ALESHA KILLER’S SICK WEB TRIBUTE
Callous teen murderer joined online memorial hours after raping and killing youngster
ALESHA MacPhail’s killer joined in an online outpouring of grief hours after her brutalised body was found. Aaron Campbell, 16, “liked” a Facebook tribute to the six-year-old.
IN THE minutes and hours after Alesha MacPhail’s body was found, all of Bute was united in a sense of shock and disbelief.
As word spread, friends phoned friends, neighbours came out to talk to neighbours and messages expressing horror and heartbreak were posted on social media.
Incredibly, twisted Aaron Campbell, who had brutalised and murdered six-year-old Alesha in the most heinous way, joined in the Facebook tributes.
A close friend had written “Alesha, always in our hearts” on Facebook – and sick Campbell “liked” the post.
A source who saw 16-year-old Campbell’s Facebook activity said: “It’s disgusting and disturbing that he would like the post just after Alesha was found dead.”
Another person in his Facebook circle added: “This shows how calculated and evil he is. Imagine sitting watching the tributes flow in for the six-year-old girl he’d just raped and killed and then liking the post as if he was mourning for her like everyone else on the island. “He’s an animal.” As police swarmed the island looking for clues about the murder last July, Campbell’s public show of support for the little girl whose life he had just snuffed out was just another callous attempt to cover the crime.
The teenager had taken Alesha from her bed in her grandparents’ home in Rothesay in the dead of night and subjected her to a horrific ordeal before smothering her and leaving her naked body in woods.
The child had 117 injuries when she BY JOHN DINGWALL reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk was found on the site of a former hotel. At Campbell’s trial at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Matthews described his actions as “some of the most evil and wicked crimes this court has ever heard in decades of dealing with depravity”.
The trial heard about Campbell’s other activities on social media in the wake of Alesha’s death.
He recorded a video of himself looking in the mirror and sent it to friends on Snapchat, saying: “Found the guy who’s done it”.
Campbell made bungled attempts to cover up the murder from the word go.
He even concocted a sick story blaming the murder on innocent Toni McLachlan – the 18-year-old girlfriend of Alesha’s dad Robert MacPhail.
But there was a mountain of evidence against him, including DNA matches.
Forensics examinations and a trail of other evidence was described at the trial as “overwhelming”.
After he was arrested for Alesha’s murder, Campbell was able to hide behind a mask of anonymity because in law, those under 18 who are involved in criminal trials cannot be identified.
Imaging watching the tributes flow in for a girl he’d just killed FACEBOOK FRIEND ON CAMPBELL’S SICK ‘LIKE’
On Friday, however, Lord Matthews agreed to a challenge by the Daily Record and other media that Campbell should be named.
The killer faces a mandatory life sentence. Next month, he will learn the minimum jail term he has to serve.