A woman who bravely gathered evidence to help police snare her killer boyfriend shed tears outside court as he was jailed for 12 years.

Alexander 'Sandy' McKellar, 33, and his twin brother Robert were driving along the A82 in Argyll, Scotland, after an evening in the pub when he knocked down and killed cyclist Tony Parsons, 63.

The pair tried to cover up the crime in September 2017 by burying the former Navy petty officer on the nearby 9,000-acre Auch estate, inside a peat bog where animal carcasses were dumped.

Three years later, McKellar confessed to his terrified fiancée Caroline Muirhead what he had done.

Ms Muirhead, 32, was later taken to the burial site, which she marked out by dropping an empty can of Red Bull - allowing police to pinpoint the body's location.

Today at the High Court in Glasgow, McKellar was jailed for 12 years while his brother was sentenced to five years and three months.

Ms Muirhead, a pathologist, revealed to Sky News her fear of a revenge attack once Mckellar is freed and said that she has been offered 24-hour security cameras at her parents' Glasgow home.

Ms Muirhead said there was a '100%' risk that Sandy could harm her after his release from prison, adding: 'You're telling me that man is not going to come knock on my door when he gets out?'

Father-of-two Mr Parsons had won a battle with prostate cancer, and was over halfway through a 100-mile charity ride from his home in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, to Fort William, at the time of his death.

He travelled north by train on the morning of September 29, 2017.

But after 11pm, when he was last seen having a drink in the Bridge of Orchy hotel, he was struck by a pick-up truck being driven by a drunk Sandy McKellar with Robert in the passenger seat.

The brothers had been drinking in the same bar as Mr Parsons before they crashed into him on the A82 on their way back home through the 9,000-acre Auch Estate in Argyll.

They decided to bury his body in a peat bog and lived with their secret for just over three years. Sandy McKellar admitted his crimes to Ms Muirhead in November 2020 as they discussed getting married.

She told the Sunday Mail: ‘I was in shock, frozen almost. I didn’t know what to believe. This man I thought I could be with for the rest of my life had just told me he was a killer. I didn’t know what to do.’

After his confession, Ms Muirhead spent a month gathering information. She asked McKellar to take her to the burial site, where she recorded part of the car journey while drinking a can of Red Bull - which she left at the scene as a marker.

Ms Muirhead, a forensic pathologist from Glasgow, told how McKellar first appeared gentle and kind towards her, but his personality could change when he drank heavily.

She recalled asking him in late November 2020 if he was OK after he visibly tensed when a police car drove past them one evening.

She said: ‘I asked him, “What is it? What is going on? What is it you’re not telling me?"

'I said if we were going to be together and be a team, he needed to tell me what was wrong and I’d support him.

‘He started having a panic attack. He was gasping and started wailing. Then he told me what he’d done… something that he’d got away with for years.’

He then took her to the site of the grave on the estate where he lived. Ms Muirhead said: ‘He pointed out where the body was and told me what had happened and how they (the brothers) had hit him, that it was an accident.

‘He said they hadn’t trusted the police, they’d had issues with them before and thought they were out to get them, so that’s why they didn’t go to the police.’

Ms Muirhead is now pressing for greater protection for witnesses in High Court trials and is exploring legal actin against criminal justice authorities in Scotland.

She alleges that after giving Police Scotland the clue they needed to find Mr Parsons' body, detectives pressured her into 'spying' on the twins for a further nine months in order to bolster their case.

She also claims officers leaked key evidence to locals revealing the part she was playing in the inquiry.

Scotland's police watchdog the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) confirmed it has been instructed by the Crown Office to probe 'allegations of criminality' against the force.

She said: 'I have not just been manipulated by being lied to. I've been violated. I've been abused and taken advantage of.

'I literally gave them as much as I could above and beyond. They never saw me as a human. They terrorised me. They intimidated me. They took me out of my job. Here I am, I've lost my job. I've lost my possessions. My family are terrified.'

Ms Muirhead described one incident where she walked into a pub, while the patrons all stopped and stared. She said the barman asked if she wanted a 'Red Bull sugar free like the gravesite?' and the other customers spat at her..

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'It would not be appropriate to comment on these assertions as criminal proceedings have not concluded.

'There are a number of outstanding complaints which will be progressed at the conclusion of all criminal proceedings.'

Members of Mr Parsons's family, including his widow Margaret and children Mike and Victoria, were in court for today's sentencing hearing.

The cyclist's family released a statement after the guilty pleas, saying he loved 'nothing more' than spending time with his grandchildren.

The statement said: 'As you can imagine, not knowing what has happened to someone and then the devastating news that we were provided has taken its toll on all of us as a family.

