A woman who has fought her entire life to have her father charged in the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl has recalled the moment she believes he confessed his guilt to her.

In February 1957, Moira Anderson disappeared from her home in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire while running an errand for her grandmother.

When Moira disappeared, Sandra Brown was eight years old and lived just a few doors down with her father, bus driver Alexander Gartshore, and her mother. Sandra later learned that her father was a convicted paedophile.

Now reflecting on Moira’s disappearance and her father’s death in 2006 – before he could be questioned about Moira – Sandra revealed the chilling “confession” her father made at her grandmother’s funeral that gave her goosebumps.

According to Sandra, Alexander said his own father (Sandra’s grandfather) “never forgave him for Moira.”

She told Metro: “It shook me to the core because suddenly I was eight years old and had to think about Moira.”

After their conversation, she learned that her paternal grandfather was so convinced that his son was involved in Moira’s disappearance that he ripped up the kitchen floorboards in the hope of finding her.

Following her father’s confession, Sandra began her own detective work and the following year he admitted that Moira had been a passenger on his bus on the day she disappeared.

She also learned that several of her relatives had been sexually abused by her father and that the children in the neighborhood were afraid of him.

Sandra said police told the 11-year-old’s family several weeks after Moira’s disappearance that she had probably run away from home.

She pointed out that there were no female police officers on duty at Coatbridge Burgh police station at the time, which may have influenced the investigation.

During the investigation, a witness named Agnes Smith called police and said she had seen a young girl matching Moira’s description on a bus heading towards Coatbridge town centre on the day the schoolgirl disappeared.

However, the police dismissed the sighting, saying there was “no girl” on the bus, and refused to take further action.

If police had followed up on this sighting, they would have discovered that Sandra’s father, who was awaiting trial for raping his children’s 13-year-old babysitter (for which he was convicted), was driving the bus that day.

Sandra told Metro: “There is no doubt that the original investigation was seriously flawed. They promised to leave no stone unturned, but there were witnesses they did not speak to, questions they did not ask and a whole host of things they did not turn around.”

For many years, Sandra did not know that her father was one of the last people to see Moira.

She also did not know about his conviction for rape because her mother had told her that he had served the 18 months of his sentence in hospital rather than in prison.

Years later, after her own investigation, Sandra was so convinced that her father was involved in Moira’s disappearance that she went to the police to accuse him of murder herself.

But the Scottish prosecutor said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against her father, who was then in his seventies and living in Leeds.

Sadly, Alex died in 2006 at the age of 85 without ever being convicted of Moira’s murder, but Sandra continued to raise awareness of Moira’s case and her father’s likely involvement.

She then wrote Where There is Evil, which became a Sunday Times bestseller, and also told the story in the Audible series Coatbridge: The Disappearance of Moira Anderson.

Moira’s parents died without knowing what had happened to their daughter, while her sisters Janet and Marjory moved away from Coatbridge to make a fresh start.

In 2000, Sandra founded the Moira Anderson Foundation to help people affected by childhood sexual abuse, violence, bullying and similar problems.

In 2014, the Scottish Crown Office issued a statement saying that if Alex were still alive, he would have been charged with the kidnapping and murder of Moira in 1957.

A new investigation launched in 2013 has now identified six possible dumping sites in Coatbridge, with a 170 m long section of the Monklands Channel being the area of ​​greatest interest.

In 2013, Sandra recalled a disturbing conversation she had with her father at Dick’s Pond when she was four or five years old.

She told Mail Online: “When I was a little girl we often went for walks in this area and one of those walks in particular stands out in my memory.”

“There were swans in the pond and he threw stones and half bricks at them. Then he said there was a mine shaft underneath and nobody knew how deep it went down.

“He said if you put a body there, it would never be found, and if he ever wanted to get rid of something, he would put it there. I’ll never forget those words because they scared me so much.”

In 2017, sonar scanning, ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry specialists combed the area for two weeks to identify any “anomalies.”

At the time, Detective Inspector Pat Campbell said teams were searching for skeletal remains and any jewelry or clothing that may have survived.

“This was an area that Alexander Gartshore frequented,” Campbell said. “We know he knew the area and it was close to the bus route he must have used at the time.”

“It is also approximately 900m from the last sighting of Moira on 23 February 1957, which occurred in the Carnbroe area.”

“On the morning of February 24, a man was again seen walking towards the canal with a large sack or bag.

“There are several reasons why this area is a high priority for us right now.”

A grave at Old Monkland Cemetery in Coatbridge was previously searched by experts, but Moira’s remains could not be found.

Police had investigated the possibility that Gartshore had thrown the teenager’s body into the grave of an acquaintance named Sinclair Upton.

The Crown Office enlisted the help of forensic soil scientist Professor Lorna Dawson in its efforts to find Moira’s remains, leading to the recent search operation.

Mr Campbell said: “The land around the canal has not changed much in 60 years.”

“We know it has been dredged three times, but this has generally only been done on the edges of the canal.”

“We remain optimistic that we can recover her remains and provide closure to her family, but it will be a challenge and we have explained that to both of Moira’s sisters.”

“It’s not something we would figure out immediately if we went into the water. It’s an extremely time-consuming and challenging thing.”

Lord Advocate Mulholland has said the case will remain open until her remains are found and her family has some closure.