Alesha’s brutal killer complains his 27-year sentence is too long
Minimum term ‘a miscarriage of justice’, court told
A TEENAGE killer who raped and murdered a little girl claimed yesterday he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice because his 27-year jail term was too long.
Aaron Campbell was 16 when he was sentenced to life earlier this year for the kidnap, rape and murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail.
She had been visiting family in Rothesay on Bute from her home in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, in July last year when the killer took her from her bed before dumping her body near an abandoned hotel.
Campbell is challenging the 27-year ‘punishment part’ of his sentence, the minimum term he must serve before he can be considered for parole.
His appeal was heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, watched by Alesha’s parents Robert MacPhail, 27, and Georgina Lochrane, 24.
Now 17, Campbell followed proceedings via a live TV link from Polmont Young Offenders Institution in Stirlingshire.
The killer’s lawyer, Brian McConnachie, QC, argued it would be hard for Campbell to be rehabilitated as by the time he could be considered for release he would be ‘middle-aged’ – and claimed a shorter sentence would make ‘more sense’.
Mr McConnachie told the court Alesha’s murder – which Campbell admitted – ‘was clearly an appalling and heinous crime’.
He said it would be for the Parole Board to decide whether or not it was ever safe to release him, and that ‘that day may never come’.
But he added: ‘Due to the appellant’s age, the punishment selected was excessive and amounts to a miscarriage of justice.
‘If one maintains a punishment period as it is, then the appellant will be 43 years of age before the issue [of his release] is perhaps considered to any degree. The appellant will have been in custody for the entire period he has been on this Earth, plus another 11 years.’
The lawyer went on to argue the sentencing judge had overly focused on ‘pessimistic’ background reports when choosing the minimum term.
Sentencing Campbell, Lord Matthews said: ‘This is a terrible thing to say of one so young, but they [reports] paint a clear picture of a cold, callous, remorseless and dangerous individual.’
Yesterday, Mr McConnachie said: ‘In placing so much emphasis on the negative prospects of reintegration, this effectively disallowed the opportunity for progress to be made up until that period.
‘When one is dealing with a child, it would make much more sense to give that opportunity because one knows there’s the ultimate arbiter of the Parole Board.’
Scotland’s second most senior judge, Lord Justice Clerk Lady Dorrian, heard the sentence appeal with Lords Menzies and Drummond Young. They reserved their decision in the case and will give a ruling at a later date.
Lady Dorrian said: ‘This is a matter that requires proper consideration and reflection over time and accordingly, we propose to take time to consider our decision, which will be issued in due course.’
‘Punishment selected was excessive’