Suzanne Pilley's body 'lost forever'

POLICE have given up the hunt for the body of missing Edinburgh office worker Suzanne Pilley until new clues come forward.

Extensive searches of forest land in the west of Scotland, where they believe her body is buried, have proved fruitless.

Now detectives in charge of the case have decided to call off the search unless new clues come to light. And they admitted the move meant the remains of the 38-year-old from Stenhouse may never be

found. Ms Pilley disappeared on May 4 after travelling to work in the city centre.

She was caught on CCTV camera heading for the office of Infrastructure Managers in Thistle Street, where she worked as a book-keeper.

Police believe she was then murdered and her body taken to Argyll where it was dumped.

Lothian and Borders Police deployed a squad of officers to carry out investigations in the area and scour 100,000 acres of forest in Argyll for her remains.

Detectives appealed for information about a silver car being driven by a male in the area the day after Ms Pilley disappeared.

Officers with sniffer dogs searched through the forest, but no body was found.

A police source said today: "No expense was spared to try to find Suzanne based on the evidence and information coming in from the public.

"But we've found nothing despite out best efforts. Without any new information coming in, we could spend years searching Argyll Forest for her.Now we have a man charged with her murder, it was a matter of time really before the search was scaled right down."

A Lothian and Borders police spokesman added: "The searches for Suzanne have always been intelligence-led and will remain that way."

David Gilroy, 47, has appeared in court charged with her murder and is out on bail awaiting trial.

Police yesterday visited the offices of Sky News to demand a copy of their interview with Mr Gilroy.

Detectives want to study remarks he made to waiting reporters.