Sculptor Niloofar Polvandeh identified as body on Mull of Kintyre beach

The body found on 31st January on the east side of the Mull of Kintyre, on the beach near New Orleans, has now been identified as that of 51 year-old Niloofar Polvandeh, a sculptor of Middle Eastern origin from Cologne in Germany, who sometimes worked under the name of Anny Ra Sason.

Ms Polvandeh, a mother of two, had come to Scotland, arriving in Glasgow on 4th January, taking a bus to Tarbert on Loch Fyne on 6th January and checking into the Stonefield Castle Hotel, north of the picturesque fishing village. Her birthday was the following day, on the 7th January.

She was not seen at the hotel again, was reported missing on 8th January and a fruitless search was instituted in the surrounding area.

It later emerged that she was seen on 7th January at Southend on the Mull of Kintyre and then, on 31st January, a walker found a badly decomposed body on the beach at New Orleans on the east shore of the Mull.

It has been thought from the outset that this was probably the body of Ms Polvandeh and, sadly, this has now been confirmed.

Information has also emerged that Ms Polvandeh had visited Scotland and Ireland on previous birthdays.

Strathclyde Police say that there are no suspicious circumstances.