THE 16-year-old boy who abducted, raped and murdered Alesha MacPhail has been identified as Aaron Campbell, following a successful legal challenge which sought to have the killer named.
The body of six-year-old MacPhail was discovered in woods on the Isle of Bute on July 2 last year, hours after she had been reported missing while on a trip to visit her grandparents.
On Thursday, a jury at the High Court in Glasgow unanimously found Campbell guilty after three hours of deliberation.
Judge Lord Matthews had earlier told the 16-year-old he had committed some of the “wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard”.
His identity had been circulating on social media since July – yet the teenager’s age ensured the media were unable to report his name.
Brian McConnachie QC, representing Campbell, said Campbell had been warned there was a “price on his head” and that publishing his name could exacerbate the situation.
But yesterday, Lord Matthews ruled that the teenager’s identity could no longer be concealed after considering an application from media outlets.
He said: “I think it would be naive to think that publishing his name would make any difference to how he is treated in custody. I can’t think of a case in recent times that has attracted such revulsion.
“I intend to grant the application. The press may name the accused and publish images of him.”
The trial heard MacPhail was days into her summer holiday on Bute with father Robert MacPhail and grandparents Angela King and Calum MacPhail when she was snatched by Campbell.
He tried to blame her father’s girlfriend Toni McLachlan for the crime, claiming that DNA found on the school girl had been taken from him and planted there by
McLachlan.
Campbell’s ability to publicly accuse someone just two years his senior, while remaining anonymous, prompted anger.
Tony Graham QC, the lawyer representing the media outlets, said: “There is a distinct lack of equity to this if the accused can impune the character of someone of 18, where the wrongly accused can be identified quite legally and properly by the media and the dishonest accuser enjoys statutory protection.”
Prosecutor Iain McSporran QC said he hoped the guilty verdict would remove any doubt McLachlan could have been involved.
Campbell was an aspiring YouTube star, who, during the trial, the court heard had a “dark sense of humour”, used cannabis and drank alcohol.
He told the trial he lifted weights and played computer games with his friends in his spare time.
The teenager will be sentenced on March 21, when the court may hear more about his background and mental health.
A psychological evaluation carried out on July 9 and 10 last year highlighted no issues to suggest he was not of sound mind when he murdered MacPhail.
But at Friday’s hearing at the High Court in Glasgow it emerged the teenager had a history of self harm, anxiety and depression.
Lord Matthews warned Campbell, currently being held at Polmont Young Offenders Institute, that he may never be released from custody.
After the trial, MacPhail’s mother Georgina Lochrane said: “I am glad the boy who did this has finally been brought to justice and that he will not be able to inflict the pain on another family that he has done to mine.”
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