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Family in limbo one year after academic Fergus McInnes’ disappearance in Switzerland

Missing academic Fergus McInnes.
Missing academic Fergus McInnes.

The mysterious disappearance of a Scots academic remains unsolved one year on.

Fergus McInnes was last seen at Geneva airport in Switzerland on September 9 last year after flying out to attend a conference.

It is assumed he boarded a train to Martigny but the Edinburgh university researcher failed to join colleagues later that evening.

His father Bennet, who lives in Blairgowrie, said the family are struggling to take care of his finances in the absence of any information as to his fate.

He said: “We miss him more than we can say, and we would have been delighted if he had been found alive and well.

“Other members of the family still have some hope for that outcome, but I am now even more convinced than I was before that he must have suffered a fatal accident in the Swiss mountains in September 2014.

“Over the past year we have been doing our best to look after his flat and his finances, but acting on his behalf with no power of attorney and with no death certificate has been challenging.

“If his body is not found, there cannot be a presumption of death until seven years after he was last seen alive and well.”

Fergus’ sister Lorna added that she was still hopeful of some progress in the case.

She said: “Although it’s nearly a year since his disappearance, we still hope that some evidence of what happened to him will come to light.

“After so long it’s hard to imagine how we’ll get answers to the questions we’ve been asking all this time, but it’s still possible that if he did die in the mountains, some proof of that might be found in the future.

“The Swiss Police conducted thorough searches shortly after he went missing, but the terrain is difficult and he could have walked for miles before having an accident, or disappearing for some other reason.

“If anyone does have any information that they believe might be helpful to the inquiry, we would be most grateful if they could communicate that to the police, either the Swiss force or the Scottish Police.”