Betty ‘was victim of sex attack’, inquest rules

The inquest at Carlisle Crown Court heard how the mother-of-three had been found wearing no trousers or underwear.

Police previously said they suspected she had been murdered, but the coroner failed to establish a cause of death and recorded an open verdict.

Today, a police source said detectives from both forces would now redouble efforts to unearth a fresh line of inquiry to shine new light on the mystery of Mrs Brown’s death.

The inquest heard that detectives broke into Mrs Brown’s Gorgie flat following her disappearance and found an old diary on the kitchen table with a message that she could not “take it any more”.

But deputy coroner Robert Chapman ruled out suicide.

The police source said: “The day after the inquest hearing there will likely be a series of meetings between police in Lothian and Borders and Cumbria to discuss lines of inquiry to take forward and see if they can establish a missing link. Frankly, if the body is badly decomposed that is going to be difficult.

“They don’t know who she meets or where she goes. There are a whole lots of gaps, but the next stage is having a conference together and looking at the verdict.

“This case is like a jigsaw puzzle – there are a lot of pieces missing but you have to put all the pieces on the table again and sometimes one tiny piece will fit in.”

The source added that the diary left in Mrs Brown’s home could be “hugely influential” to further police investigations.

Police launched the missing person case in May 2010, before her daughter Sarah and sister Maureen made several pleas for Mrs Brown to return home.

An appeal was later broadcast on BBC Crimewatch in bid to bring in more evidence.

Mrs Brown’s body was discovered in an area covered in nettles, which has led police to conclude it was implausible that she had gone there to take her own life.

A study of Mrs Brown’s

character and history also led officers to the belief that

she had no plans to commit suicide.

The condition of the body has left forensic experts unable to give a cause of death, but they believe it was “unlikely” that she died naturally.

Inspector Jeff Ashton, now retired, previously said it was “highly likely” Mrs Brown had been murdered, revealing she had suffered damage to her ribs.

Forensic experts who examined her remains also believed she had been attacked.

Dr Matthew Lyall, a pathologist, said a post-mortem revealed no signs of “trauma” but her body was too badly decomposed to establish a cause of death.

Two Aldi bags were found nearby with items including clothing and photographs.

The inquest heard that Mrs Brown, who worked in a care home and would often visit her daughter in Gretna, had been prescribed anti-depressants.

The family said she would always phone ahead of her trip to Gretna and they would pick her up in Longtown – but heard nothing from her before she disappeared.

In an emotional revelation, a tragic message written in an old diary recovered from Ms Brown’s home in Gorgie was read aloud in court.

Found lying on the kitchen table, it read: “To all my family, I sorry but can’t take any more.

“Been depressed and lonely. Please forgive your mum and sister. All my love.”

The deputy coroner noted that while Mrs Brown had withdrawn cash and was believed to have caught the X95 bus from Edinburgh to Carlisle, the details were “a bit hazy”.

Giving evidence, Mrs Brown’s sister Maureen McLauchlan spurned suggestions she had killed herself, saying that while she drank alone in her house and had money troubles, she was a “very likeable person” who was “happy”.

She said: “I think if Betty had intended to kill herself she would have done it in her flat.

“I don’t think she would have travelled all the way down to Longtown.”

She added: “The last time I spoke to her she was happy.”

Mrs Brown’s daughter Sarah Smith, who lived in Gretna at the time, said her mother would “never ever” have just turned up, adding she had no reason to believe she had killed herself.

Pauline Lettice, a supervisor at the care home where Mrs Brown worked, said she had said “she felt like running away sometimes” and “felt lonely and depressed”.

Witnesses painted a picture of the last sightings of the Edinburgh woman in the hours before her death

Timothy James Hall, of Longtown, said he remembered seeing Mrs Brown on the Gretna to Longtown road after watching a TV reconstruction.

He told the inquest she was standing “just staring into the middle of the road”.

In a statement, Geoffrey Muir, of Eastriggs near Gretna, said he had noticed “a lone female walking on the other side of the road carrying Aldi bags” near the Ministry of Defence site at Longtown.

He also “noticed a male riding a female’s bike”. Mr Muir drove back shortly afterwards, thinking he would offer her a lift.

“I continued along and I didn’t see either the lady or the male on the bike. I assumed she had been picked up and the cyclist turned off,” he said.