'At last justice has been done and we would like to thank not only the court officials and officers from Police Scotland's major investigation team, Forth Valley Division; and other Police Scotland departments who worked on this case, but all the volunteers and mountain rescue teams who tirelessly searched for him in the earlier stages of the inquiry.'

Both McKellars had been due to stand trial for murder, but appeared in court last month to plead guilty to lesser charges.

Sentencing Alexander McKellar, Judge Lord Armstrong said: 'Alexander McKellar, on September 29, 2017, you consumed alcohol and you did drive from there in the direction of your home.

'On the course of that night you collided with Tony Parsons on the A82 who was riding his bicycle. The extensive damage to the front of your vehicle is indicative of the force you hit him with.

'He sustained multiple rib fractures and complex pelvic fractures.

'The cause of his death is likely to have been a result of impacted breathing and a bleeding thorax.

'Mr Parsons's family have been deeply impacted and the emotional harm is ongoing.

'There is nothing I can say or do to compensate for their loss.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12445815/Fiancees-tears-killer-boyfriend-jailed-12-years-used-secret-code-lead-police-hidden-grave-charity-cyclist-mowed-buried.html

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> A woman who bravely gathered evidence to help police snare her killer
> boyfriend shed tears outside court as he was jailed for 12 years.

<snip>

ISTR a similar case being mentioned on here only very recently.

> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12445815/Fiancees-tears-killer-boyfriend-jailed-12-years-used-secret-code-lead-police-hidden-grave-charity-cyclist-mowed-buried.html

--
Spike

dubwise wrote:

They should be rotting in jail for the rest of their sad miserable lives rather than being out in a few years.

How are these not aggrevating factors leading to an increase in the sentence:
Drunk driving
Abandoning a person to die, not providing help
Burying the victims body
Perverting the course of justice

He should be detained for the rest of his life.

On 26/08/2023 08:36 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> dubwise wrote:
>
> They should be rotting in jail for the rest of their sad miserable lives rather than being out in a few years.
>
> How are these not aggrevating factors leading to an increase in the sentence:

> Drunk driving

OK. That offence (actually: "excess blood alcohol") may only be proven
with scientific evidence. Examples would include the readings from a
calibrated machine for measuring breath alcohol or, indeed, a blood test.

Was there any such evidence?

Take your time...

> Abandoning a person to die, not providing help

We may all remember that there is such an offence in France (indeed, it
was mentioned a lot in respect of the"paparazzi" on the scene at the
1997 Paris crash).

But is it an offence in the UK?

> Burying the victims body

There is an offence of preventing the burial of a deceased person.

Is there also one of burying a deceased person?

If so, there's a logical impasse involved there.

> Perverting the course of justice

That requires more than just keeping quiet. I'm surprised that you,
M'Lud, were not aware of that.

> He should be detained for the rest of his life.

Which statute provides for that, M'Lud?

"they claimed that the damage had been caused by a collision with a deer." Do body shops have to record or register these kinds of repairs? Did having this repair done flag them as suspects to the police or did it only come up after they received the information from the girlfriend?

Given how often people drive into stuff, and given how little we seem to care about that...

About 2 million settled claims a year - of which about 150,000 are theft. So at that volume, suspicious damage bound to get lost without being able to identify likely vehicle types

Would it be too cynical to suggest:

1) Killing a cyclist (admitted as culpable homicide), 12 months, suspended. These things happen.

2) Drink driving, zero, not considered.

3) Perverting the course of justice, 12 years.

And troublingly if they'd reported it at the time I think there's a good chance they'd not actually have gone to prison. They'd need a bit of time management to cover up the drinking, or lend uncertainty to its effect. Or get someone else to say they were driving.

No (neutral) witnesses so "he swerved in front of me" can't be refuted.

By their actions these don't seem to be the types to go to the police though.

On 26/08/2023 02:31 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Would it be too cynical to suggest:
>
> 1) Killing a cyclist (admitted as culpable homicide), 12 months, suspended. These things happen.

It was admitted, certainly. But as a traffic accident, not as a
"culpable homicide" (who's been watching too much "Kojak" or "Streets Of
San Francisco"?).
>
> 2) Drink driving, zero, not considered.

But be fair... it was only "not considered" because there was no
evidence of it.

How unreasonable, eh?

> 3) Perverting the course of justice, 12 years.

Are you sure?

When was that offence committed? What are its essential elements?

> And troublingly if they'd reported it at the time I think there's a good chance they'd not actually have gone to prison. They'd need a bit of time management to cover up the drinking, or lend uncertainty to its effect.

IF (and only IF) the driver had been drinking to the extent of having
excess blood alcohol. Since there is no evidence of that (opinion - not
even that of the driver - doesn't count), there may well have been
nothing to "cover up".

