Parents tried to save torso victim

The Andersons are seeking help from the public

The parents of a heroin addict whose torso was found on a river bank have revealed how they desperately tried to get her off drugs just before her death.

June Anderson said the family had been "absolutely horrified" by the death of their youngest child Amy, who has a one-year-old daughter.

The remains of the 19-year-old were found on the banks of the River Leven, near Dumbarton, last Thursday morning.

She was a homeless drug addict who had been sleeping rough for several months before her death.

Amy Anderson was "pulled into drugs"

Mrs Anderson's husband Ian sat beside her and helped her as she read from a prepared statement.

She told a media conference: "Amy was our youngest child. She was a lovely, good natured girl, everybody who knew Amy all said how full of life she was.

"She really adored her little girl Lauren, she's just a year old."

Mrs Anderson said Amy had been "pulled into" a life of drugs just 13 months before her sudden death.

Absolutely horrified

"Despite our best efforts we couldn't save her," she said.

With tears in her eyes, Mrs Anderson told reporters: "Obviously we are absolutely horrified at what has happened to our daughter and we would hate any other parent to have to go through the suffering that we have."

Amy's father Ian told how he tried to get his daughter from her drug-filled life just two weeks before she was found.

Mr Anderson, 65, visited his homeless daughter at the end of April in a bid to encourage her to give up heroin and return to the family home in Dumfries.

The conference heard how her parents and two sisters, Gayle and Greer, had battled to help Miss Anderson beat her heroin addiction and make a better life for herself.

Amy's body was found in the River Leven

At the time of her death, Miss Anderson - who may have been pregnant when she was killed - was sleeping rough with her 26-year-old boyfriend Brian Galloway.

Police revealed the teenager may also have been involved in prostitution and said they could not rule out the possibility that her death may have been a result of this.

But detectives in charge of the murder hunt say they are convinced Miss Anderson died as result of her drug-taking.

The teenager's mother, who looks after her daughter's child, said police needed more information about her daughter's life and movements prior to her death.

Acting suspiciously

Miss Anderson's dismembered body was found on 9 May - just two weeks after the torso of former soldier Daniel Hutcheson, 23, was found wrapped in material by two men walking their dogs in Old Kilpatrick.

However, police say they have ruled out any link between the two killings.

Police officers said it was possible Miss Anderson had been killed in another part of the area and her body parts taken to the river in bags.

They have asked people who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the area or anyone seen carrying large bags to come forward.

Experts believe she was murdered 48 hours before her body was discovered.