THE discovery of Vicky Hamilton's purse had a dramatic effect on the investigation into the schoolgirl's disappearance, a murder trial heard yesterday.
A former senior police officer said the search for the teenager was extended as far as London following the find, made 11 days after she vanished.
The details came as Detective Chief Inspector Keith Anderson described his part in the investigatio
n, which spanned 16 years.
Vicky was last seen in Bathgate, West Lothian, on 10 February, 1991, on her way home to Redding, near Falkirk, after a weekend with her sister.
Mr Anderson – the senior investigating officer when her disappearance was re-examined in 2006 – said the search was widened to London and Aberdeen after Vicky's purse was found in Edinburgh city centre on 21 February, 1991.
He said officers looked into the possibility that Vicky had "moved on" from Edinburgh, given that the purse was discovered in St Andrew Square, near the bus and railway stations.
Peter Tobin, 62, is on trial at the High Court in Dundee. He denies abducting Vicky, 15, and drugging, indecently assaulting and murdering her.
Mr Anderson, said more than 6,500 people were spoken to and just over 3,000 statements were taken in the first year of the investigation into Vicky's disappearance. He told Frank Mulholland, QC, prosecuting, that officers found no evidence of Vicky in London, Aberdeen or elsewhere.
Tobin claims he was hundreds of miles away, in the Portsmouth area, when Vicky disappeared.
The trial continues on Monday.
