder shocked the community in the 1980s and has continued to frustrate detectives ever since, despite thousands of statements being taken and vehicles checked.

It is understood that the young brown-haired and blue-eyed mother had stayed at a house in Drylaw the night before she was murdered, and that she was still there the following day, up until about noon.

Police have never been able to pinpoint her exact movements thereafter, until about 7.30pm when she was seen in a pub on West Granton Road called the Willie Muir.

Again, it is not known what she did until she was seen at about 10pm in Leith and then again at 11.25pm by police as she walked along Commercial Street. It was at about 11.55pm that the discovery of her body as made, by two CB radio enthusiasts who had driven to the area.

It has long been thought that her death may have been the result of a transaction that went horribly wrong, rather than a calculated act.

Police later found her bag in an East Lothian car park, containing a green tobacco tin that she was well-known for having in her possession.

One week after her murder, a mystery woman contacted the police on a number of occasions, stressing that she had vital information about Sheila's death.

Meetings were arranged with officers but she failed to show up, claiming that she was worried in case the police revealed her identity.

THE FINAL HOURS

The last known movements of Sheila Anderson:

April 6, 1983: Sheila stayed overnight at a house in Drylaw.

April 7, 1983:

7.30pm: She was seen in the Willie Muir pub, on West Granton Road. She stayed there for about 15 minutes.

10pm: Sheila was seen in Leith's Commercial Street/North Junction Street area by a number of people, in the vicinity of the Vine Bar and a chip shop. She was with another woman.

11.25pm: The last sighting of her, by two police officers on the beat, walking in Commercial Street, near Lyndean House.

11.55pm: Sheila was found by two CB radio enthusiasts on a rubble track at Gypsy Brae, off West Shore Road, in Granton.