UK - Alesha MacPhail, 6, raped & murdered, Ardbeg, Isle of Bute, Scotland, 2 Jul 2018 -*arrest* #2

[tmar]

Newbie here. My opinion;

It wasn’t premeditated but he is 100% guilty nonetheless.

He rang Toni for cannabis at 1.47am, no answer so he leaves his house for the first time at 1.54am in the direction of where rab and Toni live (where alesha was staying)

He’s originally looking for cannabis and finds the door to rabs is open so he goes in (gran left key in door) also a Handprint of accused found on stairwell... he finds alesha either in bed or she had got up and bumped into him. It’s at this moment he decides to abduct her. He carries her on his back ( as seen in the cctv of a neighbour at 2.26am ) and he takes her to the woodland area.

I’m guessing the assault lasts 30/40 mins based on the cctv footage of him arriving home at 3.35am ( the opposite direction in which he left) , he discards his hoodie somewhere on his route home as I imagine it has blood on it. He arrives home and takes a shower. He Takes his boxers and grey joggers off in one go and folds them up very tightly ( they are found later on the beach “compactly folded” ) this is what his mother mistakes for a black t shirt ;

“he’s seen leaving again at 3.45am with what looks like a black t shirt”

He decides to take a knife from the kitchen in case he bumps into anyone on his way of disposing the clothes, which would certainly arouse suspicion from a member of the public, he then throws his joggers/boxers and the knife into the sea... thinking the tide will take them out far to sea and they will never be recovered. He thinks this is a better hiding place than where he originally left his hoodie earlier, so he returns home for the 3rd time, grabs a torch, grabs some shoes and goes out looking for the hoodie (3.58am) . He finds it, discards it at sea and comes home 7 minutes later... that is the only theory I can come up with why he leaves his house 3 times and also fits in with the timings of the cctv recordings of his own mothers house and other neighbours...


What do we think?

Welcome Kiki.
I feel your theory falls into place.
He is flustered, and needs to 'hide' his involvement.
Your ideas about the 3 trips home, seem very plausible.
MOO.

 

[Dottyl]

Hi first time poster....
I think he went around to see TM (who I suspect he has close links with based on the texts ) in order to persuade her to give him drugs. She didn’t answer his call so he goes around in person with a knife possibly to threaten her. I think he gets in through a window ( summer, parkour) and that he finds Alesha. He then makes the decision to abduct/ harm her. Hopefully he smothers her in the house and she is unconscious when he leaves through the door with the key in it to allow him to exit.

The thing that’s interesting is he says” how did he get her out the house” which implies something clever... but the key was in the door ? As to the sleeping part as a child my house was burgled with 8 people in and the burglars went into all the rooms and none us of woke up so that is very plausible imo.... not sure being quiet counts as clever though. ...Is there more here?

What he then did to the poor mite is beyond the comprehension of any of us thankfully. I suspect that’s why despite the overwhelming evidence some people can’t accept a 16 year old boy is capable of this. The posing of the body I find particularly sinister as it shows an element of detached and controlled thinking.

As someone else said I think that the gaps in the story caused by the efforts to conceal the boys identity may have muddied the waters. I also don’t believe a child capable of doing what he has done would appear normal before the incident. There will be a pattern of incidences of cruelty we are not privy to.( I was surprised more was not drawn out from the friends) His internet history would also I suspect be very illuminating.

My sympathy is with the victims family and in particular her Mother who learned of her daughters death by Facebook. I also feel for the boys Mother who seems to have had her children late in life and has had the misfortune to create and rear this monster. Let’s hope when he is found guilty he is never let out.

 

[Edinlass]

I'm not clear about this either. The Scottish phrasing maybe confused me (Edinlass can you help?!). Which lock did the grandmother leave the key in? Upstairs, downstairs, inside or out?

I still have no idea which lock or if the key was inside or outside, there’s just not been enough clarification. Left the key in the back of the door would suggest inside to me. So unlocked and key left inside is my guess.

 

[Bampot]

I still have no idea which lock or if the key was inside or outside, there’s just not been enough clarification. Left the key in the back of the door would suggest inside to me. So unlocked and key left inside is my guess.

