Murder of Alesha MacPhail

Uncommon card · No. 180553

On 2 July 2018, six-year-old Scottish girl Alesha Sarah MacPhail was abducted from her bed and murdered by 16-year-old Aaron Thomas Campbell. Alesha, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, was three days into a stay with her grandparents on the Isle of Bute when Campbell entered their unlocked home at approximately 2am. The teenager had previously bought cannabis from Alesha's father Robert "Bobby" McPhail, who lived in the house, and initially went to steal the drug. Upon finding the child asleep, Campbell picked her up, carried her to the grounds of a demolished hotel, then raped and killed her by applying pressure to her face and neck. Alesha was reported missing at 06:23 GMT; Her body was discovered by a member of the public at 08:54 GMT. Police Scotland charged Campbell with abduction, rape and murder on 5 July 2018. He denied any involvement and pleaded "not guilty" when his trial began on 11 February 2019. He lodged a "special defence of incrimination" by claiming that Robert's girlfriend...

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