Alesha MacPhail was found naked lying face down in woodland near an abandoned hotel
The father of Alesha MacPhail shouted 'f***ing scumbag' at the 16-year-old boy who raped and murdered his daughter as the killer was led to the cells after being found guilty this afternoon.
Six-year-old Alesha's body was found with 117 injuries in woods on the Isle of Bute last July, just hours after she was reported missing from the house her father shared with his parents on the island.
She had been staying there for part of the school holidays.
The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to his age, had denied rape, murder and abduction at Glasgow High Court. He blamed the horrific crime on Toni McLachlan, 18, the girlfriend of Alesha's father Robert MacPhail, 26.
But the jury took just three hours to find the teenager unanimously guilty today. The court will tomorrow discuss whether to lift the boy's anonymity.
Judge Lord Matthews told the boy he had committed some of the 'wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard', as he deferred sentence for the 'barbaric' rape and murder until March 21.
The boy faces a sentence of unlimited detention. As he was led downstairs, one man in the public gallery shouted 'evil' and Mr MacPhail said 'f***ing scumbag'.
Alesha's emotional mother Georgina Lochrane (left) and father Robert MacPhail (right) outside Glasgow High Court today. Miss Lochrane said she will forever miss her 'wee pal'
A pair of jogging bottoms found on Rothesay beach by police during the search for Alesha MacPhail. DNA matching the murderer was recovered from the waistband
A knife found on Rothesay beach by police during the search for Alesha last July
Following the verdicts, Police Scotland described it as a 'barbaric murder', while Alesha's mother Georgina Lochrane, 24, said she will forever miss her 'wee pal'.
Lord Matthews told the teenager: 'I have no idea what made you do this but I do know that the evidence you did it was overwhelming.'
After the case, Miss Lochrane said: 'Words cannot express just how devastated I am to have lost my beautiful, happy, smiley wee girl.
'I am glad that the boy who did this has finally been brought to justice and that he will not be able to inflict the pain on another family that he has done to mine. Alesha, I love you so much, my wee pal. I will miss you forever.'
The MacPhail family said in a statement: 'We can't believe that we will never see our wee angel Alesha again. We miss her so much.
'We hope that the boy who took her from us is jailed for a long time because of what he has done to our family. Alesha may be gone from our lives but she will always be in our hearts.'
Alesha (left) with Mr MacPhail (centre) and his girlfriend Toni Louise McLachlan (shown right)
Alesha's grandparents Angela King and Calum MacPhail arrive at Glasgow High Court today
Pathologist John Williams told the court Alesha had 117 separate injuries, and a post-mortem examination he conducted indicated she had died from 'significant and forceful pressure to her neck and face'.
He agreed the injuries to her private parts were 'catastrophic' - more severe than any he had ever seen before - and were at least partially inflicted while she was still alive.
Detective Superintendent Stuart Houston, senior investigating officer, said today: 'I welcome today's verdict and hope that it will bring some comfort to the family and friends of little Alesha McPhail who have been through the most horrific ordeal.
'Throughout the police investigation and this trial, Alesha's family have shown incredible bravery in the face of the most appalling circumstances.
'Alesha's senseless and barbaric murder shocked the small community on Bute and people across Scotland. The effects of her death are still being felt today.'
Giving evidence, the accused said he had 'never met Alesha MacPhail in person' and denied abducting, raping and murdering her.
Asked if he 'brutalised' her, he said: 'It's not me, absolutely not. I would never do something like that.'
Questioned if his 'DNA is all over her' because he murdered and raped her, he said: 'No.'
A forensic scientist told the court DNA matching the accused was found on Alesha's body and clothes, with some samples at odds of a billion to one of being his.
The teenager had lodged a special defence of incrimination, blaming Toni McLachlan, the partner of Alesha's father Robert, or Rab, MacPhail for Alesha's death.
The court heard the couple used to sell cannabis to the accused.
Giving evidence earlier, Ms McLachlan denied being responsible for the schoolgirl's death, saying she 'loved' her.
Directing the jury earlier today, judge Lord Matthews said that the burden of proof rests with the Crown.
He said: 'Sympathy for the accused, Alesha, members of the family or anyone else must play no part in your deliberations nor any preconceptions about the crime.'
Giving evidence last Wednesday, Miss McLachlan denied being responsible for Alesha's death, saying she 'loved' the schoolgirl.
She also denied suggestions by the defence that she had sex with the accused, then planted his semen on Alesha, before 'attacking', 'brutalising' and murdering her.
Before sending out the jury today, Lord Matthews said: 'As you know we've heard all of the evidence. Before we retire to consider your verdict there's a number of things I must say to you, namely you and I have completely different functions.
'I'll have to repeat a number of things about the law. Subject to the joint minutes it's up to you which evidence you accept or reject.
'You should consider all the evidence to see how it pieces together. One of credibility, that is whether a witness is telling the truth.
'The second is reliability, even the most honest witness if they have been telling the truth the might get it wrong. The joint minutes set out agreed facts which you must accept.
