Police treat nine-year-old girl's death in Arbroath as suspicious

Police Scotland said the death of a nine-year-old girl in Arbroath was being treated as suspicious after officers were called to Elliot Industrial Estate shortly after midnight and a 35-year-old man was arrested. The child was found injured at about 12.02am on Monday 3 August 2026 and later died at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Detective Superintendent Nicky McGovern of Police Scotland Tayside said the girl was discovered at the industrial estate around 12.02am before being taken for urgent treatment. She did not survive her injuries. Police have not released the child’s name, and they have not given any further details about the circumstances leading to the arrest.

Elliot Industrial Estate sits on the edge of Arbroath in Angus, and the incident drew a large police response in the early hours. A police image from the scene showed a van, a car and officers outside the estate, underscoring the scale of the response as investigators began building a timeline around the discovery of the injured child.

The arrest of the 35-year-old man marks the most significant development in the case so far. Police Scotland has said only that he was taken into custody in connection with the death. No charge has been announced, and officers have not identified a wider risk to the public.

Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, the major acute hospital for the region, became the final destination for the child after the initial emergency response in Arbroath. The case has shaken the local community, with police now focusing on the sequence of events at the industrial estate and the hours before officers arrived.

The investigation remains centered on the small stretch of industrial land where the girl was found and the short window between the first emergency call and her arrival at hospital. Police Scotland has not said how she came to be injured, but the declaration that the death is being treated as suspicious places the case firmly within a criminal investigation.