UK - Alesha MacPhail, 6, raped & murdered, Ardbeg, Isle of Bute, Scotland, 2 Jul 2018 -*arrest* #4

[404_notfound]

Does a 16 year old boy need to use a handrail up some stairs anyway??

Unless they were carrying something heavy....

It's not the handrail, it's the rail the chairlift travels up. It's only about 8 or 10 inches off the floor, you'd fall down the stairs trying to bend to touch it carrying a heavy weight down stairs.

 

[Eezer Goode]

Strange user name for someone so articulate

Errr....ok.

 

[TaylorCallum]

I don't get though, if he had this awful history, that the newspapers are reporting on that the whole island seemed to know about, how he was apparently so popular? He went on a camping trip with a group of people, he had a bunch of friends to host a party for, he went diving with them in the pier video, he had a girlfriend, he apparently was popular in school etc. usually people who are known to be that awful are at least somewhat shunned.

 

[Taskforce88]

What time frame were they on Bute do you know TF88?

The McGarrigle murder was 1997 early 1998, they were there then and on the mainland, possibly Largs.

<modsnipped rumor>

 

[404_notfound]

I don't get though, if he had this awful history, that the newspapers are reporting on that the whole island seemed to know about, how he was apparently so popular? He went on a camping trip with a group of people, he had a bunch of friends to host a party for, he went diving with them in the pier video, he had a girlfriend, he apparently was popular in school etc. usually people who are known to be that awful are at least somewhat shunned.

People like that are often completely normal seeming 99% of the time and the other 1% is written off by those around them. Pretty much every serial killer in history managed to convince people around them that they were a perfectly normal human.

ETA - also remember "the Island" isn't a real group. So a few people knew about the cats, a few knew about the sexual assault, some others had heard about the pool incident. As a whole, if they all got together, they "knew", but i doubt more than a very few of them had a good grasp on what was going on, and even those who DID, of whom his mother must surely have been one, found it a stretch to make the leap to him killing Alesha.

 

[Ruben71]

Hmm, i thought it was the other way round (bottom door open, top door with key in) but could be wrong.

Either way i guess it's possible he was deciding as he crept up the stairs (rail is LOW, so he was crawling/creeping to be using that instead of the banister) what he was going to do. I think he went looking for drugs, and i think he took the knife to protect himself from Rab, not to threaten Alesha. I think he probably just came across her quite near the door, given the squeaky door and many people in there sleeping who didn't wake. I read earlier someone's theory that the angles of the CCTV from the shore made it look like he was carrying something on his back in one image and something dangling in front of him in the other, the inference being that she was actually over his shoulder in both cases. Like a fireman's lift. So unconscious?

Yeh it's so hard to guess what was going through this sicko's head. I saw in a news video them zooming in on the window at the top of the back of the house suggesting this was Alesha's room. Is it possible he'd gained an infatuation with her and spyed on the house previously and knew very well this was her room as he'd seen her through the window. Then on the night in question he was extremely drunk and decided to go and act out his fantasy. He could've called RM and TM to see if they were awake and if they answered just pretended he wanted weed. The only weird thing is how would he have known the place was going to be unlocked. It just seems so weird to take Alesha and go and do what he did to her if that wasn't his initial intention but who knows? and also it seems so extreme to take a knife to go and rob them for some weed.

 

[bronzepurple]

I wonder if one day Aaron will ever reveal the missing details...if someone were to interview him in prison for example...I dunno though as he might just keep lying about everything rather than admit it.

 

[Taskforce88]

With the McGarrigle murder trial, Mr O'Neill lodged a special defence incriminating Mrs McGarrigle's husband Robert as being responsible for her death.

 

[Bampot]

If his mum allowed drinking and weed smoking at his house . And late night parties. 15 guests. Id surmise on that basis alone he would be popular. Most households would not allow that. Sounds like his house was the party house IMO

 

[TaylorCallum]

People like that are often completely normal seeming 99% of the time and the other 1% is written off by those around them. Pretty much every serial killer in history managed to convince people around them that they were a perfectly normal human.

