Advertisement

The Catch-up: 16-year-old who abducted, raped and murdered six-year-old Alesha MacPhail named

What happened?

The 16-year-old who abducted, raped and murdered Alesha MacPhail has been named as Aaron Campbell. His identity could not be reported initially due to his age, but a judge allowed his name to be published today. Campbell snatched the six-year-old from her bedroom and took her to the grounds of a disused hotel where he raped and killed her on the Isle of Bute last July. He was convicted yesterday after a two-week trial, during which he denied having anything to do with the crime and tried to blame Alesha’s father’s girlfriend.

Why has his identity been revealed now?

In the UK it is illegal to reveal the identity of anyone involved in a court case if they are under 18, including the accused. However judges can decide to overturn the ban if they think doing so is in the public interest. Judge Lord Matthews decided to allow the media to identify Campbell due to the seriousness of his crimes. He said: “I can’t think of a case in recent times that has attracted such revulsion.” The accused lawyer argued for his identity to be kept secret, saying there was a ‘price on his head’ and that identifying him could endanger his life.

Campbell is facing a life sentence for the horrific murder of Alesha. As he was convicted yesterday Lord Matthews told Campbell he had committed some of the “wickedest, most evil crimes this court has ever heard”. The teenager took Alesha from the bed where she was sleeping and inflicted horrific injuries on her before dumping her body in woodland. During the trial pathologist John Williams told the court Alesha had 117 separate injuries, including “catastrophic” injuries to her genitals, some of which were inflicted while she was still alive.

Campbell’s mother told the Scottish Daily Mail her son was not depressed, but would ‘get down now and again, like other boys his age. She said: “He had passed some exams – he was especially good at maths and planned to go to university. He wasn’t a violent boy. He was very normal.”

Read more about this story

Mother of Alesha MacPhail’s killer led police to his door (The Guardian)
Alesha MacPhail’s killer named as Aaron Campbell after judge lifts banning order (Sky News)
Teen accused of murdering Alesha MacPhail hid behind ‘preposterous story’ (HuffPost)

A woman has turned to the internet to ask if it’s fair that her boyfriend, who works as a painter and decorator, is charging her £60 a day to paint her bedroom. When you’re in a relationship there needs to be a little bit of give and take, a cooked meal here, a lift home from a night out there. But when it comes to bigger favours, is it fair to charge your other half? Read the full story and have your say on the divisive topic below:

UK’s worst train company for punctuality revealed

The UK’s worst train company for punctuality has been revealed, according to new figures. More than one in ten (12.1%) of Hull Trains’ services was cancelled or severely delayed in the 12 months to January 2019, said the Office of Rail and Road. That compared to top performer Chiltern, who saw just 1.9% of services cancelled or severely delayed in the same period. Across the UK more than one in 25 trains were cancelled or severely delayed – the equivalent of 4.6% of all services run by franchised operators – during the year, which included the period where timetable changes caused chaos on Thameslink and Northern services. (Yahoo News UK)

Shamima Begum’s family ask Sajid Javid to help bring Isis bride’s baby to the UK

Shamima Begum‘s sister has pleaded with Sajid Javid to allow the Isis bride’s newborn son to come to Britain. Ms Begum’s family also said they will challenge the Home Secretary’s move to revoke her British citizenship. Renu Begum, writing on behalf of her family, said they were “shocked and appalled” by the “vile comments” the 19-year-old has made to the media, but they have a duty to help her. Ms Begum fled London four years ago at the age of 15 to join Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria, but has now said she wants to return to the UK with her son – prompting Mr Javid to start the process to revoke the teenager’s British citizenship. Her family said they have had no contact with her and had only learned she had given birth to a boy through media reports. (Evening Standard)

Horsetail Fall at Yosemite National Park lit up in a fiery display earlier this week, during a natural phenomenon which only takes place once a year. For about 10 days each year in February, the waterfall lights up as a ‘firefall’ when the setting sun hits it at just the right angle.

3 minutes

This is how late Yoshitaka Sakurada was to a parliamentary meeting on Thursday, forcing the Japanese Olympics minister to make a public apology. Opposition politicians delayed a meeting of the budget committee for five hours in protest. The gaffe-prone minister was most recently in the news after he apologised for saying he was disappointed at the leukaemia diagnosis of a star Japanese swimmer as it would dampen enthusiasm for the 2020 Tokyo Games. Read the full story here (Yahoo News UK)