UK Scotland-The death of Annie Borjesson the 4th December 2005

[jaejae]

This is a case about the death of a Swedish girl in Scotland. It has been ruled a suicide but her family believe foul play was involved.

 

[jaejae]

There is a recent Sky News Podcast Series about this case and this is why I started this thread:

What Happened To Annie? Inside the mystery 'suicide'

What Happened To Annie? The Case For Murder


Here are some more reports about the case:

Anger as police fail to reopen case of body found on beach

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Swedish woman's death remembered

http://justicedenied.org/issue/issue_57/annie_borjesson_jd57.pdf

 

[jaejae]

Here is some information on the Podcast series about this case:

What Happened To Annie?: The CIA And Prestwick

 

[trendsetter]

There is a website set up by her family: www.annierockstar.com

There's also a brief article here: Annie Börjesson (1975 – 2005, AKA ‘The Girl on the Beach’)

And a 19-page review of the case here: http://www.scottishreview.net/AnnieBorjesson.pdf

 

[trendsetter]

Another podcast here: 08. Annie Börjesson from True Crime Scotland

and another: Death of Annie Börjesson

and another: Listen to the In Sight Episode - Annie Borjesson on iHeartRadio | iHeartRadio

 

[trendsetter]

Prestwick airport map: Maps

 

[jaejae]

Here are some more details of the Sky Podcast series:

What Happened To Annie? PART 5: The Case For Suicide

 

[trendsetter]

Part 6 of the Sky Podcast: What happened to Annie? PART 6: The search for answers

 

[jaejae]

Part 6 of the Sky Podcast: What happened to Annie? PART 6: The search for answers

Here are details about the same Podcast episode above but there is also a little information about the case;

What Happened To Annie? Police defend investigation

 

[badgersmythe]

New documentary will try solve mystery of woman's 'top secret' death

A new documentary will try to solve mystery of Swedish woman Annie Borjesson, whose body was found on Scottish beach and her death declared top secret by her government.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Pimlipo]

New documentary will try solve mystery of woman's 'top secret' death

A new documentary will try to solve mystery of Swedish woman Annie Borjesson, whose body was found on Scottish beach and her death declared top secret by her government.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Sorry to bump with no new information but does anyone know if this documentary was made and where to watch it?

 

[trendsetter]

The documentary is said to be "COMING 2023". I presume that if it's broadcast UK-wide it will be on BBC3.

Clare Sillery announces Body on the Beach at Sheffield DocFest | Rogan Productions

roganproductions.co.uk

 

[trendsetter]

Film from the BBC coming up - available from 4th July:

How did Annie’s body end up on a Scottish beach?

Annie Börjesson's body was found in 2005. Police found no evidence of criminality but loved ones always had questions.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[JennieM]

BBC Three

BBC Three - Body on the Beach: What Happened to Annie?

Hazel Martin investigates the death of a woman on a Scottish beach.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Having just watched the first 2 episodes, outstanding questions.

1. The library books. Were they to be returned to library in Edinburgh before going back to Sweden, or were they from a Swedish library? Because she still had them with her.

2. She tried to get cash from machine at Glasgow station, and didn't have money in account. Why did she not have any money when she thought she had? How did she pay for train ticket? It seemed she didn't have an air ticket for flight either, so how was she proposing to buy that? Was she even going to Sweden?

3. That she went to airport and rapidly left, and her actions in days before suggest someone going through a mental health episode.

I await the next two episodes.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

THE unanswered questions surrounding the tragic death of Annie Borjesson have haunted her family for over a decade.

Police ruled the 30-year-old Swede, who had been living in Edinburgh, had taken her own life when her body was found on a beach 80 miles away in Prestwick on December 4, 2005.

[...]

On the day her body was found by a dog walker under a sea wall, she had been due to fly home from Prestwick Airport to Tibro in western Sweden for Christmas.

The day before she had made a call to her hairdresser booking an appointment for the following week, and Annie had also paid the next month's rent on her flat.

CCTV footage picked up Annie walking through the airport, alone, before exiting and heading towards the beach area.

In a letter from the Scottish authorities to the Swedish embassy, it says a witness statement indicated someone fitting Annie's description was seen standing at the water's edge looking out to sea at 4:30pm.

[...]

Within 100 minutes of her body being found, Annie was moved to a mortuary - something Detective Michael Neill, who was on duty the morning she was discovered, says was due to a "race against time" with the tide.

Dr Keri Nixon, a consultant forensic psychologist, says it seems "unlikely that everything that needed to be done was done forensically".

A document dated December 5, 2005 reveals the Scottish police told the Swedish authorities that they suspected the cause of death was suicide. However a post-mortem was only carried out on the body three days later, at Ayr Hospital.

[...]

Tests on Annie’s body found microscopic creatures that appear to have come from a freshwater environment, not salt water - odd, given the coastal location where he she was found.

A freedom of information request submitted by Hazel for the photos taken during Annie's first postmortem is refused due to them not being "in the public interest".

Annie's best friend Maria Jansson, who was preparing to host her during her trip, is convinced Annie's death was not suicide, and that she was "murdered".

Her family, who took photos of the bruising, believe she was beaten and drowned, with her body then placed on the beach to look like suicide.

Hazel also questions why Annie would travel to a beach 80 miles away from her home, where the water in the bay is so shallow you have to walk out half a mile to reach a depth where you can no longer stand, to end her life.

[...]

My best friend 'died by suicide' on beach… but sinister twist changes everything

THE unanswered questions surrounding the tragic death of Annie Borjesson have haunted her family for over a decade. Police ruled the 30-year-old Swede, who had been living in Edinburgh, had taken h…

www.thesun.co.uk

 

[Novosti]

It's a good documentary. There are some puzzles in this case (the bruising, drowning as a suicide method, the freshwater microbes, the apparently missing phone records). But the mental health angle comes across very strongly from the evidence, with money trouble exacerbating that. I wonder if the bigger question is why she wasn't given the support and treatment she needed.

 

[Novosti]

I also listened to the 2019 Sky Storycast series. It's interesting that in its earlier episodes it focuses on wild theories, like some sort of rendition connection. But by the end, is leaning towards suicide as an explanation. It does raise questions though, both about the unexplained aspects of the police investigation. And how someone's mental health seems to have deteriorated so significantly without anyone in Edinburgh trying to help / get treatment for her.

 

[trendsetter]

'Bonus' episode of the Sky podcast series: 7. The Fight For Key Evidence

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I imagine that, after walking some distance into the sea at Prestwick, just before Christmas, you would be overcome by the coldness pretty quickly and collapse and drown.

Annie said to her parents someone was tapping her phone calls and tracking her internet activity. Who had the ability to tap her mobile phone and why would they do so? I imagine she spoke Swedish when calling friends and family in Sweden. Anyone tapping her phone would have to record calls and then get them translated into English, unless the person doing the tapping was Swedish. If it had been MI5 or the CIA they would pretty soon have lost interest. Didn't her mother sense that Annie's comment was a worrying sign of paranoia?

Annie also told her father she was engaged. That wasn't true.

Was the story of the fake international rugby player true?

Annie told her mother that there was something she had to deal with.

She spent hours talking to a shopkeeper. One day she walked into his house without knocking at his door. When he asked how she knew where he lived, she said she had followed him home one day.

I am afraid that this poor girl, a long way from home and out of work declined into very poor mental health and, sadly, no one noticed.