Woods are searched for missing woman

Jun 17 2008 by Jenny Wood

THE HUNT for a missing Perthshire pensioner has taken a sinister turn this morning as police focus their attention on two rural parts of the county, in a search for a body.

The grim task of searching the two wooded areas in rural Perthshire follows the discovery at the weekend of the car belonging to 87-year-old Stanley woman Dolina Maclean, missing for more than two weeks.

Detectives now fear the worst for Dolina – last seen in a Perth supermarket.

The break-through came on Saturday morning when police found her dark green Vauxhall Astra in the carpark of Grampian Country Foods in Coupar Angus.

Dolina was not in the car and there was no trace of the frail 87-year-old in the immediate area.

However, a 48-year-old man from Perthshire was arrested and charged by detectives. He was due to appear at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday, charged with theft.

Further enquiries over the weekend led officers to cordon-off two wooded parts of rural Perthshire and meticulous searches of the sealed areas began today.

Tayside Police officers, headed up by Perth and Kinross’s head of CID Detective Chief Inspector Bruce Kerr, will be helped during the search by specialists from the National Policing Improvement Agency and scientific experts.

Although officers cannot comment on the case due to legal restrictions, they are still keen to hear from anyone who saw Dolina Maclean or her dark green Vauxhall Astra - which bears the registration number SP52 NYM - within the last fortnight or so.

Dolina was last seen at her home on Stanley’s Duchess Street on the morning of Friday, May 30, and then later the same morning at the Tesco Extra store on Perth’s Crieff Road.

She suffered from arthritis and had some mobility problems. Dolina is 87-years-old and described as being 5’5” tall, with long fair coloured hair and blue/grey eyes. When last seen at her home she was wearing a three-quarter length black or dark blue coat. It is also believed that she would have been wearing a blue jumper and black trousers.

Anyone who saw Dolina, or her car, between Thursday, May 29, and Saturday, June 14, is urged to call 0845 600 5705 immediately with any information they have.