Simon's body found minutes from home in loch scoured by police

THE body of a missing islander who disappeared on Boxing Day has finally been found, just ten minutes from his home.

Islanders who never gave up looking for Simon MacMillan discovered his remains in a loch on South Uist yesterday morning.

He was found in Loch Bee, a short walk from his home.

Two officers from Stornoway Police have travelled to South Uist to help with the formal investigation.

A spokesman for Stornoway Police confirmed Mr MacMillan's parents had been informed of the find at Gerinish.

"We are currently waiting for formal identification, but it is a body of a male person and Mr and Mrs MacMillan have been informed," the spokesman said.

Local councillor Peter Carlin said: "It's Simon. It is a fantastic relief for his family and the community who never gave up looking for him.

"Simon's family can now start the grieving process properly and bury their son.

"It is likely his body will be flown to the mainland for a postmortem examination."

Mr MacMillan, a merchant seaman, had attended a dance in St Peter's Hall in Daliburgh on Christmas Day night.

He and a friend disembarked from a minibus. It is known he took his friend to his door but there had been no sign of him since.

His parents had not even expected him home for Christmas – but some extra shore leave gave him the last-minute chance to be with them.

He had been due to rejoin his ship on the Clyde just a few days later.

Mr MacMillan had only joined the pipe-laying ship MV Acergy Falcon in Norway about three weeks before he disappeared.

It is understood it was his first trip after he recently signed up to the Merchant Navy and he had just completed an initial course in Glasgow Nautical College.

In January, a specialist underwater police search team was brought to South Uist to assist with the hunt for the missing man.

The dive team from Strathclyde Police spent three days combing lochs including Loch Bee, which is the largest loch in South Uist.

Commercial and amateur divers have also searched the loch, as have search and rescue helicopters with infra-red cameras.

Islanders vowed to continue searching until Mr MacMillan was found and at times some 300 people turned out to look for him.

Even after the police formally ended their operation last month, dozens of volunteers carried out searches every weekend.

The dead man was the son of Angus MacMillan, the chairman of South Uist community landlord Stras Uibhist. He lived at home with his father and mother Elizabeth who is a teacher.

The dead man's father and brother Angus, 20, had also joined the searches which involved islanders from neighbouring Benbecula, North Uist and Eriskay.

Police had told the missing man's father last month that they would search for him again if current reviews of evidence threw up fresh clues.

The cost to police, coastguards and the military of searching for him topped 200,000.

Rumours of foul play and friction with locals beset inquiry

THE police investigation into Simon MacMillan's disappearance was not straightforward.

Dogged by rumours of foul play – all of which were denied by the police – stormy weather also hampered the search teams on South Uist.

However, after police drew a blank, an expert who had reviewed the hunt for Madeleine McCann was called in to help develop new leads. Footballing legend Kenny Dalglish, who knew the missing man, also made an appeal for information.

Police relations with some islanders were also strained.

Some of the residents were unhappy that officers – once they had formally pulled out of the search, despite protests from locals – had set up speed cameras at their regular meeting place where they co-ordinated their daily hunts for Mr MacMillan.

The police were defended by local councillor Peter Carlin, who said people should "not read too much into it," stating at the time: "The police have portable speed radar on these islands – and where it will be deployed is decided well in advance as part of their everyday policing."

Refusing to give up efforts to find Mr MacMillan, his father, Angus, had purchased sophisticated sonar equipment to hunt for the naval cadet himself.

The gear was bought by fish farmer Mr MacMillan from a firm in Aberdeen and was used to carry out underwater searches in a number of lochs with different water systems on the Outer Hebridean island.

The device allowed him to search areas where the water was particularly deep, as well as parts that were especially sandy or muddy.

The equipment was operated from a boat that concentrated on Loch Bee and Loch an Ose – two of the major water courses between where the missing man got off a bus and his home, and where his body was eventually found.