Mystery over Swedish woman found dead on Scottish beach 18 years ago

Mystery over Swedish woman found dead on Scottish beach 18 years ago lingers: BBC documentary tries to shine light on Annie Borjesson’s death – and probes internet conspiracy theory that she was murdered by the CIA in ‘botched hit’

• Annie Borjesson’s body was discovered on Prestwick Beach in December 2005 

A BBC documentary will try to shine light on the mysterious death of a Swedish woman, whose body was found on a Scottish beach 18 years ago – including claims by internet conspiracy theorists that she was murdered by the CIA in a ‘botched hit’.

Annie Borjesson’s body was discovered on Prestwick Beach in December 2005, with a police inquiry concluding she had drowned, deeming the death to be suicide.

But a series of unanswered questions remain nearly two decades on, including those around a man posing as a famous rugby player and her missing phone records.

The case has piqued the interest of online conspiracy theorists, in scenes not dissimilar to the recent case of Nicola Bulley, whose family slammed ‘wildly inaccurate speculation’ on social media over the dog walker’s disappearance.

One such theory is that she may have been killed by the CIA, who used the nearby Prestwick Airport to refuel planes taking prisoners from the Middle East to Guantanamo Bay. 

The four-part series, called Body On The Beach: What Happened To Annie?, interrogates a possible link between Ms Borjesson and an American investigative journalist, who shares the same surname and has been a vocal critic of US intelligence agencies.

The question is posed that the CIA could have been trying to silence the reporter but Ms Borjesson was killed as a result of mistaken identity.

Annie Borjesson’s body was discovered on Prestwick Beach in December 2005, with a police inquiry concluding she had drowned, deeming the death to be suicide 

Annie Borjesson caught on CCTV at Prestwick Airport at 3.15pm the afternoon before her body was found on the nearby beach

A possible link between Ms Borjesson and an American investigative journalist, renowned for researching US intelligence agencies, and who shares the same surname, is explored in the four-part ‘Body on the Beach’ series

Ms Borjesson, 30, who had been living and working in Edinburgh after falling in love with Scotland during a brief trip, was found dead under a sea wall on December 4, 2005. Her rucksack was at her side, as well as her passport and wallet.

She had been due to fly home to the town of Tibro in western Sweden from Prestwick Airport that day for Christmas and close friends said she had been in good spirits.

The day before she left for the airport, she called her hairdresser in Sweden and made an appointment for the following week. 

Furthermore, she had paid the next month’s rent on her Edinburgh flat, where BBC investigators also found packed library books ready for return and a new membership to a nearby swimming centre.

Ms Borjesson was filmed on CCTV arriving at the airport and then walking out towards the car park, before returning less than three minutes later. 

In a frame taken from this footage, her family and friends believe she looks distressed.

The documentary will also examine another CCTV image of a figure walking down the road to the beach where her body was later discovered, while journalist Hazel Martin speaks to Ms Borjesson’s best friend, Maria Jansson, who reveals she seemed anxious on the days leading up to hear death.

Worried someone was listening to her mobile calls, Ms Borjesson told her she was concerned unknown people were tracing what she wrote on her computer.

When her body was repatriated, the Swedish mortician alerted the family to bruises on her body, suggesting she may have been strangled. 

These weren’t mentioned in the autopsy and Scottish police allegedly still refuse to allow photos taken at that autopsy to be released.

Happier times: A young Borjesson with flowing red hair smiles while sitting for a photo

Borjesson’s mother, Guje Borjesson, on Prestwick Beach holding a photo of her daughter

Further riddles emerged during probing for the investigation, including how Ms Borjesson had told friends about a rugby player she’d met in a nightclub, but said that when she’d gone to meet him he’d given her a look that chilled her. 

He told her he was Martin Leslie, an international rugby star, except the real Martin Leslie was playing on the other side of the world. This man has never been tracked down.

When Ms Borjesson’s mother requested her phone records she was told there were no calls either to or from the mobile in the four days before her death, but the family confirmed she’d actually spoken to her mother.

In 2020, documents part of a year-long investigation into her death between the Swedish foreign ministry and Scottish authorities emerged.

The files appeared as part of a six-part podcast called ‘What happened to Annie’, by Sky News.

The files are heavily redacted, according to the podcast, because Ms Borjesson’s death is considered ‘classified as secret’ by the Swedish foreign ministry.

Its reason for redacting details surrounding Ms Borjesson’s death in Scotland are ‘that the information concerns Sweden’s relations with a foreign state and a foreign authority’.

It goes on to say that disclosure of the information ‘will damage Sweden’s international relations or, in other ways harm national interests’.

Another document, filed the day after her death, appears to indicate the Swedish Embassy detailing how Scottish authorities had suspected Borjesson’s suicide.

Ms Borjesson’s mother, Guje Borjesson, told Sky News at the time that she was ‘troubled’ by Sweden’s decision to shroud her daughter’s death in secrecy.

Guje said there is a ‘public interest’ in finding out what happened to her daughter.

Mother-of-two Nicola Bulley, 45, vanished while walking her dog in Lancashire on January 27 

Journalist Ms Martin said: ‘I was only 13 when Annie died but the story of her death has always stayed with me.

‘Many people, her friends and family included, believe that Annie was actually murdered. The question is – could they be right?’ 

The prevalence of online conspiracy theories was witnessed recently in the case of Ms Bulley, a mother-of-two who vanished while walking her dog in Lancashire.

A coroner this week returned a conclusion of accidental death, saying the mortgage adviser fell into the River Wyre at around 9.22am on January 27 and ‘died almost immediately’.

Ms Bulley’s partner Paul Ansell told the hearing he believed it happened after she put her mobile phone down on a bench to put their spaniel Willow in his harness after the walk.

However, the case was marred by ‘wildly inaccurate speculation’ from amateur sleuths on social media. 

After hearing that an exhaustive police inquiry had ruled out the possibility of suicide or third-party involvement in Ms Bulley’s death, her family hit out at internet trolls who continue to send them ‘negative targeted messages’.

And they appealed to the public to ‘look at the facts’, to ‘ignore any amateur views and opinions’ and to be ‘mindful of the impact words bring’.

Their plea was reiterated by the top detective at the force which probed the 45-year-old’s death.

Detective Chief Superintendent Pauline Stables, head of crime at Lancashire Police, said she hoped the coroner’s ‘clear and definitive findings will put an end ill-informed speculation and conspiracy theories which have been so damaging to Nikki’s family’.

• Body On The Beach: What Happened To Annie?, all episodes on BBC iPlayer from Tuesday.

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