THE NAMELESS

THESE are the faces of the mystery dead who Scots academics want you to help identify.

- SALLY HIND

The Cold Case Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University is preparing to launch a series of fresh appeals in a bid to put names to some of the 86 unidentified bodies recovered in Scotland.

Student sleuths have worked to generate dozens of potential leads with the help of facial reconstructions since the unit was created almost three years ago.

And now they want the public to help finally solve the mystery of the tragic men and women who have been nameless for decades.

Lesley McMillan, a professor in Criminology and Sociology, said:

"Some of these cases have been cold for 50 years and the modern approach to missing people is very different to what is was.

"How we assess vulnerability and risk are more embedded in police procedures now than when some of these bodies were found.

"We can apply a completely different lens to it. People are intrigued about us and what we do because it is very different from your standard police response.

"That captures the imagination and brings more eyes to an appeal." 

In the new year, the unit will focus on the case of "Gallowgate Man", who is believed to have lain dead for months before being found in a building at Glasgow's Barras 20 years ago. They are also working to identify "Bakewell Man" - found in Derbyshre in 1977 but with strong links to Scotland.

A renewed appeal for information on "Edinburgh Man", found in the city's Regent Road Gardens almost 35 years ago, will also be made next year.

Previous public appeals on "Port Logan Woman", who was found on a Dumfries and Galloway beach in 2006, and "Balmore Man", discovered in the East Dunbartonshire village in 2011, have been successful in generating dozens of potential names.