Woman who sparked hunt for boy is jailed

A 36-YEAR-OLD woman who sparked a major police search for a missing four-year-old has been jailed for nine weeks for wasting police time.

Nearly 30 police officers were called for the search after Vicky Anderson got so drunk she thought she had lost the child.

Anderson reported the boy missing and claimed he had last been seen when she and her partner had taken him to a local shop in Perth.

But after 28 officers and a police dog had spent a total of almost 40 hours searching for the boy, the truth emerged.

The boy was found safe and well with his mother and her friend in Blairgowrie – and Anderson admitted she had been so drunk she was deluded into believing he was with her.

The incident began on 27 July, when Anderson, who was barefoot, ran screaming into a local shop and claimed hysterically that she had lost the little boy who was staying with her.

Shop staff were so concerned they called the police, and when officers arrived at Anderson’s home she insisted that the child had gone missing at 9:30pm on 22 July.

Fiscal depute Katie Pacholek told Perth Sheriff Court: “The search involved 28 officers and a dog and a total of 39 hours of police time was wasted.

“Having reviewed CCTV the police were able to ascertain that the child had never been in the company of the accused and her partner, and the child was traced safe and well at a friend of his mother’s.”

Anderson, of Moulin Crescent, Perth, admitted wasting police time by falsely claiming that a four-year-old boy in her care had gone missing.

Solicitor Rosemary Scott, defending, said her client had no explanation for her bizarre behaviour and was simply so drunk she had become confused and deluded.