Detectives say they will never stop searching for Scotland’s youngest missing person a decade on from her disappearance.
Holly Bringan, from Ayrshire, has not been seen since she vanished with her mum aged two.
Today, she remains the youngest Scot to be registered on Police Scotland’s database of almost 800 long-term missing people.
And a top detective yesterday said they will continue searching, however long it takes.
Holly and her mother Salena Dingwall were reported missing from Irvine on October 22, 2009.
At the time, it was suspected Salena may have used her skills working in an anti-corruption unit to set up a new life for her and her daughter without being detected.
Holly’s gran said her “mother’s instinct” told her the pair were safe but Margaret Barnes tragically passed away last year without learning what had happened to them.
Charity Missing People has regularly appealed to Holly, who will now be 12, to make contact.
It’s understood her dad Douglas Bringan, who split from Holly’s mum a few months after she was born but remained in contact, remains optimistic that one day his daughter will come looking for him.
The detective who initially led the inquiry, superintendent Jim Coubrough, said at the time that Salena had a “knowledge of finances and technology” and had “managed to create another life for herself”.
He said the mother had “not committed any crime” and was a “good mum” but appealed for her to get in touch, saying: “We need physical proof Holly is safe and well.”
Now, on the 10th anniversary of her disappearance, detectives have no fresh leads on where the mum and daughter may be.
But Holly’s case is reinvestigated every year.
Detective chief inspector Scott McCallum, of Ayrshire CID, said: “Police Scotland deal with about 22,000 missing person investigations every year and each investigation remains open until we have an understanding of what has happened, no matter how long that may be.”
Missing People said: “Holly, we are here for you whenever you are ready. We can listen, talk you through what help you need, pass a message for you and help you to be safe.”
