A Monster Among Us-The Murder of Alesha MacPhail
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00:00 You went into the house and then her bedroom. You removed her from there and took her to
00:10 a secluded spot where you violated and murdered her in the most brutal fashion. Your attitude
00:17 was clearly demonstrated by the evidence that you posted an image of yourself in a mirror
00:22 while making a joke that you had found where the murderer was hiding. The arrogance and
00:27 callousness of that is breathtaking.
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01:05 The seaside town of Rothsay on the Isle of Bute is a picturesque place to live or visit.
01:11 Located off the Scottish coast, it has a population of just over four and a half thousand people
01:16 and is popular with tourists, holidaymakers and families alike. It's frequently voted
01:22 a beautiful place to visit with some extraordinary scenery and there is a wonderful sense of
01:26 community spirit. Everyone knows each other and people often leave their doors unlocked.
01:33 However the safety and security of this tight-knit community would be shattered one summer night
01:38 in 2018.
01:41 Alicia McPhail was born on October 22nd 2011 to parents Georgina and Robert. Although her
01:48 parents had separated when she was a baby, she remained their absolute priority and they
01:52 both doted on her. She was bright, inquisitive and loved being around people. She was described
01:59 by her teacher as someone who loved to learn and always took great pride in her own work.
02:06 Alicia was very friendly and welcomed everyone first thing in the morning at breakfast club.
02:10 She was a considerate child who loved being part of a group and she was popular with all
02:15 the other children.
02:17 Her mother Georgina lived in North Lanarkshire with Alicia's younger sister Courtney and
02:22 her father Robert lived on the Isle of Bute with his parents. The island is where Alicia
02:26 would frequently spend time, her parents ensured that she would see as much as she could of
02:30 Robert and his parents too. She would spend every other weekend on the island and in the
02:35 summer of 2018 she made a trip over there to start her summer holidays.
02:40 On the evening of July 1st at around 11pm Tony McLachlan who was the girlfriend of Alicia's
02:45 father Robert said she checked on Alicia and saw that she was sound asleep in her bed.
02:51 Knowing this she too called it a night and headed to bed herself.
02:55 As this community was small and close knit the key was left in the front door.
03:00 While Tony was checking on Alicia a teenage boy named Aaron Campbell was in the midst
03:04 of a house party getting drunk and celebrating the end of his exams.
03:09 Sixteen year old Aaron also lived on the island having moved there at a young age from England
03:13 with his parents Jeanette and Christopher and his younger sister.
03:17 He would describe his home life as difficult, he claimed he frequently argued and fought
03:21 with his mother and alleged that she drank heavily. His father was often absent due to
03:26 his line of work. However people that know the family disagree and say that both parents
03:31 were very kind and loving.
03:34 Aaron Campbell on the surface was a popular and seemingly charismatic young man. He even
03:39 had his own YouTube channel.
03:49 He documented various things about his life including his sporting activities.
03:59 As he got older he began dabbling with drugs and alcohol and having darker and more extreme
04:03 thoughts and impulses such as fantasising about rape and he even went as far to say
04:09 he "might kill one day for the lifetime experience".
04:13 He had a history of self harming and depression and was even entered into a rehabilitation
04:17 programme for starting fires.
04:20 The party was being held at Campbell's house and as it continued into the early hours of
04:24 the morning his behaviour began to change. It resulted in him having an argument with
04:28 his mother, telling people he felt suicidal and saying he just wanted to get stoned.
04:34 Using Facebook Messenger Campbell tried to contact Tony attempting to buy drugs. According
04:38 to the Facebook messages there had recently been a falling out between Robert McPhail
04:42 and Aaron with Aaron alleging the quality of the cannabis wasn't good enough. Failing
04:47 to get hold of Tony he decided to head to their house which was only a few minutes walk
04:51 away. With him he took a kitchen knife.
04:55 As Alicia's grandfather Callum woke up for work at 6am he went to check on his granddaughter
04:59 but found her bed empty. He immediately alerted Robert and Tony who subsequently contacted
05:05 the police.
05:07 Upon checking her phone Tony saw the missed calls and messages from Campbell and attempted
05:10 to call him back. He messaged her back saying it didn't matter anymore with several laughing
05:16 emojis. She quickly told him that Alicia had gone missing and he replied "Oh damn, I'm
05:22 sure she's not went too far."
05:24 Later that day Aaron was sending a Snapchat out to his friends with the caption "Found
05:28 the guy that done it."
05:30 It's not uncommon for communities to band together when cases like these arise and Rothsay
05:34 was no exception. A huge manhunt began. Members of the public, a helicopter and the coast
05:41 guard joined the search and police for more help were sent out via Facebook. Shortly after
05:46 the search began they found what they were looking for. At around 9am the police were
05:51 called as a local man had discovered Alicia's lifeless and naked body in a wooded area about
05:57 15 minutes from her home. Tragically her mother Georgina would find this out via Facebook.
06:03 The autopsy concluded that Alicia had sustained 117 injuries and the pathologist would refer
06:09 to these injuries as catastrophic.
06:12 On the 21st of July Alicia's funeral was held with hundreds of mourners in attendance.
