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

[Keeneye]

Would the police have told TM what the defendant was accusing? And would that have known he was going to say ? As in her questioning she had only just found out that Monday. I don’t think she’s a viable suspect, but let’s see what the defence have . Very confused

 

[Keeneye]

Not sure but again I was thinking about the case in London where the step grandad had committed the crime then after the prosecution laid their case he changed his plea . I think the evidence was just too strong .

Oh I thought you could but not sure why I think that! Hope someone can clarify this point

ot
S

 

[Edinlass]

Deleted

 

[Edinlass]

Newbie here. I've been following this as things develop.

My gut feeling on this is that something really doesn't sit right with the whole case. I'd agree from the court reporting that we've heard that the prosecution appear to have a very strong case but i do not think for one minute that the circumstances surrounding this tragedy are in any way clean cut.

The home life of the accused appears chaotic. This in itself could be quite misleading. The various reporting of heavy drinking (both accused and his mother), smoking dope, the party, a seemingly relative normalisation of going to and from the house in the small hours, late showers etc etc has a kind of 'teenager-out-of-control' subtext to it and it would be very easy to make sweeping assumptions based on this, but this kind of behaviour generally isn't all too uncommon in the poorer parts of the west of Scotland (ie Inverclyde and Ayrshire coastal towns), and certainly not on the smaller islands and peninsula's where kids have very little to do.

I struggle to see pre-meditation in this, primarily because there appears to have been very little in terms of a 'plan'. I also struggle with the actual timeline itself. It is almost 'efficient' given the distances and terrain involved, and the fact that it would have beeen pitch dark (being on a rural peninsula there would be very little in the way of ambient lighting). It could be argued that efficiency and pre-meditation normally go hand-in-hand. If the intention was just to locate and steal drugs, but it became an opportunistic situation, then what is the catalyst for it suddenly turning into such a seemingly violent and sustained assault. The accused would have to almost have had some kind of episode or tunnel-vision *not* to realise what was going to unfold as a result of their actions.

Welcome!

I agree the home life appears to be that the accused and perhaps his sister ‘ruled the roost’ but bare in mind that the late showers and the comings and goings from the house appears NOT to be the norm. His mother, once having viewed the CCTV, admitted that her sons actions were strange which says that it wasn’t normal behaviour or not something that occurred frequently. That being said he may well did in the past come and go at all hours without being detected as it’s not every day that the CCTV is checked and they had only just had it installed. I also don’t think the accused’s family are in anyway ‘poor’, their house looks to be in a good state of repair and has a huge garden whereby he was able to practice his hobby, parkour.

I don’t think we will ever truly know the whys surrounding this case, pre-meditated or not he tried to cover his tracks (not very well) but the aftermath is just as bad as any planning.

I think also it has been discussed that due to it being the summer month of July it wouldn’t have been pitch black as it may be in winter say. But I am not 100% sure on that.

 

[Bampot]

Am I the only one that doesn't quite believe everything the accused mother says?

 

[Taskforce88]

Am I the only one that doesn't quite believe everything the accused mother says?

I'm starting to doubt what everyone has said per the private chat.

 

[nothinonyou]

Newbie here. I've been following this as things develop.

My gut feeling on this is that something really doesn't sit right with the whole case. I'd agree from the court reporting that we've heard that the prosecution appear to have a very strong case but i do not think for one minute that the circumstances surrounding this tragedy are in any way clean cut.

The home life of the accused appears chaotic. This in itself could be quite misleading. The various reporting of heavy drinking (both accused and his mother), smoking dope, the party, a seemingly relative normalisation of going to and from the house in the small hours, late showers etc etc has a kind of 'teenager-out-of-control' subtext to it and it would be very easy to make sweeping assumptions based on this, but this kind of behaviour generally isn't all too uncommon in the poorer parts of the west of Scotland (ie Inverclyde and Ayrshire coastal towns), and certainly not on the smaller islands and peninsula's where kids have very little to do.

I struggle to see pre-meditation in this, primarily because there appears to have been very little in terms of a 'plan'. I also struggle with the actual timeline itself. It is almost 'efficient' given the distances and terrain involved, and the fact that it would have beeen pitch dark (being on a rural peninsula there would be very little in the way of ambient lighting). It could be argued that efficiency and pre-meditation normally go hand-in-hand. If the intention was just to locate and steal drugs, but it became an opportunistic situation, then what is the catalyst for it suddenly turning into such a seemingly violent and sustained assault. The accused would have to almost have had some kind of episode or tunnel-vision *not* to realise what was going to unfold as a result of their actions.

I really don't think the accused is poor, something which actually kind of shocked me when watching his YT videos is he seems, I wouldn't say 'well-off' but I don't think his family were struggling. Nice clothes, well spoken. I do agree that most teenagers in small-towns drink heavily and smoke weed simply out of boredom. On the other hand, the MacPhail family seem a bit more on the poorer side; Rob doesn't have a job and deals drugs in his spare time. Then again, I think social class doesn't really matter in small towns as everyone kind of has no choice but to associate with each other

 

[bfin1995]

Am I the only one that doesn't quite believe everything the accused mother says?

I don't think she called the police to 'rule him out'. She was concerned enough to involve her friend/other relatives. She was concerned enough to warn her son about DNA. Her actions speak louder than her words.

