POLICE have made a dramatic return to the home of missing Inverkip woman Margaret Fleming.

A forensics team was spotted taking soil samples from the garden of Margaret’s cottage, Seacroft, on Thursday afternoon.

This is the latest twist in the major probe and comes just days after the detective leading the inquiry told the Telegraph that the search of the house and its grounds was over.

An eyewitness said: “There were police and forensics at the scene drilling holes and taking photos.

“It looked like they were taking soil samples.”

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Livingstone had said last week that the search at the property had ended.

It was conducted inside the house and the grounds and extended over 500 metres into nearby water and woodland.

DCI Livingstone had said: “The search has now finished but was intensive and methodical and the area searched in the garden alone was around half a hectare, which is a huge area.”

The Telegraph revealed exclusively last Thursday that leads have pointed detectives in the direction of extended family in America as efforts are also made to trace every Margaret Fleming in the UK.

Margaret, 37 — who is believed to have learning difficulties — was reported missing by her carers, Edward Cairney, 75, and Avril Jones, 56, on October 28 last year.

However, the last independent sighting of the missing woman was nearly 18 years ago, at a family gathering in December 1999.