Alan Black, whose sister Patricia vanished 50 years ago, has said he believes she was murdered and that he knows who killed her. On the anniversary of her disappearance, he has called on anyone with information to come forward.
Disappearance in 1976
Patricia Black, a factory worker, was last seen walking to a bus stop opposite a pub in Irvine, Scotland, on October 9, 1976, after spending the day shopping with friends. Her handbag was recovered from the River Irvine two weeks later, weighed down with rocks, but her body was never found.
After leaving the pub, four male friends walked Patricia, known as Tricia, to the bus stop. Some witnesses later claimed she was seen talking to another man there.
Brother's suspicion
Alan, from Stevenston, North Ayrshire, said the man he suspects admitted he was with Patricia that night. He said: "It is someone she was seen with on the night - who died some years ago. It's a local man. The man I believe killed my sister admitted he saw her."
He added: "One police detective later told me they were sure it was this man - they just couldn't get any proof."
Police response criticised
Alan was 17 when Patricia disappeared and has criticised the police investigation. He said: "There's not a day goes by that I don't think about her. It happened about 10 days before my 18th birthday.
"I was the one who took her to Irvine on that Friday night. My mother knew she was staying overnight with a friend but she didn't know who with. Patricia phoned my mum to ask her to put her immersion heater on. But she never came home the next day. That's when mum started getting worried. All day Sunday she was worried and she went to the police on Monday.
"The police weren't interested. They said she would be staying with friends. I think she was thrown in the river. If the police had moved their a***e quicker, maybe they would have found her."
Soon after Patricia vanished, Renee McCrae disappeared in November that year with her two-year-old son Andrew; both bodies have never been found. Alan said: "When that happened, I think the search for Patricia died down."
Family impact and call for information
Alan and Patricia's father, John Black, died two years after the disappearance. Alan told The Sun in 2017: "My parents were quiet people and they didn't show their emotions, but the one thing I know they longed for was that Tricia would be found so they could give her a decent burial.
"My mother kept her room just the way it was when she went missing for years afterwards. I can't imagine what she was going through.
"My father used to sit every day at the window and wait for her coming round the corner - it was so sad to see. He died three years after she disappeared and I personally think it was of a broken heart. We were all devastated."
Alan has dismissed suggestions that Angus Sinclair, convicted of the World's End murders of Christine Eadie and Helen Scott in 1977, could have killed Patricia. Sinclair was not convicted until 2014 and died in prison in 2019. Alan said: "I'm 100 per cent sure it's not the World's End killer Angus Sinclair, who has been in the spotlight in recent times. Sinclair wasn't even mentioned in connection with Patricia until a national newspaper article a few years ago, then the spotlight was on him. I'm sure he's not the man."
He told The Sun nearly a decade ago: "I would say there are two or three folk who know something and still aren't saying.
"Why are they holding back and how would they feel if it was their sister, daughter, or someone they loved? I just wish those people would come forward and be honest."
