The family of a young boy bludgeoned with his own golf club and drowned more than 20 years ago have launched a fresh plea to catch his killer.

John Rogers was 12 when he was killed near his home in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire in 1996.

No one has been convicted of his murder.

John disappeared while searching for golf balls at Wishaw Golf Course on the night of July 4 and never returned home.

His body was discovered almost a day later weighed down by a heavy lorry tyre in the River Calder, less than half a mile from his mother's home.

The schoolboy was severely beaten by his own golf club and his cause of death was determined to be drowning.

Local man Peter Quigley, then 42, was arrested and charged with murder but walked free due to a technicality.

John's sister Kirsty Rogers told STV News: "It's heartbreaking, it's horrible. It makes us feel a bit empty to a certain extent because we don't know what to do with it.

"We've not got closure so what do you do, do you just sweep it under the carpet, try to move on?

"You can't forget about it. There's a part of your life missing. We need to be able to say: 'this has come of that... somebody has been held responsible for it. It's not just been left in a filing cabinet somewhere forgotten about'."

Ms Rogers added: "People do move on and the public forget things that happened years ago but as a family, we can't forget, because he was my brother.

"He was somebody's son, somebody's nephew, somebody's grandson. We can't forget - he was part of our lives."

In a police interview heard at Glasgow High Court on the year of the murder trial, Quigley stated that he had slapped a boy on the night John was killed but that it was not John.

"I only hit him once," he said. "I only tipped him. He kept running and I chased him."

He continued: "I went down the kill and found the boy lying unconscious. I touched his head and left him."

At his trial, the prosecution hinged on that confession but Quigley had learning difficulties and a mental age of an eight-year-old.

Detectives had interviewed him without the presence of an appropriate adult, someone to advise him of his rights.

As a result, the confession was ruled inadmissable in court and the charge of murder was withdrawn, with Quigley walking free.

Four years later, John's mother launched a private prosecution against Quigley but failed to secure legal funding.

Ms Rogers said of her mother: "She was desperate. She was clinging to anything to get justice for her son. I think it was desperation, really."

STV News tracked down Robert Tracey, a close friend of Quigley and a witness at the trial.

He previously gave evidence that he was 200 metres away down the river on the night John was killed but had not seen his friend that day.

He said suspicions fell on him and he came under pressure in the local community.

Mr Tracey told STV News: "They were all shouting and bawling... running through the street. There was nothing I could do. I really felt really hurt.

"It was as if you were getting targeted all the time if you went out anywhere...because of the wee boy Rogers"

A Crown Office spokesman said: "Unresolved homicides are never closed. Cold cases such as this remain under regular review and any new evidence that comes to light will be assessed and investigated.

"There is a risk of prejudicing fresh prosecutions by providing details on how a particular case is being dealt with. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

His family believe a renewed appeal may help to jog memories and shed some light on what happened to him on the golf course in 1996.

Ms Rogers added: "A lot of things don't add up. We're hoping maybe this time somebody will come forward with new evidence, even the slightest wee thing that they thought meant nothing at the time."

Report by Chris Clements