I do get what you're saying but it seems like everyone on the island has come out and had a say on him, as if they never liked him to begin with, From killing cats to sexual abusing someone. When I was at school people were made fun of or even excluded for the dumbest stuff like what music they listened to or even what clothes they wore, that was enough to be picked on, And yet someone being an apparently well-known psychopath/sociopath is fine? It's just odd to me.

 

[wtiger]

Strange user name for someone so articulate

Or a shamen fan...or a teeny of the 90s (like myself) ...still have the naff naff sweater and fruit of the loom jeans somewhere

 

[404_notfound]

Yeh it's so hard to guess what was going through this sicko's head. I saw in a news video them zooming in on the window at the top of the back of the house suggesting this was Alesha's room. Is it possible he'd gained an infatuation with her and spyed on the house previously and knew very well this was her room as he'd seen her through the window. Then on the night in question he was extremely drunk and decided to go and act out his fantasy. He could've called RM and TM to see if they were awake and if they answered just pretended he wanted weed. The only weird thing is how would he have known the place was going to be unlocked. It just seems so weird to take Alesha and go and do what he did to her if that wasn't his initial intention but who knows? and also it seems so extreme to take a knife to go and rob them for some weed.

It's definitely possible. I think however, as she was a visitor to the area (albeit a frequent one) that it's more likely if he was fixating on a kid it would be a permanent resident. One he saw every day. It's also possible that he wasn't fixated on children at all particularly, but on someone that he could control, who because of his age was therefore also a child. His other victim is described as "a teenager". He is rumoured to have tortured animals too, that's not about sex, it's about power, control.

 

[L White]

If his mum allowed drinking and weed smoking at his house . And late night parties. 15 guests. Id surmise on that basis alone he would be popular. Most households would not allow that. Sounds like his house was the party house IMO

To be fair, this is quite common on small island communities.

 

[L White]

Or a shamen fan...or a teeny of the 90s (like myself) ...still have the naff naff sweater and fruit of the loom jeans somewhere

Naughtynaughtyverynaughty.

 

[bronzepurple]

I do get what you're saying but it seems like everyone on the island has come out and had a say on him, as if they never liked him to begin with, From killing cats to sexual abusing someone. When I was at school people were made fun of or even excluded for the dumbest stuff like what music they listened to or even what clothes they wore, that was enough to be picked on, And yet someone being an apparently well-known psychopath/sociopath is fine? It's just odd to me.

I only heard some of the rumours about him after he was arrested by the police....I am even more shocked to find out tons more in the newspapers the last day or so.

 

[UKslueth2018]

With the McGarrigle murder trial, Mr O'Neill lodged a special defence incriminating Mrs McGarrigle's husband Robert as being responsible for her death.

Wow that special defence option needs to be looked at imo

 

[TaylorCallum]

If his mother did know about these things and chose to do nothing then my sympathy has waned significantly for her honestly. If my child skinned cats and buried them in my back yard they'd be getting locked up in a psychiatric unit or put up for adoption, and I'm not joking.

 

[Tortoise]

Yeh it's so hard to guess what was going through this sicko's head. I saw in a news video them zooming in on the window at the top of the back of the house suggesting this was Alesha's room. Is it possible he'd gained an infatuation with her and spyed on the house previously and knew very well this was her room as he'd seen her through the window. Then on the night in question he was extremely drunk and decided to go and act out his fantasy. He could've called RM and TM to see if they were awake and if they answered just pretended he wanted weed. The only weird thing is how would he have known the place was going to be unlocked. It just seems so weird to take Alesha and go and do what he did to her if that wasn't his initial intention but who knows? and also it seems so extreme to take a knife to go and rob them for some weed.

Maybe he knew they always or usually left a key in the door because he had been to the door previously to buy his weed. I know the gran said she left the key in the door by mistake but she possibly said that because she felt ashamed for it.

 

[UKslueth2018]

Errr....ok.

I get the associated song in my head when I read the user name

 

[Deufin]

It's not the handrail, it's the rail the chairlift travels up. It's only about 8 or 10 inches off the floor, you'd fall down the stairs trying to bend to touch it carrying a heavy weight down stairs.

You’re right, I’d totally forgotten the detail about it actually being a chairlift rail, and watching the video of it even the bit around the corner would be a bit of a stretch to use for support.