I'm scottish and if the door was unlocked I'd say I left the door open. People do leave their keys in doors once they've locked it, for ease of opening the next morning I suppose.

I just googled why shouldn't you leave your key in the door and it said burglars can get in no problem. But they want to get out through a door....that makes sense here...unfortunately...

 

[charlotte123456]

Hi first time poster....
I think he went around to see TM (who I suspect he has close links with based on the texts ) in order to persuade her to give him drugs. She didn’t answer his call so he goes around in person with a knife possibly to threaten her. I think he gets in through a window ( summer, parkour) and that he finds Alesha. He then makes the decision to abduct/ harm her. Hopefully he smothers her in the house and she is unconscious when he leaves through the door with the key in it to allow him to exit.

The thing that’s interesting is he says” how did he get her out the house” which implies something clever... but the key was in the door ? As to the sleeping part as a child my house was burgled with 8 people in and the burglars went into all the rooms and none us of woke up so that is very plausible imo.... not sure being quiet counts as clever though. ...Is there more here?

What he then did to the poor mite is beyond the comprehension of any of us thankfully. I suspect that’s why despite the overwhelming evidence some people can’t accept a 16 year old boy is capable of this. The posing of the body I find particularly sinister as it shows an element of detached and controlled thinking.

As someone else said I think that the gaps in the story caused by the efforts to conceal the boys identity may have muddied the waters. I also don’t believe a child capable of doing what he has done would appear normal before the incident. There will be a pattern of incidences of cruelty we are not privy to.( I was surprised more was not drawn out from the friends) His internet history would also I suspect be very illuminating.

My sympathy is with the victims family and in particular her Mother who learned of her daughters death by Facebook. I also feel for the boys Mother who seems to have had her children late in life and has had the misfortune to create and rear this monster. Let’s hope when he is found guilty he is never let out.

This is precisely why I would NEVER be without a dog in a family home. Humans are not very good at hearing noises in the dead of night, but woe betide the accused if he broke into my house! My Labrador would raise the dead with his bark and although not aggressive he certainly sounds it when startled! No intruder would take a risk when then hear a barking dog on a property.

 

[Makershaker]

My thoughts on the knife...

I think that Accused took the knife as was planning sneaking into RM's house and stealing his stash of Weed.. and the knife was to protect himself if RM woke up as he'd already had arguments over not paying RM. I assume having previously bought Weed there he knew exactly where it was kept in the home AND that the door was always left unlocked.

I wonder if stash was kept close to Aleshas bedroom.

But then when accused gets inside the house unfortunately a more evil idea pops into his mind.

 

[Caroclaud]

It takes a very sick individual to decide to abduct a child, even if on the spur of the moment, and if he did smother her whilst still in the house, how on earth does panic not immediately set in about what you have just done?
But then to travel to a different location, and take the time to then commit atrocious acts & abuse takes a very cool customer, a very sinister individual.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Hi another newbie here but avid lurked on here.

I can't help but think, maybe, when he says he lost his phone there was an element of truth in that and perhaps the 3rd time he went out with the torch was because as he returned home he realised he had lost it and that's why he was so frantic and went back to look and retrieve.
Alot of liars like to mix in elements of truth when they can as the lie is then mixed about and there for harder to detect amongst truth. Jesus I hope that makes sense go easy on me it's my first post

Def agree with you about mixing truth with lies, to give more credibility to them

 

[Dottyl]

I would be surprised if a drug dealer routinely left the door open..... theft and police interest being an occupational hazard. I think the boy was confident he could get into the house though. Iirc the gm was upset that Alesha could have let herself out because the key was in the door. There is also the possibility that he went to the house with murderous intentions of stabbing RM in his sleep. That way he would be already psyched up to do something terrible when he sees another opportunity.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

How exactly does it give so much away?

I'm surprised the comments haven't been removed under the videos.

Removed some detail here, not sure if its ok to describe contents of a you tube video or not. So will just say towards the end of the second video gives me utter chills.

 

[Caroclaud]

Just remembered there were some reports too of Alesha being prone to sleepwalking, wonder if that’s a possibility if she came out of the house herself and just by horrific coincidence the accused was there at the same time? Seems far fetched...

I guess if he did take her from her room, there would be fingerprints etc, we haven’t heard much about this aspect yet.

