Police searching for the killer of Scottish schoolboy Rory Blackhall today said they were urgently trying to identify a man who was near where the 11-year-old was last seen.
Rory failed to turn up at Meldrum Primary in Livingston, West Lothian, on Thursday last week and his body was found three days later in nearby woodland.
A post-mortem examination showed he had been asphyxiated. Detectives said they had become "increasingly anxious" to establish the identity of a man who was wearing a bomber-style jacket and a trapper hat.
Speaking at a press conference today, Detective Inspector Tom Martin, of Lothian and Borders Police, said officers had received no calls or information regarding the sighting of the unknown man.
Mr Martin said: "At about 8.30am on the day before Rory went missing, a member of the public was walking his child to school along the pathway which leads from the underpass where Rory was dropped off by his mother.
"At this time, the witness's attention was drawn to rustling in the wooded area at the side of the pathway and a man emerged from the bushes and trees beside him near to the electricity substation.
"The man had to push aside some large bushes to exit the wood."
Police, who did not comment on whether the man was a suspect in the murder case, said he was unaccompanied and not seen to be carrying anything.
Mr Martin said the witness, who regularly used the same route to walk his child to school, had never seen the man before. He added: "He made no attempt to acknowledge the witness, which he also regarded as unusual for people in that area.
"He appeared to be completely out of place for the area and the witness was actually concerned about his presence there."
Mr Martin said the man was seen with the flaps of his trapper hat down covering his neck and ears. "The witness thought this was particularly unusual given the weather conditions at the time."
Earlier today, the dead boy's family - Russell Blackhall (42), wife Michelle (41) and Rory's 14-year-old brother Conal - spent 15 minutes looking at the dozens of flowers which have already been left by well-wishers near where his body was found.
PA