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

[Yenriac]

Heart Scotland News‏ @HeartScotNews 2m2 minutes ago

This gives the defence opportunity to pick a hole.



Defence asks the witness if the fibres found on the jogging bottoms could be found on similar items of clothing. “Absolutely” is the answer.

 

[charlotte123456]

If I recall correctly, one of the witnesses on Friday said that the accused was wearing grey joggers on the night of the party when he found him crying.

You’re correct:

“Witness says accused was “wearing grey jogging bottoms and a black Nike zipper”.

 

[HayLouise]

Under cross examination witness agrees black Nike top has “no connection” to Alesha’s garments. Zero traces.

Connor Gillies on Twitter

 

[JosieJo]

Heart Scotland News‏ @HeartScotNews 2m2 minutes ago




Defence asks the witness if the fibres found on the jogging bottoms could be found on similar items of clothing. “Absolutely” is the answer.

Textbook

 

[bfin1995]

Defence asking witness about fibres from the black Nike top which were NOT found on Alesha’s clothing.


Witness agrees she would expect to see Nike top fibres on Alesha’s vest if she was being carried.

Connor Gillies on Twitter

Under cross examination witness agrees black Nike top has “no connection” to Alesha’s garments. Zero traces.

Connor Gillies on Twitter

Wow.

 

[Edinlass]

Under cross examination witness agrees black Nike top has “no connection” to Alesha’s garments. Zero traces.

BBM - could this Nike top not be his found on the beach then discarded by police in the skip afterall. Or maybe he didn’t have it on and discarded it on one of the 2 trips out the house with the torch, sure he had something in his hand his mother said. Maybe the knife was wrapped in the Nike top and this why he discarded it rather than it being worn when transporting Alesha. S**T,I’m waffling

 

[Alyce]

Just an indication of how much research is done


A cybercrime expert told jurors the request was made on Google at 00:32 on 3 July last year.
The evidence came from cybercrime team leader Peter Benson.
It was contained in an 89-page report which was compiled after a forensic examination of an iPhone 6, said to belong to the accused.

Alesha trial told of DNA Google search

 

[charlotte123456]

Defence asking witness about fibres from the black Nike top which were NOT found on Alesha’s clothing.


Witness agrees she would expect to see Nike top fibres on Alesha’s vest if she was being carried.

Connor Gillies on Twitter

What if he removed the top before he abducted her and dropped it on the beach whilst carrying her? Maybe the knife was inside the pocket of the hoody (if it has a front pocket that goes right through the front) and it fell out and this is what he returned to look for, along with his phone?

 

[HayLouise]

Case adjourned for today. Last witness for prosecution will be tomorrow morning.

Connor Gillies on Twitter

 

[Kasmeer]

So glad to see the fibre evidence; I'd been getting nervous about everything being a bit vague but this is a much more convincing link. The defence may try and claim the clothes aren't his, or had been acquired by TM (funny he only mentioned the hoodie then) but I think it's getting way out of the range of coincidence now.

The boxer shorts fibre is really convincing to me, way too unlikely it could transfer any way other than direct contact between Alesha and the underwear. Jogging trousers may be common enough to try and cast some doubt, but they'd be hard pushed to claim a woman wore men's boxers (especially as they hadn't mentioned it until now). So unless there's going to be a bonkers claim about her taking all his clothes and him returning home almost naked (which might possibly have been noticeable on his home CCTV ), they'll have a hard time getting round this one.

 

[Neko Luna Moon]

*Edited - wrong quote

I'm guessing that will be the DNA expert

 

[Bustia]

Wasn't Toni behind a screen? If so, how will the jury know her build is different? Maybe they will have an expert testify how it could not be her?

The jury can still see the witness on a tv screen.

Being a witness at court in Scotland - mygov.scot

 

[bronzepurple]

Wasn't Toni behind a screen? If so, how will the jury know her build is different? Maybe they will have an expert testify how it could not be her?

I guess the Jury won't know then...yes hopefully they will have someone do that.....but I suppose it depends how clear the cctv footage is...it sounds like they just saw a dark figure moving along the shore but not enough to identify if it were a female/male and much of their build..

 

[JosieJo]

Defence has pretty much destroyed the prosecution fibre evidence..the one fibre of boxer material is slightly more damning but could possibly be explained away by transference ..in theory

 

[HayLouise]

15:27KEY EVENT

Trial adjourned for the day

The trial has been adjourned for the day.

The 16-year-old suspect denies abducting, raping and murdering Alesha.

The proceedings at the High Court will resume tomorrow morning.

Fibre from boxer shorts 'found on six-year-old Alesha McPhail's pants'

 

[Crestnut]

13:53

Alesha's dad's phone number among accused's contacts

The court has heard Robert MacPhail and Toni McLachlan’s phone numbers were among the accused’s contacts.

At around 1.40am on July 2, a call was made to Mr MacPhail, before a message was sent to Ms McLachlan at 1.47am, jurors were told.

A return call to the accused from Ms McLachlan’s number is then said to have been made at 6.29am.

Mr Benson said there was no evidence the accused and Ms McLachlan had communicated on Instagram.

The IT expert added: “That did not feature in any of the evidence recovered from Toni-Louise McLachlan’s phone.”

Alesha MacPhail teen suspect's phone 'used to Google "How do police find DNA"'

So sorry firstly if I have timings wrong but I thought the grandmother raised the alarm re missing alesha around 06.25. So if I read that correctly within 4 mins Toni was attempting to phone the accused ...

 

[Alyce]

Defence asking witness about fibres from the black Nike top which were NOT found on Alesha’s clothing.


Witness agrees she would expect to see Nike top fibres on Alesha’s vest if she was being carried.

Connor Gillies on Twitter

Wasn't the hoodie found * outside of the official search area * - and that was why the policeman threw it into the skip.

So is it possible he discarded it before he abduced Alesha ?

I see several of us have the same idea -

or - is it possible that this is not his hoodie ? have we ever had confirmation on that point ?

 

[Edinlass]

Connor Gillies - Twitter

Defence raises concern about length of the day the 16 year old is enduring. He is woken up at 6.30am and doesn’t get back to prison until 8.30pm due to issues with transport arrangements.

POOR BOY!!!!

 

[bronzepurple]

One of the teenage witnesses said he was into weightlifting and was in good shape i think. As we have not seen any recent photos of the accused, in my mind he is quite broad and muscly.

from the youtube videos of him with his top off a year ago he doesn't look broad or muscly...of course he could have changed since then but all this talk of him lifting weights doesn't mean he actually did serious weightlifting for any length of time....they keep saying he did parkour but I think he just liked jumping over walls and running around and liked to tell people he did parkour - but I don't think he did 'serious' parkour where people are jumping off buildings...we would have heard of this on Rothesay. I think he sometimes lifted weights and did some casual free running/parkour, but nothing serious.

 

[LittleMystery]

R.E Instagram

I think part of the defence is possibly going to be that TMc and the accused communicated on IG which is why the focus.

Also, there has been no mention of the ability to use Instagram like Snapchat. You can send someone a private video on it, the recipient watches once and then it disappears. Popular amongst Gen Z who want to hide things from adult prying eyes.

Not that I’m convinced that this happened though , just throwing in another possibility.

Edit *Forgot where I was posting!