A DISTRAUGHT Saltcoats woman has urged police to search a disused school in a bid to find her missing brother, who vanished 38 years ago.

Sandy Davidson was just three when he disappeared from his gran’s house in Irvine on April 23, 1976, writes Ciaran Shanks.

Sister Donna, who now lives in Saltcoats, fears he was killed and buried on the site of the now closed Broomlands Primary School, which was being constructed at the time he vanished.

But police have confirmed they have “no immediate plans” to search the grounds of the school, which is now scheduled for demolition.

Last year, in an attempt to bring her heartbroken family closure, Donna launched a Facebook page called Help Find Sandy Davidson, which received a flood of responses and potential new leads following the release of an age-progressed picture of Sandy.

And last week, she and her family launched a petition to carry out a search of the now-closed Broomlands Primary.

Donna said: “When I heard that the school was getting knocked down I decided to start a petition and see if we could maybe search it.

“When Sandy disappeared, the school wasn’t even built at the time it was just a building site.

“We stayed next to it when we were younger and now that it’s been shut I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to at least give it another search.

“But now I don’t think we’ll be able to search the building and that’s the impression I’ve been given by the CID.

“They said that it was given a thorough search at the time and they couldn’t find any links.

"I really don’t know what to do now and I’m just a bit confused about what to do next.” Sandy disappeared while he was playing with Donna.

After chasing after their pet dog, who ran from his gran’s garden, Sandy never came back.

Donna added: “I’ve met with the police about it but I’m convinced that we won’t be allowed access to search the premises.

"I’ve been overwhelmed with the support we’ve received though. The posts on the Facebook page are still getting shared.

“I’m not under any illusion that Sandy is buried there but it could have been searched because it’s now flat.

“Anything could have been missed.” A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: “Officers are liaising with the council, the construction company and the family of Sandy Davidson.

“There are no immediate plans to excavate the building at this time.

“The missing persons inquiry into the disappearance of Sandy remains open and we welcome any new information which will be carefully investigated.”