Police issue new appeal for help to find missing tot – 40 years after he disappeared
His sister is also calling on Nicola Sturgeon to launch a Madeleine McCann-style task force
POLICE have issued a fresh appeal to help find a missing three-year-old boy - 40 years to the day after he vanished.
Cops have launched a new push for information about a tot who vanished in 1976 in a bid to end the 40-year "limbo" his family has endured since he went missing.
Three-year-old Sandy Davidson disappeared from his grandmother's garden in Scotland on April 23 that year.
He was playing at the home in St Kilda Street in the Bourtreehill area of Irvine, North Ayrshire, with his younger sister Donna, then aged two, when the family dog escaped from the garden.
The blond haired boy is believed to have gone to look for the pet but never returned.
Despite an extensive search by the police and members of the community, there was no trace of Sandy and there have been no positive sightings of him since 1976.
It is still not known if Sandy, who would now be 43, just wandered off or was abducted.
As time went on his parents Margaret and Philip began to fear the worst. A neighbour who was working in his garden at the time had told police he saw Sandy leaving in a car with a strange man, but the child did not seem distressed, so he thought nothing of it.
Now - on the 40th anniversary of his disappearance - Police Scotland is renewing an appeal for any information which could help solve the mystery of what happened to the boy.
Detective Superintendent David Halliday said: "It's hard to imagine the distress and sadness Sandy's family have endured over the last 40 years, not knowing what has happened to their beloved son and brother, who was only a toddler when he went missing.
"This missing person investigation remains open and I'd like to take this opportunity on the anniversary of Sandy's disappearance to ask people to cast their minds back to Friday, April 23 1976.
Did you live in Bourtreehill in Irvine, specifically around the area where Sandy was last seen in St Kilda Street?
"It was a relatively warm day as Sandy played outside with his sister Donna. The community of Bourtreehill was tight-knit and mostly everyone knew their neighbour.
"Did you see Sandy when he left his grandmother's garden? He was quite a distinctive-looking child with light blond hair and blue eyes."
Over the years, devastated sister Donna has worked tirelessly in an attempt to trace Sandy and his whereabouts, and has led various campaigns.
Cops said they have been working closely with the charity Missing People to renew the appeal to find Sandy and will be publicising his images over digital billboards and online to try to raise awareness of his disappearance.
The charity's chief executive Jo Youle said: "To spend any length of time with a loved one missing is heartbreaking for a family desperate for news.
"Sandy's family have had to endure an unimaginable 40 years since Sandy disappeared.
"Everyone at the charity joins Police Scotland and the rest of the public in the hope that this new appeal will finally end the limbo that Sandy's family has been living in since the day he disappeared."
Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on the 101 number.
Speaking to local paper the Irvine Times, Donna said she was urging the Scottish Government to launch a Madeleine McCann-style task force to find her brother.
She is pleading with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to give the green light for financial backing of a special police investigation unit dedicated specifically to finding Sandy.
Just last month the UK Home Secretary Theresa May granted Metropolitan Police an extra £95,000 to extend the five year inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine for a further six months.