I WAS glad to see Rogan Productions’ documentary for the BBC on the strange case of Anne Borjesson in the media this week having spoken to the team after writing about the death of the young Swede during my years at The National.
The 30-year-old worked in Edinburgh, spoke six languages and was described by friends as “chatty and lively”.
In December 2005, she told friends and family she was planning to return to Sweden for the festive season. On Saturday, December 3, she left her Edinburgh flat – for which she had paid rent in advance – with a travel bag and her passport, books to be returned to a library in Sweden, and had even booked a hair appointment in her home country.
CCTV at Prestwick Airport picked up Annie entering the terminal, but five minutes later she left the same way she came.
Her body was found the next day, face down on Prestwick beach. Police maintained her death was suicide or an accident, but family and friends have over the years demanded a further investigation.
My notes from conversations I had a decade ago with police, Maria Jansson – Annie’s close friend – a former justice secretary at Holyrood, are unfortunately long gone, but I will always remember the varying attitudes of those interviewees.
Maria was adamant that Annie would not have taken her own life – she had everything to live for.
I remember a retired, senior police officer of my acquaintance poo-pooing the idea that her death was anything other than a suicide, as did the then justice secretary.
I spoke to the makers of a Sky podcast series and expressed my doubts that those in authority were too hasty in their judgement.
One well-known Scots lawyer agreed with me during a conversation that all did not appear to be right with the case.
In 2019, I wrote:
POLICE did not apply to typical crime scene procedures when they investigated the controversial death of a Swedish woman in Scotland 14 years ago, according to a prominent Home Office pathologist.
In 2015, The National exclusively tried to shed light on the death of Annie Börjesson on Prestwick beach on 2005 after lawyer Aamer Anwar called for the cold case to be reopened. We later received a deeply moving letter of thanks from her family and friends.
Now, new claims have emerged in the final episode of a six-part Sky News podcast documentary – What happened to Annie? – which investigates the bizarre circumstances surrounding the 30-year-old’s death.
The documentary, released today, has led to a commitment from the Swedish Government to consider granting access to files related to the case.
In a statement to Sky News, Police Scotland Detective Sergeant Paul Livingstone, from the Specialist Crime Division, said the case was fully investigated at the time and had since been subject to review.
From what I’ve read about the latest documentary, it appears to raise even more questions about Annie’s death and I’m looking forward to watching it.
I hope it leads to the investigation being reopened and at the very least a fatal accident inquiry – and answers some of her family’s questions.
That is the very least they deserve.