> Or get someone else to say they were driving.

Who would be daft enough to get involved to that extent?

Other than you or someone like you, I mean.
>
> No (neutral) witnesses so "he swerved in front of me" can't be refuted.

Or, in simple language: there would and could have been no evidence to
the contrary (except for any forensic evidence, of course, which would
involve examination of the bike and the deceased).
>
> By their actions these don't seem to be the types to go to the police though.

DEATH crash killer Alexander McKellar made brother Robert bankroll their booze and cocaine binges.

Sources claim the evil twins, caged for hiding the body of tragic dad of two Tony Parsons after he was run over and killed, enjoyed snorting the class-A drug.

But brute Alexander, 31 - known as Sandy — relied on Robert to pay for their vices.

An insider said: “Sandy is the controlling one. He would ring Robert and say, ‘I want money now, I want cocaine’.

“People would say they were nothing but cokeheads and drunkards.

“They both had issues - alcohol and drugs.”

The High Court in Glasgow heard how Alexander drove his pick-up truck while drunk and ploughed into cyclist Tony, 63.

He abandoned his stricken victim before teaming with Robert to bury the body in a remote peat bog in September 2017.

Relatives of Tony, from Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, faced a nightmare three-year wait before his remains were found near Bridge of Orchy, Argyll.

Cops found the shallow grave helped by Alexander’s brave ex Caroline Muirhead who left a drink can at the scene. Farm worker Alexander admitted culpable homicide and was sentenced to 12 years behind bars on Friday.

Both he and Robert - caged for five years and three months - admitted attempting to defeat the ends of justice by trying to cover up the crime.

Our source added: “Robert can be coerced by Sandy — the strongest of the two. With Sandy I’m not surprised.”

Sandy Allan 25th August 3:48 pm
User ID: 2003993
He hit & injured the cyclist. At that point he made a conscious decision to abandon the injured man. By doing so he condemned his victim to death. If he had sought medical assistance & Mr Parsons had subsequently died then a charge of involuntary manslaughter might have been possible. He left the guy to die. His actions caused his death. He murdered Mr Parsons. He should have been looking at 25 years, minimum. Now he will be out in 6 years. That’s not justice.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> DEATH crash killer Alexander McKellar made brother Robert bankroll their
> booze and cocaine binges.
>
> Sources claim the evil twins, caged for hiding the body of tragic dad of
> two Tony Parsons after he was run over and killed, enjoyed snorting the class-A drug.
>
> But brute Alexander, 31 - known as Sandy — relied on Robert to pay for their vices.
>
> An insider said: “Sandy is the controlling one. He would ring Robert and
> say, ‘I want money now, I want cocaine’.
>
> “People would say they were nothing but cokeheads and drunkards.
>
> “They both had issues - alcohol and drugs.”

Are you aware that Scotland has by far the highest drug-related death rate
in Europe?

> The High Court in Glasgow heard how Alexander drove his pick-up truck
> while drunk and ploughed into cyclist Tony, 63.
>
> He abandoned his stricken victim before teaming with Robert to bury the
> body in a remote peat bog in September 2017.
>
> Relatives of Tony, from Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, faced a nightmare
> three-year wait before his remains were found near Bridge of Orchy, Argyll.
>
> Cops found the shallow grave helped by Alexander’s brave ex Caroline
> Muirhead who left a drink can at the scene. Farm worker Alexander
> admitted culpable homicide and was sentenced to 12 years behind bars on Friday.
>
> Both he and Robert - caged for five years and three months - admitted
> attempting to defeat the ends of justice by trying to cover up the crime.
>
> Our source added: “Robert can be coerced by Sandy — the strongest of the
> two. With Sandy I’m not surprised.”

--
Spike

On 27/08/2023 11:37 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Sandy Allan 25th August 3:48 pm

> User ID: 2003993
> He hit & injured the cyclist. At that point he made a conscious decision to abandon the injured man. By doing so he condemned his victim to death. If he had sought medical assistance & Mr Parsons had subsequently died then a charge of involuntary manslaughter might have been possible. He left the guy to die. His actions caused his death. He murdered Mr Parsons. He should have been looking at 25 years, minimum. Now he will be out in 6 years. That’s not justice.

Thank you for that valued insight, M'Lid.

Have you any explanation as to why the charge and verdict were not for
murder?

McKellar was sentenced to 12 years in prison at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday for killing and burying grandfather Tony Parsons in 2017.

His brother Robert, who helped to bury Mr Parsons’ body, was sentenced to 5 years and three months. Caroline Muirhead was engaged to Alexander McKellar and turned him in to the police after he confessed to killing Mr Parsons.

