Glasgow Crime Stories: The murder of Andrew Ramsay

Thousands of fans were heading to nearby Ibrox Stadium to watch Rangers play Spanish side Villarreal in the Champions League.

The local Morrisons supermarket was filled with shoppers and parents were picking up their children from a martial arts class at a local church.

Shortly after 7pm accountant Andrew Ramsay, 51, and his partner Beverley Sinclair, 55, left the Quo Vadis bar in Paisley Road West to walk the short distance to the terraced villa they shared together in Berryknowes Road.

As they reached the front door an unmarked black car pulled up outside the house, which Beverly owned.

Two men claiming to be fraud squad officers informed Andrew he was being take to Stewart Street Police Office for questioning.

They told Beverley, a hospital receptionist, to phone the city centre station four hours later for an update .

The father of two was handcuffed, put on the back seat and driven off never to be seen again.

When Beverley called the station at 11pm, officers said they had no record of his arrest or the two police officers visiting his home.

George Barnsley, then a Detective Inspector with the Strathclyde Serious Crime Squad, was one of the main members of the investigation team 15 years ago.

He said: "When Beverley phoned Stewart Street Police Office that's when the alarm bells started ringing.

"The officers there would do a check and realise that he was not there.

"They would also do checks with other police offices in Glasgow to see if they had Andrew.

"When that was a negative we then realised we had a problem."

As the only witness to the abduction Beverley was quizzed for hours about the events of the evening by detectives and her home searched.

Beverley, who had two grown-up children, said the two men had been smartly dressed.

Both had showed convincing police ID, used police jargon, were polite and addressed the couple by their first names.

George says the abduction on February 22, 2006 was very professional and the two bogus cops possibly had a look-out in the Quo Vadis.

He added:"They obviously knew where Andrew was and knew he was returning to that house with Beverley.

"Beverley did not immediately run in and phone the police and so she was obviously convinced that this was genuine.

"To do what they did at that time and that location took a fair bit of bravado.

"There was also a good chance of them being caught had Beverley realised they were bogus police officers."

Three days into the investigation police revealed a "poor response" from the public to their appeals for information.

An operation to interview motorists and pedestrians exactly a week after the disappearance failed to yield any meaningful leads. A 15-second broadcast to 50,000 football fans at Ibrox also produced nothing of note as did the issue of E-fits of the two suspects. A trawl of CCTV in the area also revealed little.

George added: "Nothing came of any of the appeals.

"The problem was that Beverley Sinclair was the only witness.

"So you don't have anything that corroborates or substantiates what she is saying.

"That was the main issue for the inquiry team from day one."

In March following his abduction, Andrew's sister, Linda Hodge and younger brother Stewart Ramsay, made a TV appeal for information. But again that prompted little response from the public.

When the case was featured on BBC Crimewatch in June no meaningful info was received and a £5000 Crimestoppers reward also drew a blank.

Andrew - who was separated from his wife of 25 years, Eleanor - was a certified accountant who worked for self-employed clients and small businesses.

As the investigation progressed, police discovered there was more to the mild-mannered bookkeeper than met the eye.

Andrew had also been interviewed several times in connection with an HMRC investigation into an alleged £500 million 'carousel' fraud at a Glasgow phone firm he had worked for.

Such scams involve goods that are continuously imported and exported, attracting multiple VAT rebates.

In January the home that he shared with Beverley had been searched by customs officers as part of that inquiry.

In the weeks before his murder he had also told various friends that he feared for his life, saying: "I think I could be in trouble. I'm in too deep and know too much."

Andrew had also been involved in a number of failed firms, including one based at the premises of a sauna and massage parlour near Glasgow Sheriff Court.

George added: "At first we had no intelligence that Andrew Ramsay was involved in any criminality "It was only after we were contacted by HMRC, that we realised Andrew was the not quite the person we thought he was.

"He'd obviously done something fairly significant to end up being abducted."

At one stage detectives looked at the possibility Andrew had faked his own disappearance.

George added: "In this type of inquiry you keep all your options open.

"Had Andrew Ramsay had enough and decided he was disappearing?

"Had he maybe realised there were people on his tail and it was times to make himself scarce?"

After splitting from Eleanor in 2004, Andrew moved to Belgium, where he worked for the same phone company basing himself in the town's of Wellen and Hasselt. The job also took him to Holland, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Dubai.

While in Belgium he had a 10-month relationship with a 45-year-old former model and country and western singer.

George and a colleague went over to Belgium for several days to speak to the girlfriend and other friends Andrew had made there.

They also visited pubs he frequented and spoke to staff and customers. But they learned little of value.

Separate inquiries by the Belgium police also uncovered nothing.

In April 2005 Andrew split from his Belgian lover, returned to Scotland and cut off all ties with his employers.

He took up with policeman's widow Beverley who he had known for nine years through their shared interest in hillwalking. For the six months before his abduction he was unemployed though he took on the occasional assignment.

By July that year the inquiry had wound down and George had been moved on to other investigations.

Fourteen months after Andrew's abduction, police finally got a breakthrough.

In April 5, 2007, a human skull was discovered by fishermen off the Isle of Cumbrae and forensic tests confirmed it was Andrew's.

No other body parts were found and his skull showed no sign that any crime had been committed.

Police also appealed for anyone who saw a boat being used in the Firth of Clyde in "unusual or suspicious circumstances" around the time Mr Ramsay disappeared to get in touch.

But again with many earlier appeals no one came forward.

In one interview Andrew's former Belgian girlfriend admitted she's been to a psychic in Genk, a month before his body was found and was told: "His body is in a very bad state and he is dead. He fell real deep."

Then, out of the blue, two men were charged with his kidnap and murder in November, 2008, but neither ever appeared in court or were brought to trial.

George said: "It was a bit of a surprise when I saw the two names that were mentioned.

"But it was no surprise when there were no prosecution.

"In my opinion the two men were never in the original inquiry."

At that time a £40,000 motorboat believed to have been used in Ramsay's abduction was seized from Kip Marina, in Inverkip, Renfrewshire, and subjected to detailed forensic examinations . However police failed to find any evidence.

Beverley, the only witness to the abduction passed away on April 27, 2015, and was laid to rest two weeks later.

The former Scout leader never spoke publicly about Andrew's disappearance.

Despite the hundreds of people passing through the area at the time, Beverley is still the only witness to the abduction.

George retired in 2010 at the rank of Superintendent after 32 years police service and now works as an advisor on TV crime dramas like Shetland, Deadwater Fell and In Plain Sight.

He also runs investigation training courses for local authorities and the Scottish Government.

George says the Andrew Ramsay case was the only major crime he worked on that was unsolved.

He added: ""It was one of the most difficult and unusual crimes that I ever investigated.

"Had Andrew just decided to disappear into the darkness or had he been abducted?.

"There were so many questions unanswered at the time.

"Sadly there appears to be very few answers even now."