THE family of an elderly woman who spent 21 hours locked in a public toilet after suffering a stroke have said they are plagued by the thought of the suffering she endured.

Norma Webster, 78, lay in the convenience in Moray for almost an entire day and night while a massive police search with sniffer dogs was launched to try and find her whereabouts.

But the pensioner, who is now recovering in Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin, was not found until the toilets were unlocked the next day.

Her son, Martin McDonald, 46, told the Press and Journal: “The only consolation is that she doesn’t remember the whole thing. It’s horrible to think that she was in there all night.

“Obviously, the toilets have just been locked without anybody checking to see if there was anyone inside.”

Police Scotland have apologised to the family and Moray Council say they have launched an urgent review into the incident.

Mrs Webster was reported missing around 5pm on July 31 after failing to return from a trip to Forres High Street, close to the town’s Leys Road public conveniences.

The alarm was raised by her 84-year-old husband James and as fears grew for her safety, helicopters and sniffer dogs were called in.

She was found just 200 yards from the spot where the last confirmed sighting of her was made.

She was captured on CCTV going into a Co-op store around 10.30am, and was found in the public conveniences at 8am the following day.

In the crucial hours after Mrs Webster was reported missing, police searched homes of relatives, as well as carrying out door-to-door inquiries.

Mr McDonald, who works for a car dealership in Elgin, said: “I wanted their help. I wanted my mum found.

“They came to Elgin to look in my 80-year-old uncle’s house, they looked in my shed, when they could have been looking for her.

“They never said it in so many words, but they were looking for a body. They looked in the attic at my mum’s house. My old man’s hardly capable of walking, let along getting in a loft through a three-foot hatch.”

A Moray Council spokesman said: “The council can only apologise most sincerely to Mrs Webster and her family for what must have been a distressing ordeal for all of them.

“An urgent review of procedures will now be done to ensure that where we operate toilets in partnership with the local community who open and close them, as was the case here, there is no prospect of a similar incident happening again.”

Chief Inspector Stewart Mackie, Police Scotland’s Moray area commander, apologised to relatives if the reasons for the searches were unclear.