Police have refused to reveal if they have spent any money investigating the disappearance of Renee MacRae in the last decade.
During a cold case review of the murder inquiry in 2004, the then chief constable of Northern Constabulary Ian Latimer declared: “We will pursue this regardless of the cost.”
But in response to a freedom of information request by the Press and Journal on spending on the inquiry in the last 10 years, the force said this week it “does not hold any of the information requested”.
We asked about expenses incurred during the investigation, the number of officer hours spent on the probe, and the total cost, but received no answers.
The force also refused to reveal how many interviews had been carried out during the period.
The response was given despite the police last year revealing to the P&J the exact number of interviews, and the value of expenses incurred, in relation to the inquiry into the murder of Nairn banker Alistair Wilson.
The force said: “Police Scotland does not record the total costs involved for any specific operation or investigation.
“The nature of policing means that officers and staff are deployed to wherever their services are most required.
“The officers and staff who worked on the investigations into the disappearance of Renee MacRae and her son Andrew were drawn from different areas of the service, based on their skillsets.
“The division to which individual officers or staff belong meet the cost of their core time and so there is no requirement to maintain a record of the cost of any particular duty carried out.”
Last night, a police spokeswoman said the investigation remained live and ongoing.
She said: “The murder of Christine MacRae is an undetected murder which is subject to regular and on-going review by staff within Homicide Governance Review to identify any new available investigative opportunities.
“Police Scotland work in close partnership with staff from the Cold Case Unit at COPFS to regularly review cases to ascertain if there are any new evidential developments, including advances in forensic techniques, which could assist in providing a basis for criminal proceedings.
“The passage of time is no barrier to providing answers for the families of murder victims in Scotland.
“If anyone has any new information that could assist the investigation please contact police via the non-emergency number 101, alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.”
