Following on from the above post about Stephen's case ... the main difference in the wandered off theory for Madeleine is that Stephen's body was found despite the rough terrain around ... and I think the evidence given of the double knots on his laces and the sock in his pocket leave something hanging in the air.
This post I think shows that irrespective of input from a junior, senior officers will continue with the investigation as they see fit no doubt for the best of reasons and following 'expert' advice, even if it might have been the wrong expert asked for it.
If the search perimeter had been extended the chances are Stephen could have been found sooner; with luck alive but as it was more information could have been gleaned from his remains.
The case I can't forget: Former detective Gerry Gallacher regrets how investigation into tragic Stephen McKerron disappearance was handledGERRY Gallacher, 59, was part of a team tasked with finding lost five-year-old Stephen McKerron, who went missing from an Ayrshire holiday camp in 1988.
ByDailyrecord.Co.Uk
12:15, 20 MAY 2012The police search was heavily criticised when Stephen was found dead 16 days later.
To this day, Gerry is still haunted by the missed chances that could have saved his life.
VERY EARLY in an officer's career the realisation dawns that no matter how hard you try, you cannot simply solve every crime of bring every incident you face to a successful conclusion.
Even more so if the situation or crime has involved a child or some other vulnerable individual.
Stephen McKerron was just five when he went missing from Wonder Westworld Holiday Centre on September 17, 1988.
His disappearance within hours of arriving at the camp sparked one of the largest searches ever seen in Scotland.
The tragedy was intensified by the fact that there were several missed opportunities, which may have led to a happier outcome.
Mistakes were made by the public and police alike and those errors probably cause many involved to occasionally pause and reflect. I know I do.
Stephen had gone to Wonder Westworld with an aunt and uncle for a week’s holiday.
Like many kids, he’d been taken out of school a few days before the beginning of the holidays, but within half an hour of arriving at the camp he’d gone missing.
Although there were initial concerns that Stephen may have been abducted, they were offset by a witness who saw a boy fitting his description and wearing the same clothes climbing a six foot perimeter fence.
There were further sightings of a boy walking alone on a road towards nearby Ayr.
Search parameters were established by senior management and assistance was eventually sought from the RAF, which provided a helicopter equipped with infrared sensors.
I was one of scores of detectives drafted in to assist by interviewing staff and guests. I’m sure most of the inquiry team were satisfied that Stephen was missing and not the victim of foul play, but that didn’t make things any easier.
The surrounding area was bleak, cold and marshy and he was only a child, woefully underdressed for the conditions and night-time temperatures.
In the belief that he was lost I found myself sometimes delaying inquiries I’d been given just so I could take a drive around the surrounding terrain in the forlorn hope that I’d catch sight of him or maybe hear him call out. Not long into the investigation I needed to speak to a procurator fiscal at Glasgow Sheriff Court about an unrelated matter.
As I stood waiting I began a conversation with a sergeant.
That chance meeting and the resulting conversation would bring me into conflict with the senior officers in charge of Stephen’s disappearance.
It almost led to me being thrown off the inquiry, and it remains a source of regret that I could have been more forceful in my arguments.
The sergeant had previously worked on a similar type of enquiry involving a missing boy who was roughly the same age.
In that case, however, the boy – also on foot and alone – had managed to walk a far greater distance than the area designated for search in Stephen’s case.
At the briefing that evening I relayed this new information to senior management and expressed my belief that the allocated search parameters were too narrow.
I was told that “experts” had been consulted when establishing the search area. The expert was, in fact, a paediatrician.
When I suggested that consulting a topographer would be more beneficial than a paediatrician and reiterated the distance covered by the boy in the other case, I was met with icy glares and even icier responses. “That’s the advice we’ve been given and that’s what we’ll stick to,” I was told in no uncertain terms.
By this time I could feel colleagues almost creating a physical space around me as a means of distancing themselves from my suggestions.
Throughout my police service I’d never shied from conflict and besides, this was too important to remain silent about.
I forcefully made my point again that a different type of expert should be consulted and have the search parameters redrawn, but I wasn’t going to alter their opinions.
As I made a final futile effort to change their minds I was nudged by a colleague who whispered to me: “Shut it, you’re about to get binned.” In other words, thrown off the inquiry.
On October 3, 1988, some 16 days after he’d gone missing, Stephen was found dead by a passing hillwalker.
He was curled up in a ditch, possibly trying to shelter from the cold. He was six miles from the camp and one mile out of the established search parameters.
If a chain is only as strong as the weakest link then the chain relating to Stephen’s disappearance was weak from the outset and remained that way for the length of the enquiry.
There were so many “what ifs” and had some of them been acted upon, Stephen’s life might have been saved.
Why didn’t Stephen’s aunt and uncle keep a closer watch over him at the camp?
Why didn’t the person who’d seen him climbing a fence to the outside of the camp intervene?
Why didn’t any of the four motorists who saw a small, unaccompanied young boy walking a busy road not check to see if he was okay or tell police?
Why did the police limit the search area to five miles and take three days to make use of a specially equipped helicopter?
Why wasn’t I more aggressive in demanding the search area be extended? The only salve to my own conscience, I suppose, is that no matter how much I protested, the senior officers in charge had made their minds up and would never have changed course.
At the subsequent fatal accident inquiry, the officers in charge conceded that should the same situation arise, they would adopt a different approach.
Why do I think Stephen ran away? I think he was a little boy who was missing his mother and father, who was homesick and who was trying to make his way home to Hamilton, which makes the whole incident even sadder.
As I said, some inquiries remain with you.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/the-case-i-cant-forget-former-detective-878371
