Exclusive by Russell Findlay

POLICE are probing claims a missing woman who has not been seen since 1999 is living a secret new life with travelling people in England.

Margaret Fleming, 36, was reported missing by her carers Edward Cairney and Avril Jones in October last year, after the police and benefits agency staff turned up at their home.

The couple claimed Ms Fleming, who has learning difficulties, had left the rundown house in Inverkip, Inverclyde, just hours before the visit by the authorities.

But an ongoing and large-scale Police Scotland investigation has yielded no independent sighting of Ms Fleming since Christmas 1999, when she was a teenage student.

Friends of Mr Cairney, 75, and Ms Jones, 56, are claiming Ms Fleming is actually alive and well and living among the traveller community south of the Border. The claim is being examined by detectives, who cannot rule it out completely despite no evidence it is true.

The rumour about Ms Fleming’s supposed secret life has become rife in Inverkip and nearby Greenock, with one resident saying: “The story being told by some of the couple’s friends is Margaret is absolutely fine and residing at a traveller site in England.

“While most people regard it is implausible, it’s inevitable some might believe it.

“Even more extraordinary is another suggestion Margaret had been arrested by the police in relation to drugs.”

The two carers have said nothing in public since the police issued a public plea for information last December. But Ms Jones has now broken her 10-month silence.

Refusing to answer a series of questions put to her about Ms Fleming, Ms Jones would only say: “Nothing untoward has happened, nothing”.

When asked about the gypsy rumour circulating, she replied: “I know that.” Ms Jones added: “There’s no heat on me. We’re not suspected of anything, we’re not being investigated. We’re just witnesses. Most of what I’ve read has been rubbish.”

A Major Investigation Team spent months conducting a painstaking forensic investigation of the cottage and its sprawling garden edging the banks of the Firth of Clyde.

They have also spoken to more than 1,200 people and agencies in the UK and abroad, taking more than 500 statements, but no-one else has seen Ms Fleming for the past 18 years.

A police spokesman said: “This line of enquiry is being investigated but so far there is nothing to confirm it is the case and our inquiries are continuing.”