Police must learn from mum’s pain

GEORGINA Lochrane endured unbelievable trauma as she tried to come to terms with the brutal death of her little girl, Alesha MacPhail.

Her heartbreaking recollection of the tragedy on Bute is difficult to read.

What makes it all that much harder to understand is how Georgina feels she was kept in the dark during the investigation.

In today’s Record, she says she was stopped from going to the island after waiting hours for police to arrive.

The young mum was kept waiting so long she couldn’t get on the ferry to Rothesay.

She didn’t know the full extent of what killer Aaron Campbell did to Alesha until the first hearing in December.

Getting the indictment with five minutes to go “absolutely destroyed” her.

She then had to see her daughter’s twisted killer and cope with the horror of she’d just learned.

Police have an incredibly tough job to do and the emotional distress of family members must obviously weigh heavily on officers.

While there’s no doubt the police were determined to catch Alesha’s killer, it is still worrying to hear Georgina’s experience.

Her words must not be viewed simply as criticism, however. Police must learn from what they are hearing and use it make improvements.

No one should live through a tragedy like Alesha’s family and friends. But they should always expect the highest support from police and court authorities.