UK - Alesha MacPhail, 6, raped & murdered, Ardbeg, Isle of Bute, Scotland, 2 Jul 2018 -*arrest* #3

[HayLouise]

Fraser Knight‏ @Fraser_Knight

Advocate Depute reminds the jury of graphic details surrounding Alesha MacPhail’s rape. “It gives me no pleasure to have to speak to you in this way” he says. Alesha’s mum rushes out of the public gallery.

 

[Heathyheath_]

If Toni and Rab had a particularly combustible relationship, it’s easy to see them arguing and falling out during the first days of Alesha’s death. Maybe an argument with Rab happened around the time she made the ‘she’s in a better place now,’ comment and it was meant in the sense that she was better away from the fractured and confusing home life that she was growing up in?

All my own opinion and obviously it’s more likely that she was just parroting what older people say after a death but it could be one other innocent way of explaining her comment.

 

[HayLouise]

12:20

"One of the worst cases" - prosecution

Mr McSporran has described the case as “one of the worst” to ever come before jurors.

The advocate depute is giving his closing speech at the High Court.

He has told jurors he doesn’t represent Alesha or her family - he represents “the public”.

Alesha MacPhail's dad's girlfriend 'told pal girl, 6, was "in better place"'

 

[Yenriac]

]Fraser Knight‏ @Fraser_Knight

Advocate Depute reminds the jury of graphic details surrounding Alesha MacPhail’s rape. “It gives me no pleasure to have to speak to you in this way” he says. Alesha’s mum rushes out of the public gallery.[/QUOTE]

Poor woman.

 

[HayLouise]

James Shaw‏ @JGBS

Prosecutor Iain McSporran addressing jury in case of 16-year-old charged with abducting, raping & murdering Alesha MacPhail on Bute in July last year. Tells them one of the very worst cases for a jury to consider. Also absence of dna is an “essentially neutral finding”.

 

[HayLouise]

James Matthews‏Verified account @jamesmatthewsky

Advocate-depute Iain McSporran QC says Alesha was taken by someone strong enough to carry her. Of the accused, he says we know he is strong, he works out, he uses weights

 

[HayLouise]

Heart Scotland News‏ @HeartScotNews

Advocate Depute tells the jury the accused “wasn’t smoking, chatting and having sex with Toni Mclachlan. He was engaged in the abduction of Alesha MacPhail.”

 

[HayLouise]

Lorna Gordon‏Verified account @bbclornag

Crown says that it's a matter of fact Alesha was in house, and then not: she'd never before left the house during the night. No scream or sound of a struggle heard by anyone. Crown says could have been because her face were covered, threatened by knife, or if she were asleep.

 

[Pooksthebear]

No chance. The forensics on Alesha's body are compelling.

Very true and the jury will have heard far more than we have

 

[HayLouise]

Fraser Knight‏ @Fraser_Knight

Advocate Depute: “She’s still alive when he’s carrying her there. She’s still alive when the attack commences. A hand is placed across her face, nose and mouth and her throat, that causes her death.”

 

[Yenriac]

Fraser Knight‏ @Fraser_Knight

Advocate Depute: “She’s still alive when he’s carrying her there. She’s still alive when the attack commences. A hand is placed across her face, nose and mouth and her throat, that causes her death.”

I feel sick at this.

 

[HayLouise]

James Shaw‏ @JGBS

Iain McSporran says there are several explanations for how Alesha could have been taken from her bedroom without anyone hearing. He says it might be she was threatened with a knife or her mouth was covered or she was still asleep.

 

[HayLouise]

Lorna Gordon‏Verified account @bbclornag

Crown: Accused not required to prove anything, does not have to prove innocence. If you believe the accused you must acquit him.

 

[HayLouise]

Heart Scotland News‏ @HeartScotNews

Advocate Depute: “If you believe (the accused) then you must acquit him. If any evidence creates a reasonable doubt then you must acquit him.”

 

[HayLouise]

Fraser Knight‏ @Fraser_Knight

Advocate Depute asks the jury if Toni Mclachlan had been out with the accused “smoking, chatting and having sex” that night, why would she need to call him back when she woke up and saw he’d tried to contact her?

 

[Yenriac]

After reading all this since the trial started, the first thing i'll be doing when i see my kids again today is hug them as tight as i can. We have no idea how lucky we are sometimes until we hear about something as vicious and horrendous as this. Nothing can ever be taken granted.

 

[HayLouise]

Fraser Knight‏ @Fraser_Knight

Advocate Depute suggests the accused told police a “pack of lies” when they first questioned him. “He spins them a yarn” he says, about where he had been, with whom and why, the night Alesha was killed.

James Matthews‏Verified account @jamesmatthewsky

Advocate-depute on the accused’s first contact with police -‘He spins them a yarn, tells them a pack of lies about where he’d been, with whom, doing what’

 

[HayLouise]

Connor Gillies‏Verified account @ConnorGillies

Mr McSporran says the accused has been spinning a “pack of lies” in his police statement and in the witness box yesterday.

Radio Clyde News‏Verified account @RadioClydeNews

He says the accused told the police a "pack of lies" in the days after Alesha's body was found & stood in the witness box yesterday telling the same "pack of lies".

 

[Alyce]

Fraser Knight‏ @Fraser_Knight

Advocate Depute asks the jury if Toni Mclachlan had been out with the accused “smoking, chatting and having sex” that night, why would she need to call him back when she woke up and saw he’d tried to contact her?

Have to say I don't see why he is making that point. Completely makes sense to me, if Alesha is missing and you have a missed call, from anyone, you are going to call back in case they have news about her.

 

[Crestnut]

JMO but generally when someone has died it's what people say. I don't think that means anything at all.

I totally disagree. This is usually only said when someone has been ill and suffering not about a 6 year old child