Police searching for the body of Adam Alexander have discovered more human remains.
The announcement came on Wednesday evening after police spent a second day trying to discover if a Carse of Gowrie field is the resting place of the slain lorry driver.
The initial breakthrough in the 13-year-old mystery came on Tuesday afternoon when police discovered a piece of human bone.
Mr Alexander was buried in an unmarked grave near Errol Brickworks in 1999 after being killed by Scone businessman Thomas Pryde.
The discovery site, in a field at Muiredge Farm, was cordoned off as a six-strong specialist team, led by Dundee University’s Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, took over from police officers.
They began the job of working through the soil to recover the human left fibula and uncover further remains.
Last night police confirmed that skeletal remains of a human body had been found. They said the remains had been recovered and taken to the police mortuary in Dundee pending formal identification.
Forensic examination at Errol will continue today.
If the remains are those of Mr Alexander, his mother’s long fight for the mystery surrounding her son’s disappearance to be solved will be over.
Tricia Bremner visited the farm and laid flowers at the scene and spoke of the dedicated service and compassion exhibited by the officers.
Heading the Tayside Police investigation is Detective Chief Inspector Greig Steele. He said the probe would now continue with care and dignity as the team bids to discover whether they have finally found Mr Alexander’s resting place.
“On Tuesday there was a search for the body of Adam Alexander and during the course of that our officers discovered a human leg,” he said. “At that point we stopped digging and we are now continuing with a detailed forensic examination of the site.
“Forensic archaeologists and forensic anthropologists are now assisting in the recovery of remains.
DCI Steele said it was not possible to say how quickly a positive identification of the remains would be made, with the condition of any finds key to the speed of the forensic efforts.’Will always be in my head and my heart’For Mrs Bremner, the end of an agonising wait now seems to be in sight.
She said: ”As mother and son we had a deep love that you just can’t explain and thinking of him to this day puts a glow inside of me. Adam will always be in my head and my heart. Every day I think of him.
”I see motorcyclists going past and I just want to stop them and lift their visors to see if it is Adam, even though I know that it cannot be.
”I still find myself thinking of him and speaking to him every day. That is just how I deal with what has happened.”
Mrs Bremner said she could remember every detail of their final words which, at the time so commonplace, now offer her some small measure of comfort.
”I’d asked him to pop in for a cup of tea but he told me that he had shopping with him that needed to go into the freezer,” she recalled.
”We agreed to meet up the following weekend and I told him I loved him. He laughed and said ”what are you like?” but I’ll forever be glad that I said it to him then.”
Mrs Bremner added: ”He was such a good son. He went out and made good of his life. Tommy Pryde had no right to take it from him.”