Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
16-yr-old’s ‘wicked and evil’ murder of angelic Alesha
Jury convicts boy in just three hours
A BOY aged 16 has been found guilty of the abduction, rape and murder of six-year-old Alesha Macphail.
Her naked body was found on the Isle of Bute after she was reported missing on a family holiday in July last year.
“Sweet, angelic” Alesha had suffered 117 “catastrophic” injuries and died from significant pressure being applied to her face and neck.
The boy – who cannot be named because he is under 18 – was found guilty after a nineday trial and told by the judge he had committed some of the “wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard”.
The jury took just three hours to reach their decision.
As the teen was led to the cells, a man in the public gallery called out “evil” and Alesha’s dad Robert shouted “f***ing scumbag”.
Alesha – described as having a “big beautiful smile” was on holiday on the island, in the Firth of Clyde, when she was taken from her grandparents’ home.
Her grandparents, dad and his girlfriend, who were sleeping in the flat, did not hear her being lifted from her bed.
Her body was found in the grounds of a former hotel on the island. Her pink polka-dot pyjama shorts and white vest were a short distance away. DNA evidence linking the accused to the crime scene was recovered on Alesha’s body and on her pyjamas.
The jury heard the teenager previously bought cannabis from Mr Macphail, but the pair fell out five months earlier over an unpaid £10 drug debt.
At the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Matthews told the teen: “It will be obvious to anyone that Alesha Macphail was a sweet, angelic little girl.”
He said she had arrived on Bute looking forward to the holidays. But the judge went on: “Instead you came into her life. You then stole it in committing some of the most evil and wicked crimes this court has ever heard in decades of dealing with depravity.”
In a statement, Alesha’s mum Georgina Lochrane said: “Words cannot express just how devastated I am to have lost my beautiful, happy, smiley wee girl.”
The Macphail family said: “We can’t believe we will never see our wee angel Alesha again. We miss her so much.”
The boy will be sentenced next month. GEORGINA LOCHRANE ALESHA’S MOTHER, RIGHT YESTERDAY