'Where there are discrepancies it's up to you to decide if they are important. At the end of the day you'll have to consider all this and apply your common sense.
'At the end of the day your duty is to return a true verdict. The burden of proof lies fairly and squarely on the Crown, because accused's persons are presumed to be innocent.'
A police forensic team investigate at a house on the Isle of Bute outside Rothesay last July
A police cordon at Ardberg on the Isle of Bute where the six-year-old girl was found dead
Regarding the evidence, Lord Matthews said: 'You have to look at all of the evidence. As far as murder is concerned, it's agreed that Alesha was murdered.
'Proof of motive is not necessary. Intention is a state of mind, we can't look into an accused's head. He has lodged a special defence of incrimination, it does not take away in any sense the proof against him.
'If you believe it or agree a reasonable doubt then you will acquit. These are all matters entirely for your judgement.'
Lord Matthews referenced prior statements given by witnesses. He said: 'It's crucial in a case to remember what a witness said in the witness box. Sometimes a witness says that they can't remember, but they gave a statement to the police.'
Yesterday, the jury was told by advocate depute Iain McSporran QC that there was a 'mountain' of evidence against the teenager.
Mr McSporran said the 16-year-old had told a 'pack of lies' from the witness box.
But the teenager's defence lawyer, Brian McConnachie QC, urged the jury to acquit his client, questioning why the boy would abduct, rape and murder six-year-old Alesha MacPhail having 'never met her in his life'.
The schoolgirl had arrived at the home her grandparents shared with her father, Robert or Rab MacPhail, on the Isle of Bute for the school holidays shortly before she went missing on July 2 last year. Her body was found in woods on the island hours later.
Addressing the jury in his closing speech on the eighth day of the trial yesterday, Mr McSporran invited them to convict the 16-year-old, saying the only 'true' verdict would be to find him guilty.
He added: 'We say he raped and murdered her and that's the verdict we seek.'
He said the evidence 'points squarely' to her being abducted and taken to where she was found by the person who killed her, which he claimed was the accused.
Mr McSporran said the timing of a figure being caught on CCTV, and who some witnesses said appeared to be carrying something, 'fits perfectly' with this version of events.
The teenager has said he lied to police about his actions when Alesha went missing, claiming he did so to protect the woman he blames for the killing - Toni McLachlan, the partner of Alesha's father.
He has lodged a special defence of incrimination blaming Ms McLachlan, 18, for the crime.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, he told the court he and Ms McLachlan had met up and had sex early on July 2 but he did not want to tell police this as he feared it would get back to Mr MacPhail and he would 'hurt' Ms McLachlan.
Mr McSporran said yesterday that the accused was telling 'a pack of lies then [to the police] and a pack of lies in the witness box yesterday'.
He put it to the jury that they had heard no evidence implicating Ms McLachlan in the crime but a 'mountain of evidence' linking the accused to it.
He also highlighted the accused telling the court Ms McLachlan could have been 'fantasising about killing Alesha for months'.
Mr McSporran said: 'Where did that come from? Who's been fantasising?'
He said the accused's claim that Ms McLachlan took the condom the two allegedly used on July 2, went back to the house where she had been staying with her partner, Alesha and the girl's grandparents, abducted the schoolgirl, carried her to the woods, smothered her to death and then planted the accused's semen inside her was a 'preposterous story'.
Mr McSporran added that DNA matching the accused was 'pretty well all over' Alesha's body and clothes and said the Crown's case is his semen was found inside the six-year-old as he had raped her.
Mr McConnachie told the jury in his closing speech that Ms McLachlan's friend agreed in her evidence earlier yesterday that the 18-year-old was 'jealous' of Alesha and felt 'threatened' by the time and attention Mr MacPhail paid his daughter.
Addressing jurors, the lawyer said: 'You might think that there is a solid basis on the evidence that Toni McLachlan might wish harm on Alesha MacPhail.'
Mr McConnachie said the question the jury needs to address is whether they are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused 'abducted, raped and murdered a six-year-old girl he had never met before in his life' before 'calmly' walking back home and 'wandering around his garden like he didn't have a care in the world' - as the lawyer said was shown on CCTV - before going to bed.
Detective Superintendent Stuart Houston is pictured outside the High Court. Police Scotland called Alesha's murder 'barbaric'
'My submission is the answer to that question has to be no and the verdict has to be one of acquittal,' he added.
He highlighted that no DNA from the accused was found in the house where Alesha had been staying and none of the schoolgirl's DNA or blood was found in the teenager's home.
Members of the jury were offered a counselling service and were told they did not have to sit on a case again in future if they did not wish to.
After the verdicts today, Chief Superintendent Hazel Hendren, divisional commander for Argyll and West Dunbartonshire Division said: 'I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to little Alesha.
'She was such a beautiful wee girl who was vibrant, funny and much loved. Her family have shown incredible bravery through what has been an unimaginable ordeal.
'I would also like to thank the local community of Bute who pulled together and did everything they could to help both Alesha's family and the major police investigation which followed.'
