UK - Alesha MacPhail, 6, raped & murdered, Ardbeg, Isle of Bute, Scotland, 2 Jul 2018 -teen arrested

[HongKongPhooey]

Okay now I’m even more confused.

A drunk person isn’t exactly synonymous with stealthiness so it’s remarkable that he managed to break in and take Alesha without anyone hearing him.

Definitely, agree with you

 

[Taskforce88]

The only thing that I can't understand is how he entered the house without being heard, carrying off Alesha. Everything else is quite clear to me now.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Skip at the police station I believe?

That's twisted to me too

 

[Ironside]

The only thing that I can't understand is how he entered the house without being heard, carrying off Alesha. Everything else is quite clear to me now.

Some people are very deep sleepers - perhaps the occupants were.

I wonder did the suspect know his way around the building already which would make it easier for him to creep around.

 

[wtiger]

I notice one or two posts wondering about DNA and the accused persons understanding of it.

Well his special defence offers an "explanation" for not only DNA...but also accounts for "a condom full of semen"

This clearly shows that far from not understanding the forensic side of things.....

He has a vivid and creative mind for sexual fantasy...i would contend that this level of fantasy (the bonkers fairy tale of his special defence) is pretty advanced for a boy of his age.

And...if his mother knows that at 16 he is running about in the middle of the night frantically looking for drugs (whilst being drunk) this probably shows 2 things
1 - that his mother has very limited control over him
2 - there is every chance that cannabis and alcohol are just the tip of the iceberg

In my experience, cannabis is not the type of drug to cause addicts to be frantically hunting around in the night for a "fix"...
Maybe just maybe something stronger is his poison of choice?

Personally i believe that the epidemic of filth and foulness available at the click of a mouse, is causing the lines between fantasy and reality to become blurred and we are seeing more and more cases where totally outlandish behaviour is coming from seemingly regular people.
Unless we get a grip of this then things are only going to get worse.

More and more of our younger people are living life through their smartphone screen or computer monitor....
In the games of that world, the worst possible outcome is that you "lose a life" or get the "game over" message...click restart and all is good.

Unfortunately in the real world, there is no restart option and as this lad will discover...your behaviour does have conseqeunces.

It's becoming a frightening world in which to exist

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Hmmm...I wonder if he may have suffocated her in her bed and killed her before he took her from the home, which is why no one heard anything from her and then he may have carried her/transported her out of the house and raped her after she died at the location where her body was found. The testimony from the medical examiner suggests he thinks she may have been sexually before she died but it does not say he is certain. The sexual assault could have happened within a short period of time from her "kidnapping". Actually, for Alesha's sake, I do hope she was not alive during the sexual assault.

I'm not sure if he could carry her on his back unconscious too easily? What do others think? A "piggy back" lift is much easier with cooperation

 

[Edinlass]

I'm not sure if he could carry her on his back unconscious too easily? What do others think? A "piggy back" lift is much easier with cooperation

CCTV proves he held her unattended though. I think this case is only complicated and conflicting because of his crazy made up defence. IMO he was a one man band on a mission, a mission that was pre-meditated.

 

[Edinlass]

Personally i believe that the epidemic of filth and foulness available at the click of a mouse, is causing the lines between fantasy and reality to become blurred and we are seeing more and more cases where totally outlandish behaviour is coming from seemingly regular people.
Unless we get a grip of this then things are only going to get worse.

More and more of our younger people are living life through their smartphone screen or computer monitor....
In the games of that world, the worst possible outcome is that you "lose a life" or get the "game over" message...click restart and all is good.

Unfortunately in the real world, there is no restart option and as this lad will discover...your behaviour does have conseqeunces.

It's becoming a frightening world in which to exist

Let’s not paint him as a Ted Bundy figure. Pornographic / violent images have been around forever whether that be images in magazines or at the click of a button. You can’t blame this violent, sick and twisted attack on that, it’s ludicrous IMO. I also wouldn’t call it ‘behaviour’ he has alegedly murdered & raped a precious 6 year old girl leaving her with 117 vicious injuries.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

I wonder if the Mother is still living there ... the whole Island must know who he is.

They do, no question.

 

[Taskforce88]

I wonder if the Mother is still living there ... the whole Island must know who he is.

The Island knows who the accused is, yep.

 

[SJ16321]

He probably thought he was being clever with the skip at the police station thing. Probably thought the last place they'll look would be outside the police station.

I'm not sure if he could carry her on his back unconscious too easily? What do others think? A "piggy back" lift is much easier with cooperation

Most 16 years old are the size of fully grown men so could carry a 6 year old girl easily anyway they wanted. He apparently did parkour which means he also likely did strength training which means to me there's no doubt he could have carried her easily in any position.

Let’s not paint him as a Ted Bundy figure. Pornographic / violent images have been around forever whether that be images in magazines or at the click of a button. You can’t blame this violent, sick and twisted attack on that, it’s ludicrous IMO. I also wouldn’t call it ‘behaviour’ he has alegedly murdered & raped a precious 6 year old girl leaving her with 117 vicious injuries.

I agree with this. It's very easy to blame /violence/video games/whatever but thousands of people access these things on a daily basis and don't go out killing little kids.

