The best friend of a Scots expat who has been missing in Greece for almost two years has told her agonising wait for answers after police found human remains.
Diane Davison, from Falkirk, vanished in Faliraki, a village on the Greek island of Rhodes, in December 2019.
Detectives in Greece found human remains in the mountains of Rhodes on Saturday and are examining the possibility that they could belong to 60-year-old Diane.
While her height, hair colour and clothes match Diane's description, further testing is required to establish the identity.
Best friend Karla King, 49, had planned to travel to Greece to search for her friend in 2020 but the Covid pandemic meant she couldn't book her flight.
She said the discovery of human remains would be the first development in the case in almost two years - but the news has left her anxious as she waits for answers.
Speaking to the Daily Record, she said: "I hadn't heard from Diane back in December 2019, so I started messaging the Dogs Trust sites out there to find out if she had been in contact with anyone because she used to rescue a lot of dogs.
"Someone got in touch and said no one had seen her. When I didn't hear from Diane I created a Facebook page to try and find her and got in touch with her friends in Faliraki.
"I was worried because she'd gone off the radar, I couldn't get a hold of her it was like she just dropped off the face of the earth."
Authorities issued a silver alert after Diane failed to turn up to collect food from the Municipality of Rhodes.
A desperate search operation was sparked after she vanished but no trace of her was found.
Karla continued: "It was very unusual for her not to be in contact.
"I got in touch with Greek police, who had already been made aware by one of her friends there, and had issued a silver alert for a missing person.
"They searched the whole island on more than one occasion with no success."
Diane, who moved to Greece from the UK around 15 years ago, worked in various jobs but was made redundant following the Greek economic crisis.
Around a year before her disappearance, she was evicted from her flat and forced to sleep rough in her car and makeshift shack.
Despite her own troubles, the caring 60-year-old rescued dozens of stray animals on the island.
Karla met Diane in a local pub in Dagenham when the pair were both living in London in the 1990s.
They went on to be close friends, with Diane even becoming godmother to one of Karla's five children.
Former teacher Karla, who praised Diane's friends in Greece for their tireless search efforts, had planned to go to the island herself before Covid struck.
She said: "It's been awful not knowing what happened to her.
"It's taken over my life.
"We were planning for myself and her friends in the UK to meet her friends in Greece with missing T-shirts and leaflets. So many people were willing to help but we couldn't go because of Covid.
"From the day I started the group, I haven't let it go or give up. I've always been talking to her friends and badgering the authorities.
"Now this has happened, we are still waiting for questions to be answered."
Greek Police have been contacted for comment.
The Foreign Office confirmed they were in contact with local authorities.
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