Extra police drafted in to join Suzanne search

A team of 15 specialists have been assigned to trawl through more than 300 hours of CCTV footage that tracks the 38-year-old's final known journey and surrounding areas.

It is hoped that the videos may also offer information about anybody who could be involved in her disappearance nine days ago.

Miss Pilley, who lives on Whitson Drive, was last seen on CCTV footage coming out of Sainsbury's, at St Andrew Square, on 4 May at 8:51am.

Despite being less than 100 metres away from her workplace – Infrastructure Managers Limited – on Thistle Street, she did not show up at the office.

Police admit they fear a criminal act may account for her disappearance, and have now drafted extra staff from forces including Tayside Police, Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, and Fife Constabulary to tackle the potential evidence.

A police source said: "You don't often have this many staff on a murder squad if a body has been found, so this case is a high priority. The consensus is that something sinister has happened."

Around 60 different clips of CCTV footage have been seized by the team

and investigators are continuing to appeal for any local businesses with CCTV footage to hand in their tapes.

Detective Sergeant Stuart Houston, who is managing the CCTV collection and viewing team, said: "We have had a good response to all our requests for footage to be handed over, but as a result this means there is a lot of work to be done in terms of trawling through the footage.

"It is a long and laborious process to painstakingly scrutinise all these hours of footage, but the work of these officers is vital as it is the best way of establishing, as fact, where Suzanne went once she left Sainsbury's."

Today a neighbour of Miss Pilley, Georgette Davidson, 53, said she would sometimes see the bookkeeper heading to work in the morning, often in the company of a man she believed was Miss Pilley's boyfriend.

She said: "I thought they were a couple and I saw them together quite a bit. I would see them coming and going in the car, although I haven't seen her for a few weeks.

"She was always very quiet and she kept herself to herself. She was a very professional sort of woman, and they looked like a professional couple.

"It is so sad if something has happened to her, especially if it's something to do with a break-up. I hope she wasn't depressed or anything.

"Every day I open the newspaper looking for some good news.

"This must be a dreadful time for her family."

Anyone with information should call Lothian and Borders Police on 0131-311 3131, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Police officers today said that a woman who had vanished from her Lothian home has been found safe and well. Jill Calder, 39, had been reported missing yesterday after family members called at her home in Balbardie Crescent in Bathgate, West Lothian, and found her not to be there.