Public 'may hold key' to killing

The body of 18-year-old Carol Lannen was found in Dundee's Templeton Woods on 21 March 1979.

Her handbag was later discovered on the banks of the River Don at Kintore.

Detectives have received information from Aberdeenshire in the last two weeks which have allowed them to open up a particular line of inquiry.

The Carol Lannen murder inquiry team have spent several weeks speaking to people in the area around Kintore, Kemnay and Inverurie.

They are investigating a stretch of river about 25 miles long, where they suspect Ms Lannen's bag could have been dropped into the water.

Det Ch Insp Ewen West said: "There is no doubt in my mind and that of the investigation team that there is critical information that we need to get that links the murder of Carol with that handbag.

"We've spent a bit of time there, the inquiry officers have been up there a lot recently.

"I really firmly believe it's an important area and we haven't just quite got all the information we could."

He appealed for people to get in touch if they had information about someone who lived or worked in the area around the time Ms Lannen disappeared who also had connections with Dundee.

Ms Lannen was last seen at about 2000 GMT on 20 March 1979 - she was getting into the passenger seat of a red vehicle in the Exchange Street area of Dundee.

A photo-fit was later issued of the driver and police want anyone who may recognise him to come forward.

Detectives are also appealing for a woman who contacted them on Monday with information about a man called 'Roger' to get back in touch.

Roger was a friend of Ms Lannen who police have not been able to properly identify.

He lived in Main Street in Dundee in a flat between numbers 56 and 60, and may have been a bus driver.

The inquiry team is also looking for anyone who saw Ms Lannen in the Highwayman pub in the weeks before her disappearance to come forward.

Det Ch Insp West said they were making progress in the investigation.

"If we look at the inquiry at this time last year, to where we are now, then I'm quite content that we've got more relevant information," he said.

"How close we are to identifying who killed Carol is a really difficult question to answer.

"But I firmly believe if we do all the work that we need to do, and we get all the support and assistance we can from the public, then that gives us the best opportunity of getting to that point of identifying who killed Carol Lannen."

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