A FRESH search is to get under way next week for the body of an 11-year-old girl who went missing from a Scots town almost 60 years ago.

The case of Moira Anderson, who was last seen in 1957 in Coatbridge, is to be the centre of a renewed search of an isolated pond.

It is to be led by forensic soil expert, Professor Lorna Dawson, of the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen and will concentrate on various locations in the North Lanarkshire town where Moira was last seen.

One theory is that the child's body may have been dumped in the pond in the Carnbroe area of the town and nearby mine shafts.

Sandra Brown fought for more than 20 years to see her father, convicted paedophile Alexander Gartshore, charged with Moira's murder.

He had told her that the pond, known locally as Dick's Pond, would be an ideal place to dump a body.

Moira disappeared during a snowstorm on February 23 1957, after she took a bus into town to shop for errands. Her body was never found.

Mrs Brown's late father, who died in 2006 aged 85, was driving the bus and was the last person to see her.

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC, announced in April that he had drafted in Professor Dawson to help with the case.

Mrs Brown said yesterday: "The searches are about to start happening and I am hopeful this could finally provide a breakthrough.

"The Lord Advocate has been very supportive in bringing in this forensic expert who worked on the World's End murder case and he has placed a lot of faith in this lady.

"She can look at soil and tell if there has been any disturbances in the last 100 years which is remarkable.

"The expert will now look at a number of locations in the Coatbridge area and that includes about 36 mine shafts.

"It's amazing to think that in the next month we might see the final breakthrough happening."

Last year the Crown Office took the unusual step of issuing a statement in which they laid out the evidence against Gartshore and said he would have been indicted for Moira's murder were he still alive.

Mr Mulholland has said the case will remain open until her remains are found and her family receives closure.

Professor Dawson has worked on more than 70 cases from around the world. She helped bring Angus Sinclair to justice last year for the murders of 17-year-old friends Helen Scott and Christine Eadie following a night out at the World's End pub in Edinburgh in 1977.

A grave in Old Monkland Cemetery, Coatbridge, was exhumed in January 2013 as it was thought Moira could be buried there but the search found no trace of her.

The wave of worldwide publicity that followed resulted in a number of new witnesses coming forward, including one woman who positively identified Gartshore dragging a young girl by the arms on the afternoon Moira went missing.

A Crown Office spokesman said: "Given the public concern about the disappearance of Moira Anderson the Lord Advocate last year took the unprecedented step of naming Alexander Gartshore as the person who would have been indicted for her murder had he been alive today.

"The Lord Advocate also instructed the investigation remain open in the hope that one day her body may be found and her family be given the closure they deserve.

"He is delighted that Professor Dawson has agreed to help in the search for Moira's remains.

"This is likely to be difficult and painstaking work. However, the case will remain open until her remains are found."