DETECTIVE Superintendent Pat Campbell, who is leading the fresh search to find the remains of Moira Anderson, said he is optimistic of bringing closure to her family as officers focus on a new “high priority” stretch of Monkland Canal.

Moira was 11 when she failed to return to her home in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, on February 23 1957 while running an errand for her grandmother to the local shop to buy butter and a card for her mum’s birthday.

She was spotted boarding a bus, but vanished shortly after and her body has never been found. It remains one of the longest-running mysteries in Scottish criminal history.

In 2014, prosecutors took the unprecedented step of announcing that local bus driver and convicted paedophile Alexander Gartshore, who died in 2006, would have faced prosecution for the schoolgirl’s murder if he were still alive.

Moira was last seen boarding a Baxter’s bus that was driven by Gartshore in heavy snowstorms. In 1999, convicted child abuser James Gallogley named his former friend Gartshore as Moira’s murderer.

Gartshore’s own daughter Sandra Brown was convinced he was the killer and campaigned to have him charged.

A reinvestigation set up in 2013 has now identified six potential deposition sites in Coatbridge, with a 170m area of Monkland Canal the number one area of interest.

Now specialists in sonar scanning, ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry are to scour the area over the next two weeks to identify any “anomalies” which divers will then investigate.

Detective Superintendent Pat Campbell, who has been investigating Moira’s disappearance for years, said teams will be looking for skeletal remains as well as any jewellery or clothing that may have survived.

He said: “This was an area Alexander Gartshore frequented. We know he was familiar with the area and it was near to the bus route that he would have been on at that particular time. It’s also about 900m from the last sighting of Moira on February 23 1957, which was within the Carnbroe area.

“Again, there was a further sighting on the morning of February 24 of a male moving towards the canal with a large sack or bag. There’s various strands that make this area high priority for us just now.”

The team involved includes Professor Sue Black from Dundee University who was previously involved in the exhuming of Old Monkland Cemetery in 2013 as well as a number of specialists from the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen and Queen’s University in Belfast. Experts searched the plot but failed to find Moira’s remains.

Police had been investigating the possibility Gartshore dumped the youngster’s body in the grave of an acquaintance named Sinclair Upton. The Crown Office also enlisted the help of forensic soil scientist Professor Lorna Dawson as part of efforts to find Moira’s remains, leading to the latest search.

Campbell said: “The land round about (the canal) has not changed much in 60 years.

“We know it’s been dredged three times but that’s taken place only really at the sides of the canal in general.

“We remain optimistic that we can recover her remains and bring closure to her family, but it will be challenging and we’ve explained that to both Moira’s sisters.

“This isn’t something that we would anticipate going into the water and finding right away, this is something that will be extremely time-consuming and challenging.”

The search comes from a review of historical witness statements as well as new information since the reinvestigation began in 2013. Moira’s sisters have been kept up to date with developments.

Moira’s eldest sister Janet Hart returned to Scotland from Australia for the first time in two decades to make a visit to the site on the 60th anniversary of her sister’s disappearance.

Campbell said: “Janet was over last month for the 60th anniversary of Moira’s disappearance and I personally brought her down here to explain what we’re going to do. She’s back over in Australia now but fully aware of where we are, and I had a detailed discussion with Marjory.”