The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Family’ s appeal to find information on how cyclist died
The family of a cyclist who went missing three years ago has appealed for help to get closure yesterday as police launched a poster and leaflet appeal.
Anthony Parsons, 63, also known as Tony, was reported missing in 2017 after travelling from his home in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, to Fort William.
On the return trip, he travelled south on the A82 and was last seen around 11.30pm on October 2, outside the Bridge of Orchy
Hotel. His remains were found by specialist police and forensic officers in a remote area of ground close to a farm near the A82 at Bridge of Orchy last month.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out in the coming days.
Mike Parsons, his son, said: “The last three years have been incredibly hard for us as a family and for all those who knew my dad.
“We always hoped there would be a positive outcome and have now been left devastated by my dad’s death.
“He has been deprived of so many family events and it hurts us so much as a family to see his grandchildren grow up without their granddad.
“Now we know there won’t ever be an opportunity to see him again.
“We would like to say a heartfelt thank-you to everyone who looked for my dad, for never giving up and for giving us the opportunity to make sure he could come home so we could say our final goodbyes.
“We are extremely grateful to Police Scotland, forensic scientists, all the mountain rescue teams and everyone else involved in the investigation for their work in such difficult conditions and circumstances.
“I know we cannot get closure until we find out who did this and why it happened, so I would ask anyone who may have even the smallest piece of information to please speak to the police and help us
get the answers and closure we need.”
Police were in Tyndrum yesterday to distribute posters and leaflets to continue to appeal for information related to the case.
On Wednesday December 30 two men, both aged 29, were arrested and then released pending further inquiries in connection with the disappearance of Mr Parsons.
Arelative of the Queen has been sentenced to 10 months behind bars for sexually assaulting a woman at his ancestral home.
Simon Bowes-Lyon, 34, the Earl of Strathmore, pleaded guilty to attacking a woman at Glamis Castle, Angus, in February last year.
Bowes-Lyon, who is the son of one of the Queen’s cousins, was sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court yesterday.
The court had previously heard the assault happened in a bedroom at the castle.
The court was told the woman had been attending a three-day public relations event at the castle and had gone to bed when a “drunk” Bowes-Lyon went to her room at around 1.20am, persuaded her to open the door and pushed his way in before pushing her on the bed and sexually assaulting her.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael told BowesLyon: “Throughout all of this she made it clear that she wanted you to stop.
“She told you repeatedly that she had a boyfriend, repeatedly told you to leave and repeatedly had to keep pushing you away from her. All of which you ignored.
“Once she’d finally managed to eject you from her bedroom, you returned to the door and pleaded with her to let you back in.”
The sheriff said the attack and Bowes-Lyon’s refusal to leave had lasted 20 minutes.
His victim locked the bedroom door and wedged a chair under the handle to prevent him getting back in and was “upset and afraid” and “left shaking”.
Sheriff Carmichael said that a year on from the attack she still suffers nightmares and feels panicked by the assault.
He said agreed evidence made clear the woman and Bowes-Lyon had spoken
during the PR event and she told him she had “no sexual interest in you and had done nothing that could reasonably have been interpreted by you to the contrary”.
The sheriff added: “This sexual assault was made worse for several reasons: you were the complainer’s host and took advantage of this position; you forced your way past her to get in to her bedroom, you assaulted her in the face of her repeated verbal and physical protestations that you should stop, and you repeatedly prevented the complainer from getting away from her bedroom and from your unwanted attentions.
“The amounts of force, aggression and persistence that you used are concerning.
“In mitigation, apologised to her you soon
after the assault, you have expressed remorse, you have accepted responsibility for your actions, you have no previous convictions and you appear to be otherwise of good character.”
Sheriff Carmichael told Bowes-Lyon that a lesser sentence than imprisonment such as a community payback order or home curfew would be inappropriate.
He said: “In particular, they would not address the gravity of this crime, they would not provide an adequate level of punishment, they would not adequately express society’s disapproval of such conduct, and they would not adequately deter others who may be tempted to behave in a similar way.”
In a statement outside court after pleading guilty last month, Bowes-Lyon
apologised and said he was “greatly ashamed” of his actions, which had “caused such distress to a guest in my home”.
He said he had “drunk to excess” on the night of the attack, which he said was “no excuse” for his actions.
He added: “I did not think I was capable of behaving the way I did but have had to face up to it and take responsibility.
“Over the last year this has involved seeking and receiving professional help as well as agreeing to plead guilty as quickly as possible.
“My apologies go, above all, to the woman concerned but I would also like to apologise to family, friends and colleagues for the distress I have caused them.”
Glamis Castle is the seat of the earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, part of the late Queen Mother’s family.
Letting janitors’ houses go to ruin across a region is costing one authority valuable income, it has been claimed.
Inverness South councillor Duncan Macpherson said with the waiting list now topping 8,000, homes are being denied to people who need them and good buildings left to deteriorate.
The council is soon to bulldoze two janitors’ houses at Culloden Academy as part of a school expansion.
Mr Macpherson claimed they are not even in the expansion site, adding: “One was empty for 10 years, one for nine years.
“We’ve lost council tax and rent and if you take an average council tax and average rent, multiply it by the combined 19 years, there is enough money there to pay the salary for a year of the first minister and prime minister.
“Surely with the wit of man we can write a contract to rent theses houses, whether to teachers, or council employees for example.”
A Highland Council spokeswoman said both properties had been reviewed and deemed unsuitable for sale as they were within school grounds, without scope for private access.
Mr Macpherson also highlighted a janitor’s house on Planefield Road, next to the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders hall.
He said: “The three bedroom home is in a pleasant and quiet location and is now boarded up. For the want of some investment, it could be rented out.”
Housing and property committee chairman councillor Ben Thompson said a number of janitors’ or school houses are empty as they are so close to school buildings, but there have been success stories.
He said: “In some cases the old houses have been able to be separated from the school estate and used for much-needed housing, or even offices.
“Lochaber High School is a good example; what was staff and pupil accommodation is now private houses and council offices.”
A council review of all its existing buildings will help accelerate redevelopment or disposal of some of these legacy buildings, he said.
The council says it has 28 janitors’ houses, of which 12 are unoccupied and cannot be let as secure tenancies as they lie within the curtilage of a school.
Six face demolition, two could be let and alternative uses being considered for four others.