 

[wtiger]

Sorry if anything that i said came across as an excuse for him......it certainly was not meant that way.
Nobody could have anything but contempt for the perpetrator of this crime and there could be no possible excuse for it

 

[Edinlass]

Sorry if anything that i said came across as an excuse for him......it certainly was not meant that way.
Nobody could have anything but contempt for the perpetrator of this crime and there could be no possible excuse for it

Sorry if I was a bit snippy. It’s been a long sad day hearing all the horrific details.

 

[Ellmau]

A really horrific case.

 

[Fidobell]

You learn something new every day as the saying goes! I knew that was the case in some places but I didn't think Bute would be far enough North for that to be the case there.

I live fairly near this area in Scotland and it's not far enough north . At this time of year and the timings mentioned it would be dark . Not getting light until about 5ish .

 

[Rhenish]

Have been thinking about this case all day. I am amazed that he put on a condom, I am assuming he wore it when he sexually assaulted the little girl. Then he left it there?? I think he had to have known about about DNA or he never would have worn a condom, imo. Also, why did he have a condom on him to begin with, unless this was premeditated. (Or, of course, he may have been looking to get laid by someone at the party)

I am also wondering, since he did call Toni's phone around the time he left his house, if Alesha was awake and saw his outside the door and opened the door. She had been up earlier in the night, iirc, and was downstairs before she was put back in bed. I wonder if she was awake again and saw him outside of the house. If the key was left in the door (I do that so often-ugh) he could have opened it and whispered to her to come over toward him. Maybe he offered to give her a piggy-back-ride and that is why the person seen in the videos has someone on their back with legs dangling.

Anyway, I cannot stand the accused. What a hideous and little demonic cocky being. I do not know how the courts work in Scotland but I wonder if he will be confidant enough to take the stand and testify in his own defense if he is allowed to. In a way his defense of mud slinging reminds me of the Jodi Arias case, and she was so pathological and did take the stand in her own defense. His defense is all smoke and mirrors and just an attempt to hopefully get in some "reasonable doubt" regarding his culpability.

 

[Alyce]

BIBs are mine

Alexander McLachlan, a welder, 48 - said the footage, from 2.26am on July 2, resembled somebody "carrying something on their back".

"There was movement coming from the shelter, then somebody walking as if they were carrying something on their back," he said.

His sister-in-law Shari Strathie, 33, said CCTV from her home next door, featured a person carrying something on their front "with legs hanging down".

Alesha MacPhail neighbour tells court he saw 'man carrying little girl' on CCTV

 

[Alyce]

the mother identified a figure leaving the house at 1.54am on the morning of 2 July – wearing black trainers, jogging bottoms and a dark fleece top – as her son.
She told the court her family lived approximately seven minutes’ walk from the flat where Alesha was staying.

Alesha MacPhail murder trial: accused's mother testifies in court

 

[Alyce]

Re doing timeline to add in new information.
The timings marked in Red are based on the assumption that the suspect went into the McPhail home. All other timings are as reported in Court today.

10 pm : Alesha in living room area of house - put to bed by RM with dvd
unspecified time : TM goes to bathroom, then goes to Alesha room, closes door fully
12 midnight or just after : grandmother hears Alesha call out for Peppa Pig
12.22 am : Suspect and mother have argument at suspect's home
12.30 am : Suspect's friends leave his house, suspect's 14 yr old sister accompanies them
01.39 am Suspect texts or Facebook call to RM
01.47 am Suspect / or his sister / or suspect using sisters Facebook account - calls TM
01.54 am Suspect leaves his home, wearing jog pants, trainers , black hoodie. Walks in direction of Rothesay and McPhail home ( Alesha grandparents home) . It is approx 7 minutes from suspect home to McPhail home.
02.01 am approx Arrives McPhail home ?
02.18 am approx Departs McPhail home ?
It is approx 8 minutes from McPhail home to Mr McLachlan home on Marine Place.
02.26 am cctv ( Mr McLachlan home ) spots figure walking past his house - shore line - with something on their back. When later asked, Mr McL says he presumed it was somebody carrying a child.
Time - assume close to 02. 26 am - cctv footage from home of Shari Strathie, who lives 2 doors down from Mr McLachlan.Footage shows movement along the shoreline. She says to her, it looks like a figure walking past her house carrying another person.“You can see the legs hanging down and moving” she says.
03.35 am Suspect returns to his home - from a different direction - accesses his house by jumping over back wall. Does not have hoodie with him.
03.35 to 03.44 m. bathroom light is switched on during this time, presume suspect is having shower
03.45 am suspect leaves his home, wearing only shorts , no shoes, carrying what appears to be a black tee shirt
03.52 am suspect returns home
03.58 am suspect leaves home, fully clothed, running, with a torch
04.07 am suspect returns home, now walking

 

[SJ16321]

I'm starting to think Alesha woke up and went to the door because the accused was stood there as someone previously mentioned. I just can't see how he could possibly go through a flat he doesn't know and grab a child undetected. It's not impossible but it just doesn't feel right for me with all that's come out in court.

I definitely think he was watching the flat for a short while regardless when looking at the time line. I find it highly unlikely that he was actually inside for approx 15 mins.