University Lecturer tells how he made images of missing Clydebank man

Glasgow Times

3 days ago

Dr Tobias Houlton, a lecturer in Craniofacial Identification and Forensic Imaging at the University of Dundee, was approached by Police Scotland in May to generate an idea of what a man who has been missing for 22 years would look like today.
Receiving the brief from officers, Toby was presented with the case of David McCallum, who vanished at just 31 years old.
Dr Tobias Houlton, University of Dundee. (Image: Supplied) Having worked on numerous missing person cases before, there was something unique about this case.
Dr Houlton said: "In these sad events where people have gone missing for various reasons, we are contacted to develop images that could be used to assist an investigation.
"There are various challenges. For example, we don't really know what their living circumstances are like.
"The police mentioned that there was a chance that [David] might have been living homeless.
"I think with this particular case, 22 years is a long time. It's certainly one of the longer spans of time that I've worked with.
"These cases are invariably challenging, and the added issue is you never know if the individual actually wants to be identified or not."
Images generated by Dr Houlton of David McCallum, 22 years on. (Image: Police Scotland) David McCallum was last seen at home with his girlfriend and two children before he was reported missing.
His car, a black Ford Focus, was found abandoned two days later on Sunday, March 30, 2003.
Officers have worked with various authorities, including workers involved with the homeless community in London.
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Dr Houlton says he was conscious about using all the information he had to create the best possible likeness of him.
He added: "There was a whole array of images that were produced to give an impression of how the same face can vary in appearance just by changes in the length of the hair presentation or a beard.
"There were no details as to whether to anticipate androgenic alopecia, male pattern balding, other than there was some thinning around the temples.
"I saw in one of the earlier images available of him that he had an earring, so chances are, with the amount of time that's gone by, he might have preserved it.
"The emphasis of all these images is to help people realise that this person is still missing and we need to be observant and looking out for him, and give people an impression of how the individual may look today, bearing in mind that 22 years have gone by.
"It is a tremendous ordeal for families and friends involved in trying to look for a loved one; it's very distressing."
[[Police Scotland]] works in close partnership with the Missing People Charity. They can be contacted via telephone on free phone 116 000 or by visiting the [[Missing People]] website.