Death probe cops visit Perthshire witch memorial linked to Ian Brady
POLICE investigating the suspicious death of a young Traveller woman have taped off a monument to a 17th-century witch which has links to the Moors murderers.
Annalise Johnstone, 22, was discovered dead in woodland near Perthshire
The body of Annalise Johnstone, 22, was discovered in woodland near Auchterarder, Perthshire, nearly two weeks ago.
Detectives are awaiting the outcome of complex toxicology tests to determine the cause of her death and have seized a car as part of the probe.
It has emerged the Maggie Wall memorial, near Dunning, is one of a dozen locations linked to the inquiry.
The site is close to the rural road which was sealed off by police after the discovery of the body of Annalise, who had travelled to the area from her home in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, 24 hours earlier.
We are conducting a number of inquiries at various locations across Tayside
The memorial has been taped off and the ground in front of the stone cairn and cross has also been covered in black plastic sheeting.
Maggie Wall’s monument achieved notoriety during the trial of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. It emerged that the evil pair had visited the monument, purported to be a memorial to a woman burned at the stake as a witch in 1657, during their killing spree.
Photographs of them posing next to the stone cross during a holiday to Scotland in 1965 were published in newspapers, prompting headlines comparing Hindley to a witch. It turned out Glasgow-born Brady visited the site when he was a child.
Detective Superintendent James Smith says his officers are doing everything in their power to establish how Annalise died and he cannot rule out foul play. He has appealed for help in tracing her mobile phone and purse and a clear plastic medicine bag.
Maggie Wall’s monument achieved notoriety during the trial of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
Police Scotland are trying to establish how Annalise died and cannot rule out foul play
Police are also interested in a silver Ford Galaxy in which she travelled from Ardrossan to Auchterarder on Wedneday, May 9. The car was later recovered by police, seemingly abandoned, outside a house in Inchture, more than 25 miles away from where thebody was found.
A Police Scotland spokesman confirmed the Maggie Wall site was part of the investigation.
“We are conducting a number of inquiries at various locations across Tayside,” he said.
The memorial, which sits by the road half a mile from Dunning, has the words “Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a witch” written across it in white letters which are regularly repainted.
It is the only monument of its kind in Scotland dedicated to a single woman.
She was one of 1,500 who perished in a relentless witch hunt launched by King James VI that went on for 100 years.