THE family of Vicky Hamilton, who went missing six years ago aged 15, last night welcomed plans to print her picture on milk cartons in an effort to trace her.
Hers could be the first Scottish face to appear on the cartons, in a scheme run by the National Missing Persons Bur-eau and Iceland supermarkets.
Last night, Mrs Christine Hamilton, wife of Vicky's father Michael, said the move would delight her husband and Vicky's sister Sharon.
She said: ''I think it is a fantastic idea and Michael and Sharon will feel the same. Anything that can be done to try and find news of Vicky is welcome.''
Cartons of milk in Iceland stores throughout the country will carry labels showing pictures and details of missing children and vulnerable adults.
The first missing person label was launched yesterday, carrying a picture of Patrick Warren, 12, who disappeared with friend David Spencer on Boxing Day. A spokeswoman for the National Missing Persons Bureau helpline said they had 75 calls with possible sightings of Patrick in the six hours since the milk went on sale.
The milk carton scheme has been adopted from America where pictures of missing children are posted on milk cartons by police forces.
In Britain it will not just be confined to children. It will cover all missing persons classed as ''vulnerable'' - including elderly or mentally-ill people.
Vicky Hamilton, of Redding, near Falkirk, was last seen in Bathgate, West Lothian, waiting for a bus home. Less than a year later, in 1993, her mother, Janette Hamilton, died suddenly at the age of 41.
Mr Michael Hamilton, 46, recently said: ''We all still live in hope, but it's been a very, very long time now.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article