GUILTY UK - Alesha MacPhail, 6, raped & murdered, Ardbeg, Isle of Bute, Scotland, 2 Jul 2018 -*arrest* #7

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Gardenista said:
I don't have an account. Is there anything else interesting in the article?
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Nothing new about the case beyond the bit you quoted, but this part seems relevant:

"Colyn Evans was 17 when he strangled Karen Dewar and mutilated her body in Tayport, Fife, in 2005. She had befriended him not knowing his long history of warped behaviour. In the wake of the outrage, the Scottish government drew up a blueprint called Care And Risk Management (CARM), which urges social workers and police to ensure public safety is accorded as much focus as the personal problems of youngsters who display such alarming traits.

But it remains voluntary, and Argyll and Bute is one of 16 local authorities that chooses not to adopt the more stringent standards.

As a result, it is not monitoring a single juvenile for sexually harmful behaviour, even though others across Scotland are keeping watch on more than 100."

Social workers defy guidance on problem teens
 
For what it's worth, I know someone who was involved with social services on the island and it was shambolic. The case worker changed three times in a four month period, scheduled visits from the social worker were cancelled half an hour before they were due to take place (and as they were travelling from Dunoon they'd know they wouldn't make it long before that) and contact telephone numbers went to departments or buildings that had never heard of the person they were trying to contact.

No defending AC in the slightest but even if things had been reported to them I wouldn't have trusted they'd be capable of acting on them.
 
Mrs Marple said:
Or maybe we are clutching at straws. Maybe there were no tangible warning signs. We want there to be something to explain his behaviour. That's a tad more digestible than a child randomly and without warning, abducting and brutalising another child to satisfy his sexual urges. That's a scarier world to live in than a world where we think we have a degree of control if we see the warning signs.
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Agree. No one could have foreseen this barbaric crime. Putting the skinning of cats and other unsavoury rumours aside A.C. probably presented as just another stroppy teen. His ‘dark humour’ was accepted amongst his peers as just a bit of banter and I don’t doubt was watered down from what he really thought. His mum may have believed he’d grow out of his petulant ways , and he was doing well at school.

I’ve long given up trying to work out the minds of the likes of A.C. sometimes we do just have to accept that some are just fundementaly wired wrong. No one will ever be fully able explain why, I doubt A.C. knows why he did what he did. The only way to stop this happening again, and it will, is for someone experiencing these dark thoughts to speak openly about them, then intervention may successfully be put into place .
 
Eve71 said:
Agree. No one could have foreseen this barbaric crime. Putting the skinning of cats and other unsavoury rumours aside A.C. probably presented as just another stroppy teen. His ‘dark humour’ was accepted amongst his peers as just a bit of banter and I don’t doubt was watered down from what he really thought. His mum may have believed he’d grow out of his petulant ways , and he was doing well at school.

I’ve long given up trying to work out the minds of the likes of A.C. sometimes we do just have to accept that some are just fundementaly wired wrong. No one will ever be fully able explain why, I doubt A.C. knows why he did what he did. The only way to stop this happening again, and it will, is for someone experiencing these dark thoughts to speak openly about them, then intervention may successfully be put into place .
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I agree however I don't think any young person will admit to that and have it on their record.
If there were incidents when young that could show a propensity to a type of behaviour and if it was reported to medical/social services and if there existed such testing and if the funds were available to carry this out then that might be an answer. Can't see it happening anytime soon though.
 
Ardoch said:
I agree however I don't think any young person will admit to that and have it on their record.
If there were incidents when young that could show a propensity to a type of behaviour and if it was reported to medical/social services and if there existed such testing and if the funds were available to carry this out then that might be an answer. Can't see it happening anytime soon though.
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Agree. With A.C. we don’t really know how much substance there is to the rumours, not one has been confirmed or denied. If the skinning of cats is true , then that was a huge red flag and intervention should have been put in place. Likewise, the sexual assault and arson but although the rumours persisted pre Alesha, nothing seems to have been done or if it was, it failed. If I was genie, I’d want answers to those rumours and if true, why the system allowed him to slip through the net.
 
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bfin1995 said:
Nothing new about the case beyond the bit you quoted, but this part seems relevant:

"Colyn Evans was 17 when he strangled Karen Dewar and mutilated her body in Tayport, Fife, in 2005. She had befriended him not knowing his long history of warped behaviour. In the wake of the outrage, the Scottish government drew up a blueprint called Care And Risk Management (CARM), which urges social workers and police to ensure public safety is accorded as much focus as the personal problems of youngsters who display such alarming traits.

But it remains voluntary, and Argyll and Bute is one of 16 local authorities that chooses not to adopt the more stringent standards.

As a result, it is not monitoring a single juvenile for sexually harmful behaviour, even though others across Scotland are keeping watch on more than 100."

Social workers defy guidance on problem teens
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Well if social services were involved there may be a review that will reveal a little more. Whilst l think papers sensationalise and may not be accurate, this has come from somewhere.
 
This article points out that the costs we have seen quoted in the press are (of course) way off:

Eight months of police work comes at a price, as do expert reports. When the cost of transporting witnesses and, quite rightly, accommodating Alesha’s family for the duration of Campbell’s trial are added in, the bill for prosecuting the case will run into tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds.

The cost of defending Campbell too, will be much higher than £14,000, with the bill from lead counsel Brian McConnachie QC alone likely to be closer to £20,000. Then there will be fees for the junior counsel and instructing solicitor, both of whom spent months working on the case but who could not file their claim until sentencing was complete. Add in the cost of procuring and transporting defence witnesses and the bill for the Scottish Legal Aid Board will be significantly higher than £14,000.

Margaret Taylor: Even monsters like Campbell have a right to be defended
 
bfin1995 said:
This article points out that the costs we have seen quoted in the press are (of course) way off:

Eight months of police work comes at a price, as do expert reports. When the cost of transporting witnesses and, quite rightly, accommodating Alesha’s family for the duration of Campbell’s trial are added in, the bill for prosecuting the case will run into tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds.

The cost of defending Campbell too, will be much higher than £14,000, with the bill from lead counsel Brian McConnachie QC alone likely to be closer to £20,000. Then there will be fees for the junior counsel and instructing solicitor, both of whom spent months working on the case but who could not file their claim until sentencing was complete. Add in the cost of procuring and transporting defence witnesses and the bill for the Scottish Legal Aid Board will be significantly higher than £14,000.

Margaret Taylor: Even monsters like Campbell have a right to be defended
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Interesting article. The cost of court cases makes me wonder what prisoners can do to pay it back.

I object on some level to the title of the article though. It's unnecessarily provocative. He us entitled under Human rights Act, but he isn't a human being like the rest of us.
 
Mrs Marple said:
Interesting article. The cost of court cases makes me wonder what prisoners can do to pay it back.

I object on some level to the title of the article though. It's unnecessarily provocative. He us entitled under Human rights Act, but he isn't a human being like the rest of us.
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True but the fact that he was given an adequate defence,one that followed his instructions and introduced a heinous special defence,and was still found unanimously guilty in under 3 hours makes winning any kind if appeal considerably less likely,so you know..swings and roundabouts!
 
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