page_title: Murder of Alesha MacPhail
section_title: Search and discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Murder of Alesha MacPhail / Investigation / Search and discovery
caption_attribution_description: English: Serpentine: Rothesay Twisting road or steep steps give access to the top of the slope. With view over the town
context_page_description: On 2 July 2018, six-year-old Scottish girl Alesha MacPhail was abducted from her bed and murdered by 16-year-old Aaron Campbell. Alesha, from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, was three days into a stay with her grandparents on the Isle of Bute when Campbell entered their unlocked home at approximately 02:00. The teenager had previously bought cannabis from Alesha's father Robert, who lived in the house, and initially went to steal the drug. Upon finding the child asleep, Campbell picked her up, carried her to an abandoned hotel, then raped and killed her by applying pressure to her face and neck. Alesha was reported missing at 06:23, and her body was discovered by a member of the public at 08:54.
  Police Scotland charged Campbell with abduction, rape and murder on 5 July 2018. The teenager denied any involvement, and pleaded "not guilty" when his trial began on 11 February 2019. He logged a "special defence of incrimination" by claiming that Robert MacPhail's girlfriend, Toni McLachlan, was responsible for murdering the child and framing him.
context_section_description: At 06:00 on 2 July, Calum MacPhail awoke for work to find that his granddaughter was not in her bed and determined that she was nowhere in the house. She had never run away before, and her bike remained in the garden. Alesha's grandmother, Angela King, notified the police at 06:23 while the rest of the family began searching the local area and spreading word of her disappearance. King also made a plea on Facebook, encouraging members of the public to help. McLachlan noticed the missed calls from Campbell and tried phoning him. At 09:01 Campbell responded "Sorry doesn't matter" with two laughing emojis. When asked to look out for Alesha, he wrote, "Oh damn. Am sure she's not went too far x".
  Police Scotland began a hunt for MacPhail, utilising a helicopter to help with the search. A coastguard volunteer began searching the shoreline at 06:55, where he discovered the kitchen knife near the MacPhail home. Many members of the public also joined. At 08:54, the police were notified by Jorge Williams, a local man who had seen King's Facebook appeal, that he had discovered Alesha's lifeless and naked body. She was found in a wooded area, within the grounds of a former hotel, a 15-minute walk from the MacPhail home. Georgina Lochrane, who was 70 miles (110 km) away in Airdrie, learned about her daughter's death via King's Facebook page before being escorted to Bute.
  A postmortem examination was conducted on 3 July 2018. The autopsy concluded that MacPhail received 117 injuries, some of which were caused while she was alive and some of which may have been caused by vegetation. Injuries to her neck and face indicated that she had been gripped, while injuries to her nose and mouth indicated that she had been smothered. Her genitalia sustained "catastrophic" injuries. The pathologist determined her death to be "the result of significant forceful pressure to her neck and face”.
caption: MacPhail was staying with her father in the small town of Rothesay, Isle of Bute
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