Alesha MacPhail was known to sleepwalk, say locals on Bute | Daily Mail Online

 

[embro68]

Can I just throw in that I dont think RM and TM are in anyway serious drug dealers. It doesn't say anything more than they bought an ounce of cannibus once and sold some weed to the accused and his sister.
There isnt enough for me to think that the accused went to their house or broke in for cannibus. Yeah I can believe he called them looking for some as he called other people. But the idea of breaking into a house that might have small bit of weed in it (probably in Rabs room) is just not sitting with me. It's cannibus not smack, and RM and TM are not the big time drug dealers the media are making out by any means.

 

[Dottyl]

Agreed Embro68... He may well have seen the girl and targeted her. If he is sick enough to do what he did, then it’s not a leap to think he has similar behavioural patterns and sick thoughts as other child predators. It is us who are putting the drug motive forward. He may have fantasised this scenario previously and with this child. The impulsive aspect may just be his decision to put the plan into action that night. Again difficult to attribute these thoughts to a 16 year old but his actions are those of the very worst adult offenders in our prison system. He is then twisted enough to torment the family (and I suspect his own family) by accusing TM and going through a trial. He may have planted the drugs trail as an alibi in case he gets caught in the house. If he was 26 and not 16 would it change our view of what is likely to have happened here?

 

[mrazda71]

Just remembered there were some reports too of Alesha being prone to sleepwalking, wonder if that’s a possibility if she came out of the house herself and just by horrific coincidence the accused was there at the same time? Seems far fetched...

I guess if he did take her from her room, there would be fingerprints etc, we haven’t heard much about this aspect yet.

Alesha MacPhail was known to sleepwalk, say locals on Bute | Daily Mail Online

I 'might've be able to believe that IF his fingerprints weren't found INSIDE the building.

 

[octagonsunrise]

I 'might've be able to believe that IF his fingerprints weren't found INSIDE the building.

I suspect the defence might argue that these prints were the result of the accused visiting the house on a previous occasion to buy drugs. RM mentioned that the accused had been at his door previously - it is unclear which door exactly he is talking about.

 

[mrazda71]

I suspect the defence might argue that these prints were the result of the accused visiting the house on a previous occasion to buy drugs. RM mentioned that the accused had been at his door previously - it is unclear which door exactly he is talking about.

Yes but, Rab says that the Accused was never IN his house and 'at the door' is very different to inside the door and beyond ...

In fairness to us all ... I think it's still unclear to us (not those in court) where exactly this hand print was found.

 

[octagonsunrise]

Yes but, Rab says that the Accused was never IN his house and 'at the door' is very different to inside the door and beyond ...

In fairness to us all ... I think it's still unclear to us (not those in court) where exactly this hand print was found.

It seems from the court transcripts that RM appears to be anything but clear about those specific details. If the prints are in a communal stairwell i suspect the defence will easily be able to argue the point i made in my previous post. If they were found on an internal staircase between levels two and three then yes that is quite different, BUT, is it possible the accused could have visited the house previously for another reason, or without RM's knowledge ?

 

[Kikixxxx]

I'm surprised the comments haven't been removed under the videos.

Removed some detail here, not sure if its ok to describe contents of a you tube video or not. So will just say towards the end of the second video gives me utter chills.

What? There’s nothing on the video apart from jumping on a trampoline. Did I miss something?

 

[gc105]

I can’t help but feel this was a pre-meditated attack tbh.

There have obviously been theories about the accused breaking into the home to try and steal weed, to possibly threaten TM etc.

However - to escalate from breaking and entering/going with intentions of threatening an adult to committing abduction, rape and murder of a defenceless 6 year old just doesn’t add up to me.

I just can’t see the possibility that he stumbled upon her accidentally in the process of breaking into the family home and then decided in that moment to carry out such a heinous crime with no hesitation.

IMO he has either planned this in advance, or at least thought about it in depth enough to follow through on it that night.

You don’t just go from a thief to a rapist and murderer when ‘plans change’ so to speak IMO.

 

[gc105]

What? There’s nothing on the video apart from jumping on a trampoline. Did I miss something?

I’ve watched both videos several times now and can’t see anything either - am I missing something too?!