The family of a teenage girl raped and murdered almost 42 years ago have refused a request for her remains to be exhumed.

Pamela Hastie was killed in the Rannoch Woods near her Johnstone home as she was walking home from school on November 4, 1981.

The 16-year-old was strangled with a length of twine after the killer hit her on the head with a piece of wood and then dragged her into bushes.

Her murder remains unsolved as local man Raymond Gilmour, then 19, was found guilty of her murder but his conviction was later quashed on appeal after he had served 20 years in jail.

We reported back in March that a recent review of the case found that Pamela’s body could still yield evidence which was not available at the time of her murder

Cops were looking at the possibility of exhuming Pamela’s body to see if they could extract any DNA and then match it to a possible suspect.

But the Daily Record now reports that no action is being taken in keeping with the wishes of the family, who indicated earlier this year they did not wish to speak to the media.

An exhumations expert said: “Many families understandably cannot bear the thought of their loved one being disinterred and subjected again to scientific examination.”