POLICE are continuing to search the former home of convicted paedophile as they try to find a teenager missing for more than 40 years.
Mary Duncan, 17, has not been seen since she told her family she was going to see friends in March 1976, in Bonhill, in the Vale of Leven.
Now forensic teams, detectives and uniformed officers are sifting through the former home of her stepfather, Norman Duncan, half a mile away from when she was last seen.
Duncan, now 73, is currently serving five years after being found guilty in 2016 of sexually abusing girls in the 1960s and 1970s.
Mary Duncan
Police began searching the house on Wednesday but have not said why, other than that it was in connection with an ongoing inquiry.
One neighbour, who asked not to be named, told The Herald’s sister paper The Dumbarton Reporter: “Since 6am police have been coming in and out all day.
“Forensics have left now and CID have been in and out most of the day as well. They’ve been in the back garden of the property. Forensics were taking pictures of the property, back and front.”
Duncan was tried at Dumbarton Sheriff Court for a series of sexual offences against four girls committed between 1968 and 1976, when his victims were aged between eight and 15.
Mary disappeared 43 years ago from the family’s then home in Third Avenue, Bonhill. Police Scotland would not confirm the exact address of the search.
A spokeswoman said: “Police are currently searching an address in Ladyton, Alexandria, as part of an ongoing investigation.”
Police last year said they had spoken to Duncan about Mary’s disappearance. Her family have campaigned tirelessly to keep her story in the public domain.
Mary’s sisters earlier this year told the BBC police intended to excavate land near where she was last seen.
Mary had a 13-month-old daughter, Laura, died of natural causes shortly after her mother disappeared.
Sister Debbie Rennick in January told the BBC: “Over the years we’ve come to realise she is no longer alive. But this investigation gaining momentum has given us hope that we might get some kind of resolution.”
Mandy Duncan added: “We just want to finish it and bring her home so our family is complete again.”
Back in January, another sister, Marion McFarlane told the broadcaster: “It would be wonderful for us to get her back, especially at this time.
“We should be having a birthday party, buying balloons and celebrating Mary’s 60th birthday with her and her children and maybe grandchildren.
“That’s a whole generation that is missing from our family.”
Speaking last year, Detective Superintendent Calum Young, who said: “Mary’s disappearance, and leaving Laura behind, was completely out of character.”
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