IT'S a cold, clear, dry December afternoon on Prestwick beach. It's around 4.30pm - low tide - on December 3 2005.

Aside from a dog breaking away from its owner on the beach there's nothing particularly eye-catching... except a lone figure standing motionless at the water's edge looking out to sea.

Around 20 minutes go by and the figure is still there.

An hour and 15 minutes earlier a woman was captured on CCTV in the overhead walkway connected Prestwick Airport to the train station. At 3.16pm the same woman, wearing a dark winter jacket, red and white fleece, trousers and trainers with a bag, is seen walking towards the car park outside the terminal building. Three minutes after that and the same person, grim-faced, is seen re-emerging from the car park.

On Sunday, December 4, the following day, at 8.30am, 30-year-old Annie Kristina Borjesson is found washed up on the beach.

Suicide? Yes said the police. Could it be possible that the airport person, the motionless figure and the dead body were the same person? Yes again according to the police.

What were the reasons behind the suicide though? There were none according to the victim's family. A bright woman in the prime of her life, kind hearted with a passion for living according to those who knew her best. Not someone who would take her own life.

Wednesday marks eight and a half years since the body was uncovered, but incredibly, doubt and mystery still remain over how Annie, who lived in Edinburgh, came to be dead 80 miles away, only 36 hours after her last conversation with her mum Guje Borjesson.

More intruiging is the fact that Swedish post-mortem experts are reported to have found fresh water algae in her body, as opposed to seawater, with some of her long hair having seemingly been "hacked" away. Severe bruising was found on the body and head by the same Swedish post-mortem investigators.

A beloved Filofax that she carried around "whether she was going to IKEA or a night club" was never recovered from the beach or her flat. Emails from her Hotmail account had also been wiped.

At the time of the death, it has been alleged that a journalist going by the name of Kristina Borjesson had been looking into CIA rendition flights, reportedly taking alleged terrorists to prison camps, through Prestwick Airport. Could it be that the CIA took out the wrong mark?

Police Scotland, who took over from Strathclyde Police over a year ago have said the case will remain closed. A 19-page report by the Scottish Review backed by friends and family of the victim has called on a fatal accident inquiry to be held and for histological samples of body tissue to be released by the Crown Office to confirm whether or not this was a suicide.

The report states: "Inescapably, then, the authorities have body tissues which could confirm whether or not Annie Borjesson died by drowning but, for unexplained reasons, will not readily part with them." And Annie's mum Guje has revealed her pain on countless occasions, adding on a website set up to gather information on the death: "All information about Annie's case now is kept secret to our family in accordance to the law "Freedom of Information" since Annie's death is not concidered to be in the "public interest". This we can of course not accept since our family need to get all the documentation regarding Annie's death." For almost a decade now, Guje has been left without answers, without closure and without Annie. At this point sadly it looks as if the body on the beach mystery may never be full explained...