Full Name: Sandy Jardine Davidson

Alternative Name: Sheepskin

Case Status: Missing

Record ID#: 0200

*The names “Jane Doe”  and “John Doe” are English names used when the person’s true name is not known. If used above, the name refers to a person of unknown identity.

Date of Birth*: May 28, 1972
Birthplace: Salt Coats, Ayrshire, Scotland
Age at the Time: 3
Age Group: Toddler (2 to 5 Years Old)
Biological Sex: Male
Hair: Curly, Blonde
Eyes: Blue
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Ethnicity: Caucasian or White
Nationality: Scotland
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*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

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Date of the Disappearance*: April 23, 1976

Description: The spring day was unusually warm and enticed the local children outside, running off the energy that had accumulated over the winter months. Excited to be out of doors, little Sandy was playing in the garden at his grandparents’ home in the Bourtreehill Estates when he disappeared in April of 1976.

Bourtreehill is a significant housing estate developed by the Irvine Development Corporation in the 1970s and split into two parts – South Bourtreehill and North Bourtreehill. Over the decades since, the community has historically housed lower-income families and faced long-lasting socio-economic issues. But in 1976, it was a bright, clean community filled with newly settled residents, pretty white homes still showing signs of construction, and dreams of a new and better life. The neighborhood sits on the on the outskirts of Irvine in the North Ayrshire district, one of Scotland’s larger cities and is currently home to approximately 35,000 people.

The Davidsons, including Phillip, Margaret, and their two young children Sandy and Donna, had moved to the neighborhood in St. Kilda’s Bank just six weeks earlier and were living just three houses down from the children’s grandparents. This was convenient and allowed their grandmother to care for the children while their parents were working and the children were excited to spend the time with their family.

As that early spring morning dawned, Margaret and Phillip both headed off to work while the children were left to play under the watchful eye of their grandmother. At around 10:00am that morning, Little Sandy (3) and Donna (2) were outside playing with their family dog, Kissie, in the back garden; their grandmother was inside but close enough to monitor them. The yard was protected by a fence but unexpectedly, the front gate was suddenly open, and the dog dashed out, prompting Sandy to chase after.

Gesturing for his sister to join him, Sandy left not realizing Donna had instead swiftly darted back indoors to alert their grandparents of the unfolding event. Despite the family’s immediate search of the surrounding community, neither Sandy and the dog were found.

The search for Sandy escalated and the local police were informed of his disappearance quite quickly. Local construction on a new primary school (Broomlands Primary) and local residences was stopped in case Sandy had found his way there. There was also significant concern that the Sandy may have gotten too close to a nearby river, the Annick, and accidentally drowned.

Unlocking the gate would seemingly have required human action given the solid nature of the lock; it is unlikely that the wind blew it open unless for some reason it had not been latched properly by the last person through it. The gate lock was high enough and complicated enough that neither of the children could have opened it.

When she ran inside, Donna, a toddler at the time, had told her family that a “bad man” had taken Sandy but could not provide more information. According to a local neighbor who was working on a new home nearby, he saw Sandy get into a car with an unknown man. During the same time frame, locals witnessed an unknown man walking around the area passing out brochures. The nature of those brochures or whether the police were able to locate this man is unknown.

In 2015, an unidentified man went to the police claiming to have been kidnapped and abused by a teenage girl from the same local area. According to the victim, the assault occurred during approximately the same time frame as Sandy’s disappearance. The victim was living just a couple of streets away from St. Kilda’s Bank and had been outside playing near the river. While walking home, he suddenly found himself assaulted by a young girl who hit him with a rock and drug him into the bushes. He says the incident occurred in the summer of 1976, not long after Sandy disappeared. Police have investigated but it does not appear that they have found evidence connecting the two events. It is unclear what came of the victim’s claims in the years since 2015.

In 2020, Sandy’s sister Donna, now an adult, warned police that a potential witness had come forward. According to the witness, when she was young, she and her father were traveling by car when he stopped unexpectedly and picked up a little boy. Her father told her to talk to the child when they looked for his dog. The witness testified that she asked the child’s name (‘Sandy’) and that the last she remembers they were in some field. Police later dismissed this lead, claiming the witness had mental health issues that made their testimony unreliable.

• April 23, 1976

  Sandy and his sister are playing with their dog in the front yard of their Bourtreehill home.

• April 23, 1976

  The dog runs through the front gate and Sandy chases after him.

• April 23, 1976

  Donna tells the grandparents and the search for Sandy immediately begins.

Multiple Victims?: No

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*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

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Description: Unknown

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Multiple Victims?: No

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*If the date says January 1, this is often just a placeholder for an unknown specific date. It usually means “sometime that year”.

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