Police thought body was a 'dummy'

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A dead body was left lying in the middle of a harbour overnight because police thought it was a tailor's dummy, it has emerged.

People who reported the body in the mud at Inverkeithing Harbour on 11 October said they were told by Fife Constabulary not to be concerned.

Police did not discover it was the body of a missing man until the next day.

The force apologised for the mistake and said it was due to the inexperience of the officers involved.

The body was later found to be John McEwan, 24, who had been missing from his flat in Inverkeithing since 2 October.

They said they were 'aware of it' but it was a mannequin David Livingstone

The blunder happened last week but has only just come to light.

David Livingstone, 44, said he went to the harbour after his father spotted the body lying in the mud at Ballast Bank.

Mr Livingstone said two officers arrived and told him the body had been reported the day before.

"They said they were 'aware of it' but it was a mannequin," he said.

But when the officer went to investigate again the discovery was made.

Policewoman shocked

"With the colour of it, me and the policewoman were convinced it was a mannequin," Mr Livingstone said.

"But when the policeman touched the shoulder the whole shoulder moved and we knew it was a body.

"It was a shock. It was a shock to the policewoman as well. You could see it in her face when he said it was a body. We were in disbelief."

Police said the officers were young and inexperienced

Inverkeithing West and Rosyth South councillor Alice McGarry said: "They should never take chances like that. It's unbelievable.

"People see dolls and think they are bodies but it is never the other way round. It's all really sad."

Fife Constabulary's Ch Supt Jim Rodden said "regrettably" two young and inexperienced officers had carried out the first investigation.

He said: "The body was about 40 yards from the shoreline and, having heard that a witness had reported seeing Mr McEwan alive and well on the same date, they wrongly concluded that the shape on the shoreline was not a body, but a shop mannequin.

"I can only apologise personally to Mr McEwan's family for this tragic mistake, but police officers are human, too."

He added that Mr McEwan's family had been "very understanding of an honest mistake".

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Mr McEwan.