Alesha’s killer: I’m too young for 27-year prison sentence

● Teenager who raped and murdered six-year-old appeals against sentence

The teenager who abducted, raped and murdered six-yearold Alesha Macphail will this week claim he is too young to be sentenced to 27 years in jail.

Aaron Campbell, who was 16 when he was jailed in March for the attack on the Isle of Bute, will claim he is too young for such a long term.

The trial judge said during sentencing that Campbell had shown “a staggering lack of remorse” and his account of the killing had been “coldblooded and horrific”.

The murderer later said he would appeal against the minimum jail term handed down by trial judge Lord Matthews.

Campbell, who is behind bars at Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution, near Falkirk, will not be in court for the appeal on Wednesday but will appear instead via video link for the hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh.

A source close to the case said: “It’s an appeal against sentence and an appeal against the punishment part of 27 years.

“The appeal is on the basis that it is too long and this is because of his age. It’s understood the argument will be that, given he was a child at the time of the offence, a punishment part of 27 years is excessive.”

At his trial, Campbell, who turned 17 in May, denied even meeting Alesha but, after being convicted, confessed to a forensic psychologist who was compiling a pre-sentencing report.

Alesha’s mother Georgina Lochrane has spoken of her disgust at the killer’s attempts to reduce his sentence and said she hopes it is increased and not decreased.

Ms Lochrane, 24, said: “We were fully prepared for him to appeal his conviction and sentence before he admitted it, but now he can only appeal the sentence.

“It can end up with him having even more added on to his sentence. I don’t think he will get less.”

The Scottish Courts Service said three judges would preside over the appeal. It is thought their decision could take weeks.

Alesha, from Airdrie, was at her grandparents’ home on the island, where her father lives, when Campbell took her from her bed in the middle of the night in July last year.

Her body was found in the grounds of a former hotel the next morning. She had suffered 117 injuries.