Forty-eight-year-old William “Billy” Sibbald was a beloved figure in the community of Portobello, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Described by friends as a “bighearted, loveable rogue,” Billy ran the Pop Inn pub and was very active in local charity work.
At around eight p.m. on the evening of Tuesday, October 8th, 2002, Billy left his Portobello home for a scheduled meeting, but he never arrived, and in fact, he subsequently seemed to vanish off the face of the earth.
Three months later, on January 10th, 2003, his body was discovered on an embankment off the side of the A1 between Newcraighall Road and Whitehill Road. The cause of death appeared to be multiple stab wounds, and it was also evident that Billy had been robbed: an expensive lighter and a gold bracelet he always had on his person were both missing, among other items.
Authorities determined that Billy had likely been murdered shortly after disappearing three months previously, but were uncertain as to where the body had been in the interim.
The case stagnated for a decade, and in 2012, the police and Billy’s family made a renewed push in the media, encouraging anyone with information about the murder to come forward. Sadly, however, more than another decade has passed with no further developments in the case. Police Scotland are still actively investigating any leads and hope to be able to give the still-grieving Sibbald family some closure.
Crime Immemorial 