I didn’t want to cover this case… true crime documentary

“You went into the house and then her bedroom. You removed her from there and took her to a secluded spot where you violated and murdered her in the most brutal fashion. Your attitude was clearly demonstrated by the evidence that you posted an image of yourself in a mirror while making a joke that you had found where the murderer was hiding. The arrogance and callousness of that is breathtaking.”

Located off the Scottish coast, it has a population of just over 4 and a half thousand people and is popular with tourists, holidaymakers, and families alike. It’s frequently voted a beautiful place to visit with some extraordinary scenery, and there is a wonderful sense of community spirit. Everyone knows each other and people often leave their doors unlocked.

However, the safety and security of this tight-knit community would be shattered one summer night in 2018. Alesha MacPhail was born on October 22nd, 2011, to parents Georgina and Robert. Although her parents had separated when she was a baby, she remained their absolute priority and they both doted on her. She was bright, inquisitive, and loved being around people. She was described by her teacher as someone who loved to learn and always took great pride in her own work. Alesha was very friendly and welcomed everyone first thing in a morning at breakfast club. She was a considerate child who loved being part of a group, and she was popular with all the other children. Her mother, Georgina, lived in North Lanarkshire with Alesha’s younger sister, Courtney, and her father, Robert, lived on the Isle of Bute with his parents. The island is where Alesha would frequently spend time. Her parents ensured that she would see as much as she could of Robert and his parents too. She would spend every other weekend on the island, and in the summer of 2018, she made a trip over there to start her summer holidays. On the evening of July 1st, at around 11 p.m., Toni McLachlan, who was the girlfriend of Alesha’s father, Robert, said she checked on Alesha and saw that she was sound asleep in her bed. Knowing this, she too called it a night and headed to bed herself. As this community was small and close-knit, the key was left in the front door.

While Toni was checking on Alesha, a teenage boy named Aaron Campbell was in the midst of a house party, getting drunk and celebrating the end of his exams. 16-year-old Aaron also lived on the island, having moved there at a young age from England with his parents, Janette and Christopher, and his younger sister. He would describe his home life as difficult. He claimed he frequently argued and fought with his mother and alleged that she drank heavily. His father was often absent due to his line of work. However, people that know the family disagree and say that both parents were very kind and loving. Aaron Campbell on the surface was a popular and seemingly charismatic young man. He even had his own YouTube channel.

“Guys, it’s Aaron Campbell here again for another video. So I just wanted to say thank you very much for 50 subscribers.”

He documented various things about his life, including his sporting activities. As he grew older, he began dabbling with drugs and alcohol and having darker and more extreme thoughts and impulses, such as fantasizing about rape, and he even went as far to say he might kill one day for the lifetime experience. He had a history of self-harming and depression, and was even entered into a rehabilitation program for starting fires.

The party was being held at Campbell’s house, and as it continued into the early hours of the morning, his behavior began to change. It resulted in him having an argument with his mother, telling people he felt suicidal and saying he just wanted to get stoned. Using Facebook Messenger, Campbell tried to contact Toni, attempting to buy drugs. According to the Facebook messages, there had recently been a falling out between Robert MacPhail and Aaron, with Aaron alleging the quality of the cannabis wasn’t good enough. Failing to get hold of Toni, he decided to head to their house, which was only a few minutes’ walk away. With him, he took a kitchen knife.

As Alesha’s grandfather, Calum, woke up for work at 6:00 a.m., he went to check on his granddaughter but found her bed empty. He immediately alerted Robert and Toni. He subsequently contacted the police. Upon checking her phone, Toni saw the missed calls and messages from Campbell and attempted to call him back. He messaged her back saying it didn’t matter anymore, with several laughing emojis. She quickly told him that Alesha had gone missing, and he replies:

“Oh damn, i’m sure she’s not went too far.”

Later that day, Aaron would send a Snapchat out to his friends with the caption: “Found the guy that done it.” It’s not uncommon for communities to band together when cases like these arise, and Rothesay was no exception. The huge manhunt began; members of the public, a helicopter, and the Coast Guard joined the search, and pleas for more help were sent out via Facebook. Shortly after the search began, they found what they were looking for. At around 9:00 a.m., the police were called as a local man had discovered Alesha’s lifeless and naked body in a wooded area about 15 minutes from her home. Tragically, her mother, Georgina, would find this out via Facebook. The autopsy concluded that Alesha had sustained 117 injuries, and the pathologist would refer to these injuries as catastrophic. On the 21st of July, Alesha’s funeral was held with hundreds of mourners in attendance. One of the people grieving the loss of Alesha, and who was involved in the initial search for her, was Janette Campbell, Aaron’s mother. Looking for answers and anything she could do to help, she decided to check her CCTV cameras installed outside her home in the hopes of picking anything up. Upon looking at the footage, her heart dropped. She watched her own son entering and leaving the house twice around the hours Alesha was believed to have gone missing. After asking him about this, she decided to turn the footage into the police as a way of eliminating Aaron.

