Annie Borjesson death: Family want post-mortem pictures released to help solve mystery
Police Scotland says Annie's death was "fully investigated at the time and has also been subject to review".
Friday 4 December 2020 07:16, UK
The family of a Swedish student who died in bizarre circumstances in Scotland in 2005 have been refused post-mortem photographs, which they believe could unlock the mystery of her death.
Fifteen years ago today (4 December, 2005), Annie Borjesson's body was discovered by a dog-walker, face down on Prestwick beach in Ayrshire.
The talented linguist and singer had travelled from her apartment in Edinburgh to Prestwick Airport the day before, intending to "go on standby" and catch a Ryanair flight to Sweden.
But less than 24-hours later she was discovered on a beach just a mile from the airport.
Today, on the anniversary of her death, Annie's family members have again appealed to the Scottish authorities to help them find closure.
:: Listen to the Annie Borjesson StoryCast series on , , ,
Maria Jansson, Annie's best friend and a close confidant of the family, told Sky News: "We have been fighting for such a long time to put pressure on them [the Scottish authorities] to reopen Annie's case and finally do what they should have done after she was found dead.
"The importance here is that the Scottish authorities have not done their very best into doing a proper investigation into Annie's death in suspicious circumstances, regardless what the cause was."
Police Scotland has consistently told Sky News that Annie's death was "fully investigated at the time and has also been subject to review".
And both Scottish and Swedish authorities have always cited the most likely cause of death to be drowning by suicide.
But the family highlight the fact that they were never granted an inquest, known as a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) in Scotland.
They say they lost confidence in the authorities just days after their daughter's death when a local newspaper reported that police were not treating the case as suspicious, despite the fact a post-mortem had yet to be conducted.
In the weeks that followed, a funeral director in London, tasked with repatriating Annie's body to Sweden, raised concerns over markings on her body.
These questions and more started the family on a 15-year journey to try to discover what brought about their daughter's death.
In 2019, Ms Borjesson's story was brought into sharp focus by the Sky News StoryCast podcast, What happened to Annie?
Following the six-part series, the Swedish Foreign Ministry released previously unseen correspondence with their Scottish counterparts, in relation to the death.
However, it also emerged that files had been classified as "secret".
Sky News was told by a Swedish official that their release may harm "national interests".
Since then, her parents have made two Freedom of Information requests for copies of their daughter's post-mortem photographs.
These requests have so far been refused on the grounds that they may cause the family distress. It was also stated that their disclosure was not in the public interest.
The family have told Sky News that they want the post-mortem photographs to be viewed by an independent pathologist and for the case to be given the public examination it was never granted.
On the weekend Annie died, she was filmed on CCTV leaving Prestwick international train station and, soon after, entering the main terminal at the airport itself.
However, after spending less than five minutes in the building, she left suddenly, without ever checking in for that evening's flight to Sweden.
During the recovery of her body from the beach, police discovered her passport, wallet and some books belonging to a Swedish library, in a bag beside her.
"I do hope the Scottish authorities can grant this request [to release the post-mortem photographs], and that they are tiring after 15 years of trying," Maria Jansson added.
What happened to Annie? recently won best audio investigation at the 2020 Association of International Broadcasting Awards (AIBs) and best serialised podcast at the New York Festival Radio Awards. StoryCast's next series is due for release in the spring of 2021.