IT has been 60 years since she was last seen alive and yet Moira Anderson’s sisters are still seeking closure.

Yesterday, as a high-tech search of a stretch of Monklands Canal began, senior police officers said they believe closure will be found.

Some of the UK’s most skilled search and forensic experts are undertaking a full scientific examination of a stretch of water in Carnbroe.

Thanks to new leads, detectives believe this is the most likely of six new sites of interest to be the resting place of the Coatbridge schoolgirl.

Moira vanished on February 23 1957 as she went to a local shop on an errand for her grandmother.

In January 2014, the Crown Office took the unprecedented step of publicly stating that convicted Coatbridge paedophile Alexander Gartshore would have been indicted for Moira’s murder, had he not died in 2006.

This brought the criminal section of the investigation to a close - but Moira’s body remains missing.

Detective Superintendent Pat Campbell, working with the Cold Case Unit, took over a fresh attempt to find Moira in 2013 and believes his team is close to finally finding her.

Det Supt Campbell said: “We need to bring closure to both of Moira’s sisters, and not just that.

“Finding the remains of an 11-year-old, the murder of an 11-year-old child, if that’s not high priority for Police Scotland then I don’t know what is.”

The officer brought Moira’s sister Janet, who now lives in Sydney, Australia, to the site, which he said was emotional for her.

He added: “This is something Janet wakes up and thinks about every day so to bring that closure to sisters Janet and Marjory would mean a great deal.

“A find for me would mean absolutely everything. We could close the case completely then.”

One of the sightings that points towards Monklands Canal came from a man who reported in 1957 that he saw a man fitting the age and description of Gartshore walking beside the canal with a sack.

Monklands Canal was built to carry coal between Coatbridge and Glasgow and the area being searched was close to several coal seems.

It was not uncommon to see men stealing sacks of coal - and so this report was dismissed at the time as someone caught in the act of theft.

Asked about leads that seem obvious now but were missed at the time, Det Supt Campbell said: “A statement was taken at the time both from that individual and his partner but the relevance of it and the significance of it to this particular location, it didn’t become apparent until the 2013 investigation that we had potential other strands linked to this particular site.

“The area was frequented by people stealing coal and so the significance of that sighting wasn’t apparent until this new investigation.

“The bus route nearby and the significance to Alexander Gartshore weren’t known. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing.

“At that stage it would have been difficult to link these things to Moira’s disappearance.

The initial four-day search begun yesterday includes the use of enhanced technology including Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Sonar Scanning to identify any anomalies at the base of the three-metre deep canal.

Magnetometry - identification of magnetic anomalies - and earth science techniques will be applied to determine if there is any evidence of Moira’s remains at the bottom of the canal.

Experts are involved from Aberdeen, Belfast, Dundee and the National Crime Agency and include forensic expert Professor Sue Black.

On their side is the fact the canal, a quite and isolated spot, has been undeveloped over the years.

Police believe there may still be more victims of Alexander Gartshore who are yet to speak out.

Despite talk locally of a 1950s paedophile ring operating in Coatbridge, Det Supt Campbell said police are not linking Moira’s disappearance to any other crimes at this stage.

He said:”From the reinvestigation in 2013 a number of victims of Alexander Gartshore and we have been able to bring some closure to them.

“So there may be other victims out there and we would encourage them to come forward.”