Emma Faulds was dumped in a remote forest miles from her home by a killer who never wanted her to be found.
But a trail of crucial clues led police out of Ayrshire and towards Glentrool Forest, in the Galloway Forest Park, as part of a probe which focused on locations in three regions and one of the biggest searches ever undertaken by the major investigation team (MIT).
And local knowledge together with tiny samples of soil taken from a pair of boots and under the wheel arch of a Jaguar car helped bring Emma home to her family.
Twelve miles from the South Ayrshire village of Straiton across the border in Dumfries & Galloway, Emma’s body was found by officers on June 12, 2019.
By this time, Ross Willox had already been charged with the 39-year-old’s murder and was being held on remand.
He denied all the charges against him but was found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday.
The recovery of Emma was a significant breakthrough in the investigation which was like a jigsaw puzzle with small, vital pieces of information helping to build a case against the accused.
However, the job initially facing the MIT was a formidable one.
Covering an area of 700 square miles, parts of the vast Galloway Forest Park are described as like being the surface of the moon and trees as far as the eye can see in some places.
On the first day of the trial, Emma’s mum, Margaret Faulds, said of where her daughter was found: “No one would walk there or drive there. You would have to see it to believe how remote it was.”
One person did venture there, however, determined to make sure no one could find out what he had done to his friend of almost two decades.
Willox had previously worked in the area at wind farm sites – and through CCTV and cell site analysis of his phone, his movements from April 28 were traced and he became a suspect in Emma’s disappearance.
The MIT enlisted the support of the National Crime Agency (NCA) for advice on how to search large forest areas. The Forestry Commission and Scottish Power, who each own land at the Galloway Forest Park, were also contacted.
It turned out one of the inquiry team had been a wind farm liaison officer in the area when turbines were being installed. He became the ground search advisor.
“He actually lived down there and he had a really intimate knowledge of the layout of the wind farms and the Galloway Forest itself so that was invaluable for us,” said Detective Inspector Peter Crombie of the MIT.
Working together with analysts and search advisors, the area to be combed was narrowed down significantly to a radius of 10 to 15 square miles.
“It was a massive, massive undertaking but [the] ground search advisor had done a really fantastic job with the cadaver dogs of identifying different routes and roads he could have taken driving in and out of the Galloway Forest,” said DI Crombie.
Most of Police Scotland’s search advisors were being utilised in the quest to find Emma. It was their No 1 priority. Weekly meetings took place and long, unsociable hours were worked throughout May and early June that year.
“We used every resource that was available to us,” added DI Crombie. “There was no stone left unturned.”
On June 11, soil expert Professor Lorna Dawson CBE produced her findings after examining a pair of Timberland boots owned by Willox and Mercedes and Jaguar cars for the presence of soil. Prof Dawson’s analysis led to search teams refocusing on wet, boggy areas and, ultimately, finding Emma.
She told the trial that there was no natural path to the deposition site and it was not an area “you would normally walk through...you would avoid it”.
The soil recovered from the boots, Prof Dawson said, “came from the deposition site rather than a similar common bog habitat”. There was a 92 per cent soil match from the boots to the earth covering Emma’s body; a possible match was found under the Jaguar’s wheel arch.
Willox owned a black Mercedes and had access to his wife’s Jaguar.
Within 24 hours, the forest’s dark secret was uncovered when Detective Constable Ben Pacholek and his cadaver dog Bear found Emma.
DI Crombie said: “From a professional point of view, it was a massive relief to get Emma’s body back. From a personal point of view, and her family’s point of view, it was really important for us.
“From an investigative side of things, recovering Emma from where she was found provided us with crucial evidence in relation to the deposition site and how the person responsible would have gotten up to that area.”
But was there a chance that Emma might never have been found, given the remote location she was placed and without local intelligence?
“No doubt it would have taken us longer to recover Emma without that specialist and local knowledge that we had,” DI Crombie said. “I think we would have recovered her at some point.
“As her mum touched on, the remoteness of the area she was put, it shows the lengths Ross Willox went to try and cover up his actions and dispose of Emma. It just shows the disgusting actions he took; a complete lack of dignity for Emma and a lack of respect for her family, and her as well. That was somebody that was supposed to be his friend.
“I go back to teamwork. The work ethic of the inquiry team and the commitment the officers showed; for six weeks they worked long and unsociable hours and the main priority was to recover Emma for her family. Thankfully we did that and gave them answers.”
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