Island community shattered by abduction and murder of Alesha
Alesha MacPhail was subjected to a horrific sexual assault on the Isle of Bute
It was going to be a summer holiday filled with playing on the beach, bike rides and trips to the park.
Alesha MacPhail was to spend three weeks on the Isle of Bute at the home of her adoring grandparents, who were looking forward to surprising the six-year-old with the bubble machine they had ordered.
Three days into her stay, she was as high as a kite as she returned from a party clutching a balloon and, like most young children, took some persuading to go to bed.
It was the last her family saw of Alesha.
In the early hours of Monday July 2, an intruder crept into her room, took the child from her bed and subjected her to a horrific sexual assault.
Her naked body was found in nearby woodland the next day, her pink polka-dot pyjama shorts and white vest a short distance away.
The crime would have shocked any community to the core, but no more so than on Bute, the small island in the Firth of Clyde where many people did not even feel the need to lock their doors.
There was further disbelief as a local teenager was charged with Alesha's rape and murder, a 16-year-old boy who would try to blame her father's live-in girlfriend for the killing.
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow rejected his story and took just three hours to find the boy, who cannot be named due to his age, guilty of all charges.
A picture of Alesha among tributes on the Isle of Bute in Scotland following the murder
The nine-day trial heard evidence from Alesha's 26-year-old father Robert MacPhail and from her grandparents Calum MacPhail and Angela King, who described their last hours with the youngster.
Jurors heard from Mr MacPhail's 18-year-old partner Toni McLachlan, who said she loved Alesha 'to pieces' and had only found out she was being incriminated a few days before she gave evidence.
Lastly came the evidence of the smartly-turned out and composed accused, who told the court Ms McLachlan could have been 'fantasising about killing Alesha for months' after defence suggestions she was jealous of the child and felt threatened by the attention Mr MacPhail paid his daughter.
The intensive work of crime scene examiners, forensic experts and detectives told a different story.
Ms King, 47, had picked Alesha up from her mother's home in Airdrie the Thursday before her death, treating her to a visit to Fun World play centre in Greenock before returning to Bute.
Robert MacPhail had split from Georgina Lochrane around three months after Alesha was born on October 22, 2011 and the pair shared custody.
Unemployed Mr MacPhail moved back from the mainland to Rothesay and was living with his parents in their attic flat, where Alesha would spend every second weekend and part of the holidays.
He said his daughter 'couldn't have got on any better' with her grandparents, who had cleared a small room for her.
Ms King said: 'I loved her, we got on great, absolutely brilliantly.'
Of Alesha's relationship with her partner, she told the court: 'If everybody else said no, grandpa said yes.'
On July 1, Alesha had fallen asleep watching a Peppa Pig DVD after being put to bed for the last time at around 10.30pm.
When Ms King went to bed around two hours later, she did so having left the flat key in the door. She routinely did this during the day so that family members could come and go as they pleased.
No-one heard a thing later as Alesha's bedroom door was opened and the child was snatched and taken down the stairs.
Mr MacPhail Senior was the one to raise the alarm at around 6am, after almost walking into the door which opened out into the hallway as he went to the bathroom.
The family immediately began the search for Alesha, looking under beds, opening cupboards and pulling out drawers in desperation.
Ms King could still be heard checking a cupboard as she spoke to a police operator after dialling 999 at 6.23am.
In the conversation played to the jury, she said: 'We've just got up this morning and my granddaughter's missing.'
Describing Alesha, she said: 'She's a pretty wee girl with long blonde hair.'
A Facebook post appealing for help rallied neighbours, friends and strangers who searched the beach and park, and made inquiries at the taxi rank and ferry terminal.
By 9am, Alesha's body had been found and the family were told to gather at the police station where they received the news they had been dreading.
Alesha's grandfather's eyes filled with tears as he told the jury: 'We were all put into a room and about five minutes later a police officer came in and said 'we found her but she's passed''.
The court heard Alesha suffered a total of 117 separate injuries, with those to her neck and face consistent with being gripped and those to her nose and mouth indicating she had been smothered.
During the trial it emerged Alesha's father had sold cannabis to her killer in the months before, in order to fund his own habit.
The court was shown screen displays from a phone said to be the accused's which suggested it had been used to call Alesha's father at 1.40am on July 2.
Ms McLachlan, who had been in an on-off relationship with Mr MacPhail for around two years, had also received a call from the teenager in the early hours.
But prosecutors dismissed as a 'pack of lies' the accused's claims that he had sexual intercourse with Ms McLachlan in a shed in the early hours before Alesha was found.
His semen was found on the six-year-old, and the boy claimed it was planted by Ms McLachlan from the condom they used.
But the trial heard evidence fibres from clothes recovered from the shoreline on Bute matched those discovered on Alesha's vest, shorts and pants.
In further evidence, the phone - said to belong to the teenager - was used to Google 'how do police find DNA' in the days after the child's murder.
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/alesha-macphail-murder-teen-found-guilty-of-raping-and-killing-girl/
News Photo Alesha MacPhail murder: Teen found guilty of raping and killing girl
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