Betty Brown Suspicious Death

Betty Brown

Fifty-six-year-old grandmother Elizabeth Brown, known as Betty, had been missing for almost eight months when her body was discovered on Tuesday 18 January, 2011. She was found 90 miles from her home in Edinburgh in an overgrown, disused quarry in North Cumbria.

The site was just off the A6071, a mile away from the bus-stop in Longtown where Betty would arrive when visiting family members in Gretna. However, there was no visit to her family scheduled for that month, and her family are anxious to find out how she came to be there and how she died.

Betty was a resident of the Gorgie neighbourhood in Edinburgh. She worked as a cleaner in care home, but she had been absent from work for three days before she went missing.

The last sighting of her alive was on Nicolson Street on Friday 28 May, 2010, which was just before a bank holiday weekend. She got off the number 3 bus at Surgeon's Hall bus stop at around 11.58am. Then records show she withdrew cash from a Royal Bank of Scotland cash-point nearby. After that, her movements are not known, but police think it is likely that she then boarded an X95 bus to Longtown on the same road.

Betty Brown, on the left, and her sister Maureen McLauchlan

CCTV image of a woman on the same bus as Betty - police are keen to trace her as she could be potential witnesses as to where Betty went next.

It is thought that Betty died soon after disappearing. She had sustained injuries to her ribs, which could suggest that she had been attacked, but there were no other signs of assault. The post-mortem could not give a definite cause of death.

However, police believe that for several reasons it is unlikely that she committed suicide: her body was found in an overgrown area that she was unlikely to have been familiar with. Her bags contained clothes and personal items, which suggest that she was headed on a journey.

Those bags appear to have been hidden in the woods and some of her clothes were found scattered near her body. Moreover, Betty appears to have been in a good state of mind when she died and was eagerly awaiting the birth of her next grandchild.

Her family and the police still have many questions that need answering before there can be any closure. Can you help?

• On the day that Betty went missing, Friday 28 May, 2010, she was wearing a light blue t-shirt with a collar, blue jeans and a big black jacket. She was carrying two black reusable Aldi bags and a black handbag.

• Police believe she may have boarded the X95 (headed for Carlisle) on Nicolson Street either at 12.05pm or 13.05pm, which would have arrived in Longtown at around 3.15pm or 4.15pm respectively. Did you see her boarding the X95 in Edinburgh or were you on this bus that day?

• Do you know of any plans that she had to meet anyone in the days preceding or following her disappearance on Friday 28 May, 2010?

• Did you see her in Longtown on that day? Her body was found at Gaitle Bridge, just off the A6071 between Longtown and Gretna. Did anyone spot her walking along the A6071 that afternoon?

• Did anyone close to you behave unnaturally around the 28 May, maybe even having some injuries or marks from nettle type stings?

Please use the form below to contact us about this appeal (items marked * are required).