Missing Yulia Solodyankina ‘spotted on Mull’

POLICE are investigating claims a missing Edinburgh student was spotted in a tiny village on the Isle of Mull.

Yulia Solodyankina. Picture: Comp

A possible sighting of a woman answering the description of Yulia Solodyankina, who spoke with a eastern European accent, and was reported in Fionnphort, in the Ross of Mull, on Friday.

Police following up the possivble lead have shown pictures of Yulia, 22, who disappeared from her Edinburgh home on June 7, to villagers.

Yulia, from Russia, who had just finished a physics degree at Edinburgh University, was last seen that day on CCTV at Buchanan Street Bus Station in Glasgow.

Police Scotland have said they believe she may have travelled from there to the Highlands and Islands.

A local resident, who asked not to be named, said: “On Saturday night the local police woman came around the guest houses with a photo of a young woman, who I recognised as Yulia, asking if we had her staying with us.”

She added: “It’s not a big town though, there’s about 45 houses here and a couple of guesthouses. But it is a very busy little place as it’s the ferry port for Iona so is popular with tourists and travellers.”

A spokesman for Police Scotland confirmed that they received a call about the sighting at Fionnphort, on the Isle of Mull on Friday and were pursuing the lead along with other enquiries.

He added: “We have had calls from Inverness, Kyle of Lochalsh, Lochgoilhead, Fort William and the Isle of Mull.”