Mother of accused saw him on CCTV after Alesha vanished

The Alesha Macphail murder trial has been told the six-yearold schoolgirl was smothered and suffered “catastrophic” injuries.

Pathologist John Williams said the youngster suffered more severe injuries to parts of her body than he had ever seen before.

Alesha had a total of 117 separate injuries, he said.

The High Court in Glasgow was shown images, which judge Lord Matthews warned were “distressing”.

A 16-year old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies abducting the schoolgirl from the home her grandparents shared with her father on the Isle of Bute, raping and murdering her and attempting to hide evidence.

Her body was found in a wooded area on the island on 2 July last year.

Dr Williams said his postmortem examination of her body indicated the cause of 0 Alesha Macphail was found with 117 injuries to her body

death was “significant and forceful pressure to her neck and face”.

The court also heard from the accused’s mother, who said her son had been drinking with friends at home early on July 2. She said they argued about damage to furniture and then she thought he had gone to bed.

The following day she helped search for Alesha and later checked her CCTV system and saw her son on the footage.

Thecourtwasshownfootage in which she identified her son leaving the home at 1:54am on July 2, wearing all black, and returning at 3.35am no longer wearing his black top.

At 3.44am, a light is turned on in the bathroom and he is seen leaving a minute later wearing only shorts and carrying an item.

He leaves the house again at 3.58am, running off wearing shoes, shorts and a top before returning at 4:07am.

The mother said she told her son about the footage and asked him why he was out, to which he said: “I don’t know, I might have been looking for my phone.”

She asked him if he knew anything about the missing girl and he said “no”.

His mother later phoned police to “eliminate” her son from inquiries, saying: “Obviously I really didn’t think he had anything to do with it whatsoever.”

After the police spoke to him she said he told her he was first out looking for cannabis and later for his phone. She said: “I talked to him and tried to explain that whoever had done this to this little girl their DNA would be all over her.

“He was adamant, absolutely adamant, that he had nothing to do with it. There was no way they would find DNA on this little girl because he hadn’t seen her and he hadn’t been with her.”

She was later shown pictures of a knife found on the shore, which she said is “very similar” to those in her kitchen but she had “no idea” how it got there.

His mother was also shown jogging trousers and boxers at the shore, which she said looked like her son’s. She described her son as “clever at maths”, “well-liked” and said he had “lots of friends”.

The accused has lodged a special defence blaming Toni Mclachlan – the girlfriend of Alesha’s father Robert Macphail – for the killing.

The trial continues.