06:18 One of the people grieving the loss of Alicia and who was involved in the initial search
06:21 for her was Jeanette Campbell, Aaron's mother. Looking for answers and anything she could
06:26 do to help she decided to check her CCTV cameras installed outside her home in the hopes of
06:31 picking anything up. Upon looking at the footage her heart dropped. She watched her own son
06:38 entering and leaving the house twice around the hours Alicia was believed to have gone
06:42 missing.
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07:31 After asking him about this she decided to turn the footage into the police as a way
07:36 of eliminating Aaron. The police brought Aaron Campbell in for questioning as a witness but
07:42 he remained calm and collected showing no signs of any wrongdoing. He told them he was
07:46 simply heading out to buy cannabis. As part of the interview process the police looked
07:51 into Campbell's phone which began to show the true horrifying picture. They uncovered
07:56 the Snapchat he had sent out, the Facebook messages to Tony and evidence that he had
08:01 been googling how DNA would be uncovered at a crime scene. Following these discoveries
08:06 they would match Aaron's DNA to the DNA found on Alicia's body. The chances of it being
08:10 anybody else were more than a billion to one. He was swiftly arrested on suspicion of murder
08:16 and charged the following day. At first he answered no comments but later he would claim
08:22 that he and Tony had been pursuing an affair and that after having sex in the garage that
08:26 evening she had saved the condom and planted his DNA at the murder scene. After more interrogations
08:32 the horror surrounding what had really happened that night to Alicia McPhail were becoming
08:36 clear. At around 2am Campbell entered the unlocked home belonging to Robert McPhail
08:41 and his parents. Initially he claimed to steal drugs. However he found six year old Alicia
08:47 asleep. He would later tell a psychologist that once he saw her all he thought about
08:51 was killing her, referring to it as a moment of opportunity. He picked her up and left.
08:58 Alicia began to wake up after a short time and asked him what was happening. He told
09:03 her he was a friend of her father's and even gave her his t-shirt to keep her warm. The
09:07 events that transpired are nothing short of horrific. Alicia was raped and brutally murdered.
09:14 Campbell then threw her clothes into the sea and dumped her naked body in the woodlands
09:18 before heading home to have a shower and clean off any evidence. He returned to the murder
09:23 scene a short while later to retrieve his phone. When it came time for him to enter
09:27 his plea, Aaron Campbell pled not guilty. The trial began in February 2019 with Judge
09:33 Lord Matthews presiding. Campbell's behaviour would shock the courtroom. His lack of remorse
09:38 showed as he struggled not to laugh as the evidence was being presented. He would eventually
09:43 say he was quite satisfied with the murder and appeared to revel and take pride in what
09:47 he had done. Following a conversation with a psychologist, Aaron Campbell would finally
09:52 admit to everything shortly before his sentencing. The trial lasted nine days and the jury took
09:57 just three hours to find him unanimously guilty on all counts. Aaron showed no emotion as
10:03 the jury fed back their verdict. Because he was under the age of 18 at the time he was
10:07 found guilty, his name and images were not printed. Media outlets argued it was in the
10:12 public interest to know and as a result, for the first time in Scottish criminal history,
10:18 Judge Lord Matthews agreed to reverse the naming restriction. On the 21st of March 2019,
10:25 Aaron Thomas Campbell was sentenced to 27 years in prison for the abduction, rape and
10:31 murder of Alicia McVeigh. This sentence would later be reduced by three years after Campbell
10:36 made a successful appeal. Upon sentencing, Judge Lord Matthews described Campbell's
10:41 arrogance and callousness as breathtaking and spoke of the profound effect the crime
10:45 had had on the island's community.
10:48 You went into the house and then her bedroom. You removed her from there and took her to
10:54 a secluded spot where you violated and murdered her in the most brutal fashion. The details
11:00 of that were revealed in the evidence and I do not intend to go over them again. Your
11:06 attitude was clearly demonstrated by the evidence that you posted an image of yourself in a
11:11 mirror while making a joke that you had found where the murderer was hiding. The arrogance
11:16 and callousness of that is breathtaking. Thanks to the dedication of the police and forensic
11:22 scientists, ably assisted by members of the public such as those who came forward when
11:27 they found articles of your clothing on the shore, you were eventually brought to justice.
11:32 Not once during the trial did I detect a flicker of emotion from you and that was also the
11:37 experience of the professionals who interviewed you for the purposes of the reports. The nature
11:41 of these appalling offences and what I have read in the reports make it clear to me that
11:47 reintegration and rehabilitation, while these are important considerations, are remote possibilities
11:53 and neither your best interests nor anyone else's will be served by a speedy return
11:58 to the community.
12:00 Since his sentencing, Aaron Campbell has been disowned by his family and police officers
12:05 and detectives have warned that he bears such a threat to society he should never be released.
12:10 However, should he be released at the end of his sentence, he will be just 40 years
12:14 old.
12:16 Almost a year after her death and a huge public donation, Alicia's memory was honoured by
12:21 her old primary school. They built a large wooden playhouse decorated with unicorns and
12:26 butterflies. They said it was inspired by how much Alicia loved her friends and loved
12:31 talking to people. They wanted to create a safe space for children to be together and
12:36 make friends.
12:39 The murder of Alicia McPhail was a crime that shook the United Kingdom and her family and
12:44 friends are determined that she will never be forgotten.
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