She was emotional during the sentencing of the McKellar brothers on Friday as she watched from the public gallery. Afterwards she told the Sunday Mail that the punishment was not severe enough for their actions.

Caroline said Mr Parsons’ family have had to wait longer to see justice for what happened than the twins could spend behind bars and called the sentencing “no punishment at all.

She said: “Tony Parsons family have been waiting nearly six years to find out what happened and see a conviction. That’s longer than Robert will serve in jail and probably the same as what Sandy will. They’ve done nearly two years already, but that family have to deal with this for the rest of their life.”

Both men will be eligible for parole after serving half of their sentences, which were backdated to when they were arrested on December 2, 2021.

It means Robert McKellar could be free in less than a year while Alexander McKellar could be out before Christmas 2027.

Caroline said: “The Crown could have got life sentences for both of them if the trial had gone ahead and they’d been convicted.

“They left a man to die, they drove home and changed their car and left their phones. These aren’t the actions of people who are scared and shocked.

“It’s horrific and instead of getting two life sentences they’ll serve barely anything.”

The Sunday Mail previously told how prosecutors decided to accept a plea to culpable homicide for Alexander McKellar and to defeating the ends of justice for his brother the day after the trial was due to start.

The decision was made after Caroline, who was the key prosecution witness, fled her home and failed to turn up at court on the day of the trial as she had been told she would be filmed for a documentary about the case, even though she had refused to consent.

The Sunday Mail asked the Crown Office whether it accepted the decision not to make the twins stand trial for murder, and to accept pleas to lesser charges, was in any way related to the filming fiasco.

A Crown Office spokesman said: “Prosecutors have a duty to consider pleas offered by the defence and will accept pleas that are considered to be in the public interest.”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/ex-fiancee-killer-alexander-mckellar-30795167

Haven’t you milked this enough already?

Your attitude brings no comfort to anyone involved.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> McKellar was sentenced to 12 years in prison at the High Court in Glasgow
> on Friday for killing and burying grandfather Tony Parsons in 2017.
>
> His brother Robert, who helped to bury Mr Parsons’ body, was sentenced to
> 5 years and three months. Caroline Muirhead was engaged to Alexander
> McKellar and turned him in to the police after he confessed to killing Mr Parsons.
>
> She was emotional during the sentencing of the McKellar brothers on
> Friday as she watched from the public gallery. Afterwards she told the
> Sunday Mail that the punishment was not severe enough for their actions.
>
> Caroline said Mr Parsons’ family have had to wait longer to see justice
> for what happened than the twins could spend behind bars and called the
> sentencing “no punishment at all.
>
> She said: “Tony Parsons family have been waiting nearly six years to find
> out what happened and see a conviction. That’s longer than Robert will
> serve in jail and probably the same as what Sandy will. They’ve done
> nearly two years already, but that family have to deal with this for the
> rest of their life.”
>
> Both men will be eligible for parole after serving half of their
> sentences, which were backdated to when they were arrested on December 2, 2021.
>
> It means Robert McKellar could be free in less than a year while
> Alexander McKellar could be out before Christmas 2027.
>
> Caroline said: “The Crown could have got life sentences for both of them
> if the trial had gone ahead and they’d been convicted.
>
> “They left a man to die, they drove home and changed their car and left
> their phones. These aren’t the actions of people who are scared and shocked.
>
> “It’s horrific and instead of getting two life sentences they’ll serve barely anything.”
>
> The Sunday Mail previously told how prosecutors decided to accept a plea
> to culpable homicide for Alexander McKellar and to defeating the ends of
> justice for his brother the day after the trial was due to start.
>
> The decision was made after Caroline, who was the key prosecution
> witness, fled her home and failed to turn up at court on the day of the
> trial as she had been told she would be filmed for a documentary about
> the case, even though she had refused to consent.
>
> The Sunday Mail asked the Crown Office whether it accepted the decision
> not to make the twins stand trial for murder, and to accept pleas to
> lesser charges, was in any way related to the filming fiasco.
>
> A Crown Office spokesman said: “Prosecutors have a duty to consider pleas
> offered by the defence and will accept pleas that are considered to be in
> the public interest.”
>
> https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/ex-fiancee-killer-alexander-mckellar-30795167

--
Spike

On Friday, August 25, 2023 at 6:36:16 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
I cannot understand why other unconnected people turned against Caroline, the girlfriend, even spitting at her in public. Her honesty in coming forward to report the actions of her fiance is a reflection of her strength, humanity, and empathy for the impact of a terrible injustice. Where is the compassion from people for the suffering of the cyclists family when they think silent complicit loyalty would be preferable. What if this death had affected their own families?
==========================SOME IDIOTS HATE "GRASSES" - SCOUSERS ESPECIALLY.