IT was the sort of call which Lothian and Borders Police deal with every day. The distressed pensioner had been conned by a gang of bogus workmen in Dalkeith.
Then two more pensioners called in a matter of hours, from Leith and Portobello, with the same story. To experienced staff at the force’s communication centre at Bilston Glen, it was a scenario all too familiar. They issued a description of the green Peugeot 406 spotted by the victims on police radio, alongside a stream of other routine police business.
Less than ten minutes later, shortly after 3pm, it was spotted by Constable Christopher Beecham, 26, on patrol with a colleague, in St John’s Road, Corstorphine.
He switched on his lights and siren and signalled for the car to pull over. Instead, it pulled out of a queue of traffic and drove off on the wrong side of the road, speeding past Corstorphine Primary School as children were leaving for the day.
Constable Beecham followed the car along St John’s Road, before losing sight of it on Corstorphine High Street. Although pedestrian witnesses estimated its speed at 60-70mph, Constable Beecham recorded it as 45mph.
Carrick Knowe Primary pupil Jack Anderson was making his way home at 3.25pm on a route he had taken “thousands of times”.
Just 200 yards from his home on Saughton Road North, he knew to cross at the pedestrian crossing.
He fixed the straps on his schoolbag as he waited for the lights to change. Sharing a smile with 42-year-old mother Sharon Scott, who had stopped at the lights, he hopped on to the crossing as the green signal lit up.
Out of nowhere, the speeding Peugeot - now known to be a former Strathclyde Police vehicle with a top speed of 149mph - flashed into view.
Ms Scott described seeing the young men inside laughing the instant before the car ploughed into Jack. It did not slow for even a second as it carried on down the road.
PC Beecham - who had seen ambulances heading to the scene as he scoured surrounding roads in search of the car - arrived minutes later to see Jack lying at the roadside, with paramedics desperately trying to save him.
Another patrol car and a police motorbike soon arrived and began the hunt for the killers. The Peugeot was quickly discovered abandoned in the car park of Saughton Prison at 3.30pm. Within hours, more than 50 officers were on the case, that figure later rising to more than 70.
After Purcell and his companions dumped the car at Saughton Prison, they fled to Gorgie Road and boarded a bus near the Shell garage. They calmly paid their fare for the ride and travelled out to Sighthill, getting off near outside the Silver Wing pub on Calder Road.
From there, they managed to make their way through to Glasgow, and spent the night in a caravan site in Clydebank before making their way down south the following morning, where the three then split up.
Purcell was met by his girlfriend and baby and they spent the next six months on the run, avoiding the police and refusing to face up to what Purcell had done.
Jack’s mother, Yvonne, was at her son’s side within minutes of the accident, after a neighbour called at her door.
Distraught, she had called her husband Michael at work to tell him “one of the boys” had been in a road accident.
As he made his way to Saughton Road North, he assumed the accident had involved his youngest son, Michael, just seven at the time, as he tended to “dawdle” on his way home from school.
But as he approached the scene, he realised something was seriously wrong.
“It wasn’t until I got to the traffic lights that I realised it wasn’t just a bump,” he said. “Then I could see Jack. I think the ambulance was there trying to resuscitate him, but the fact he wasn’t moving, I just had that feeling.”
Jack’s younger brother, Michael, and older sister, Megan, were diverted from the scene as they headed home behind their brother.
Mr Anderson recalled: “I just remember the doctor coming through and breaking the news to us (at the Sick Kids), and then us just breaking down completely.
“I remember phoning my mum and just saying ‘Jack’s dead, Jack’s dead’.” Crossing casts a daily shadow over the family
JACK Anderson’s grieving parents are forced to pass the pedestrian crossing where he was knocked down and killed almost every day.
Michael and Yvonne Anderson live with their surviving children Megan and Michael just yards from the scene where the 10-year-old lost his life exactly one year ago.
Both parents arrived at the crossing just minutes after Jack was hit by the car, and are haunted by the memories of seeing their little boy lying lifeless on the ground.
But despite the daily visual reminder, they have vowed they will never move from their Saughton Road North home.
Mr Anderson, 38, said: “Some days I really don’t look at it, because you develop the ability to just ignore things. But other days I pass by and I do think about it and I see Jack lying there.
“We have got lots of happy memories of Jack in this house. This is Jack’s house and we would never move.”
The family visit Jack’s Garden, in Saughton Cemetery, almost every day to light a candle for the youngster.
More than a dozen bouquets of flowers and touching family tributes had been left at the youngster’s graveside today.
The Andersons had to wait three weeks before Jack could be laid to rest because of the murder investigation. His funeral was eventually attended by around 200 mourners.
Mr Anderson said: “The funeral was on the Friday and I remember waking up on the Saturday and it was the lowest point of my whole life.”
Meanwhile, the shocked Saughton community rallied and creating a tribute to the schoolboy outside the shops near his home.
Mr Anderson says found the community response “comforting” during that bleak and difficult time.
“We were absolutely gobsmacked by the floral tributes down at RS McColl,” he said.
“There were light sabres, teddies, flowers and cards that people had put down, it was all very comforting in a way.
“But I remember going down to the shop one Saturday and there was no flowers there and it was then that you appreciate that the world still goes on, people just have to go about their own business.
“It was upsetting at the time.”
The couple both returned to their jobs around Christmas, and they say their work has helped to give them a “distraction”. The popular pupil who made people smile
SOMETIMES it was a joke he told to a school pal, at other times a thoughtful gesture at home, and often it was just his boundless enthusiasm and good humour.
Wherever he went Jack Anderson simply had a knack of making people smile.
School friends, teachers and his family have all paid tribute to the popular ten-year-old as a gentle and loving boy, who was always full of fun.
“He had this fantastic smile about him all the time and was just really, really happy,” said his father Michael.
“He was very thoughtful as well, and I miss that caring side of him. I miss the happiness that Jack brought and his enthusiasm for everything - he really tried his best at everything.
“He just had a warmth about him. He always seemed to go out of his way to make people happy. He loved school, he loved his teachers and from what I can gather, he was really liked down there. He was just one in a million.”
Classmates at Carrick Knowe School remember their friend’s love of Star Wars, drawing superheroes and computer games, as well as his keen interest in nature.
Acting headteacher Sally Hourston described him as a boy who “touched the hearts of everyone who knew him”.
Shortly after Jack’s death, nine-year-old Calum Hunter, who described himself as Jack’s best friend, recalled: “He was always telling me funny jokes. He wasn’t loud and sometimes he didn’t talk much in school, but he always talked to me and made me laugh.” Other school friends remember once in class having to pick an adjectives to describe each other and everyone agreed on “gentle” for Jack.
“He loved reading. He used to come out with some really big words and used to come home with Star Wars books from the library,” his dad added.
“He loved the outdoors too. On the way home from school, he would pick flowers out of the park and bring them home for us. And he loved this time of year. He would say it was beautiful with the leaves coming off the trees.”
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