 

[Caroclaud]

Imagine this.. he already knows the DNA evidence is not strong for whatever reason (as I think prosecution have to submit it before the trail starts) and that’s why he thought it was worth coming up with a fantastical alternative involving TM which could sow some doubt in jurors minds?
I bl***y hope not.

I too suspect there’s way more ‘background’ to this case we aren’t being told, but I don’t know what. I just think in this type of small community everyone knows everyone else’s business.

 

[Edinlass]

I'm starting to doubt what everyone has said per the private chat.

How do you mean?

 

[octagonsunrise]

Welcome!

I agree the home life appears to be that the accused and perhaps his sister ‘ruled the roost’ but bare in mind that the late showers and the comings and goings from the house appears NOT to be the norm. His mother, once having viewed the CCTV, admitted that her sons actions were strange which says that it wasn’t normal behaviour or not something that occurred frequently. That being said he may well did in the past come and go at all hours without being detected as it’s not every day that the CCTV is checked and they had only just had it installed. I also don’t think the accused’s family are in anyway ‘poor’, their house looks to be in a good state of repair and has a huge garden whereby he was able to practice his hobby, parkour.

I don’t think we will ever truly know the whys surrounding this case, pre-meditated or not he tried to cover his tracks (not very well) but the aftermath is just as bad as any planning.

I think also it has been discussed that due to it being the summer month of July it wouldn’t have been pitch black as it may be in winter say. But I am not 100% sure on that.

This is exactly the point i'm making - i suspect the accused was accustomed to coming and going from the house in the small hours (dope smokers don't generally follow house rules), and probably did so (pre-CCTV installation) without anyone either noticing (mum) or bothering (sister). I'd also suggest this could be backed up by his seemingly total ignorance to what the CCTV would actually capture. This almost makes it seem that late excursions of that type were fairly normal, whether it be to meet friends, or to buy drugs, or for something else.

I'm not denying that there appears to be some kind of frenetic activity on that particular night that may or may not be the actions of someone trying to cover their tracks, but i do think it may be somewhat naive to assume that these details point solely to a troublesome teenager/opportunist with no plan, in a situation where the environment and close-nit community were going to be two dominant factors playing a main role in the likelyhood of that person being caught, and caught very quickly.

All MOO.

As a footnote, it's also worth pointing out that property on Bute is incredibly cheap, and therefore not an indicator of anything specific.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

I agree with you totally about there being more, but this is entirely my opinion and not based on fact or rumours. I think if he was 18 a lot more would be clearer about any possible link between him and TM.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Could I be more vague! You get my gist tho

 

[Edinlass]

This is exactly the point i'm making - i suspect the accused was accustomed to coming and going from the house in the small hours (dope smokers don't generally follow house rules), and probably did so (pre-CCTV installation) without anyone either noticing (mum) or bothering (sister). I'd also suggest this could be backed up by his seemingly total ignorance to what the CCTV would actually capture. This almost makes it seem that late excursions of that type were fairly normal, whether it be to meet friends, or to buy drugs, or for something else.

I'm not denying that there appears to be some kind of frenetic activity on that particular night that may or may not be the actions of someone trying to cover their tracks, but i do think it may be somewhat naive to assume that these details point solely to a troublesome teenager/opportunist with no plan, in a situation where the environment and close-nit community were going to be two dominant factors playing a main role in the likelyhood of that person being caught, and caught very quickly.

As a footnote, it's also worth pointing out that property on Bute is incredibly cheap, and therefore not an indicator of anything specific.

So you think, given everything we’ve heard from the prosecution this week that he may not have acted alone?

Well I disagree regarding property prices, the property RMs parents live in may be rented accommodation of course but the flat underneath is currently on sale for offers over £100k. The accused lived in a considerably larger house, appears to not be struggling money wise and largely comes across as a well spoken person (I admit this means nothing). It differs considerably to say property prices in run down parts of Glasgow whereby you can buy an upstairs, downstairs for £70k, that’s cheap for a house! I live in Edinburgh and my house was £207k for the equivalent, I would say Bute will be cheaper but not ‘incredibly cheap’ as you make out.

 

[Bampot]

Rich or poor, what does it actually matter? Polo playing, ex public school boy arrested for murdering three elderly men in England last week. Rich and poor both commit crime.

 

[octagonsunrise]

You can buy a 12 bedroom house on Bute for £350,000. I think that constitutes incredibly cheap.

 

[octagonsunrise]

Rich or poor, what does it actually matter? Polo playing, ex public school boy arrested for murdering three elderly men in England last week. Rich and poor both commit crime.

Exactly my point. I don't think any assumptions should be drawn from the wealth or not aspect.

 

[Hoopy88]

I am still absolutely dumbfounded that the police did this. Like really, imagine the skip was emptied and that vital piece of evidence destroyed. So incompetent.

First post here but I've been following this case since the beginning.
I live in a small town in the North of Scotland. I know of at least two cases where the police here have destroyed vital evidence. They are not used to dealing with these sorts of crimes and getting a conviction is often jeopardised due to police incompetence. I really hope that doesn't happen in this case.

 

[Edinlass]

Exactly my point. I don't think any assumptions should be drawn from the wealth or not aspect.

Ok, only you brought up the poor aspect. I was replying with the facts.

 

[Bampot]

Its useful info about the area in any case, for those who are not familiar with the area.