The police brought Aaron Campbell in for questioning as a witness, but he remained calm and collected, showing no signs of any wrongdoing. He told them he was simply heading out to buy cannabis. As part of the interview process, the police looked into Campbell’s phone, which began to show the true, horrifying picture. They uncovered the Snapchat he had sent out, the Facebook messages to Toni, and evidence that he had been Googling how DNA would be uncovered at a crime scene. Following these discoveries, they would match Aaron’s DNA to the DNA found on Alesha’s body. The chances of it being anybody else were more than a billion to one. He was swiftly arrested on suspicion of murder and charged the following day. At first he answered no comment, but later he would claim that he and Toni had been pursuing an affair and that after having sex in the garage that evening, she had saved the condom and planted his DNA at the murder scene.

After more interrogations, the horrors surrounding what had really happened that night to Alesha MacPhail were becoming clear. Around 2:00 a.m., Campbell entered the unlocked home belonging to Robert MacPhail and his parents. He targeted Alesha’s room, dynamic enough to take her from her bed without making a sound that would alert the sleeping family. He carried the 6-year-old girl to a secluded area of the former Hydro Hotel grounds. In that quiet spot, he subjected her to an unimaginably brutal assault and murdered her. He then walked down to the sea and dumped her naked body in the woodlands before heading home to have a shower and clean off any evidence. He returned to the murder scene a short while later to retrieve his phone.

When it came time for him to enter his plea, Aaron Campbell pled not guilty. The trial began in February 2019 with Judge Lord Matthews presiding. Campbell’s behavior would shock the courtroom; his lack of remorse showed as he struggled not to laugh as the evidence was being presented. He would eventually say he was quite satisfied with the murder and appeared to revel and take pride in what he had done. Following a conversation with a psychologist, Aaron Campbell would finally admit to everything shortly before his sentencing. The trial lasted 9 days and the jury took just 3 hours to find him unanimously guilty on all counts. Aaron showed no emotion as the jury fed back their verdict.

Because he was under the age of 18 at the time he was found guilty, his name and images were not printed. Media outlets argued it was in the public interest to know, and as a result, for the first time in Scottish criminal history, Judge Lord Matthews agreed to reverse the naming restriction. On the 21st of March 2019, Aaron Thomas Campbell was sentenced to 27 years in prison for the abduction, rape, and murder of Alesha MacPhail. His sentence would later be reduced by 3 years after Campbell made a successful appeal. On sentencing, Judge Lord Matthews described Campbell’s arrogance and callousness as breathtaking and spoke of the profound effect the crime had had on the island’s community:

“You went into the house and then her bedroom. You removed her from there and took her to a secluded spot where you violated and murdered her in the most brutal fashion. The details of that were revealed in the evidence and I do not intend to go over them again. Your attitude was clearly demonstrated by the evidence that you posted an image of yourself in a mirror while making a joke that you had found where the murderer was hiding. The arrogance and callousness of that is breathtaking. Thanks to the dedication of the police and forensic scientists, ably assisted by members of the public, such as those who came forward when they found articles of your clothing on the shore, you were eventually brought to justice. Not once during the trial did I detect a flicker of emotion from you, and that was also the experience of the professionals who interviewed you for the purposes of the reports. The nature of these appalling offenses and what I have read in the reports make it clear to me that reintegration and rehabilitation, while these are important considerations, are remote possibilities, and neither your best interests nor anyone else’s will be served by a speedy return to the community.”

Since his sentencing, Aaron Campbell has been disowned by his family, and police officers and detectives have warned that he bears such a threat to society he should never be released. However, should he be released at the end of his sentence, he will be just 40 years old.

Almost a year after her death, in a huge public donation, Alesha’s memory was honored by her old primary school. They built a large wooden playhouse decorated with unicorns and butterflies. They said it was inspired by how much Alesha loved her friends and loved talking to people; they wanted to create a safe space for children to be together and make friends. The murder of Alesha MacPhail was a crime that shook the United Kingdom, and her family and friends are determined that she will never be forgotten.