A dad who joined the hunt for missing Alesha in Rothesay revealed the community spirit continues to unite grieving neighbours on the island
A DAD who helped to search for Alesha MacPhail has told how her murder had traumatised islanders — but vowed it would not crush them.
Mark Lingard, 47, revealed the community spirit which led volunteers to hunt for the missing schoolgirl continued to unite grieving neighbours.
And he praised Alesha’s shattered relatives for their courage in the aftermath of her brutal rape and murder — as he pledged the tragic six-year-old would remain in locals’ hearts forever.
Recalling the months since the horror discovery of the little girl’s body on Bute, Mark said: “The whole community felt the loss.
“Everyone has done their crying and their grieving. The sense of loss is something that will never go from our hearts.”
Days after Alesha’s murder, 300 mourners held a vigil for the schoolgirl in Rothesay.
Mark said: “The vigil was very sombre, but it was very humbling to see a community pull together like that — showing their support for the family. I’d only met Alesha once, but even people that didn’t meet her felt genuine grief.
“It put Bute on the map for the wrong reasons. But Bute will rise again. We want people to visit.
“It’s a beautiful place, with lovely people. God willing, it will never happen again.”
Describing the day he met Alesha at a fete on the holiday island, the construction worker said: “She was about to get on a ferry to go back to her mother’s. But we fetched her back because she had won a raffle prize.
“We presented her with this teddy — she was a gorgeous little thing, smiling from ear to ear.
“I’ve got a daughter and I remember her at that age, the innocence of it. A gorgeous bubbly little girl — that’s how everybody wants to remember Alesha.
“We will never forget Alesha and everyone will always be around for her family. Hopefully they like that.
“We’d hope to get a memorial in place to remember her by too.”
Mark, who works alongside Alesha’s dad Robert, 26, and grandad Calum, 49, told how he heard a little girl had vanished on the morning of July 2 last year as he was about to head to work.
He pulled together a team and set off to scour the island — and only then realised the missing youngster was related to his colleagues.
Mark said: “We started the search and I came across Calum, obviously beside himself looking for the little one. He was just in shock. Nobody could believe it.
“We were searching areas given to us by police and within a couple of hours we were given the sad news that she’d been found and it wasn’t a good outcome.”
He added of Alesha’s family: “I’ve seen Rab and Calum out and about. I find it admirable how they’re managing to push forward or — rather — tread water.
“They’re trying to live their lives and I don’t know how they’re finding the courage and resolve to do so under the circumstances.
“It says a lot about them and their character, and them as a family, how they pulled together.”
Mark was among locals who yesterday spoke out after beast Aaron Campbell, 16, was caged for at least 27 years.
The monster finally admitted the sickening murder which has shocked Scotland.
Dad-of-four Mark said: “Hopefully he won’t ever be released.
“He’s evil. A horrible little character. He’s lied from the start. It’s sub-human.”
Other islanders told of their relief that Campbell had been given a long minimum sentence — and shared their hope that Alesha’s loved ones and the community could now try to move on.
Grant Mactavish, 72, a criminology graduate, likened Campbell’s depraved crimes to the Moors Murders.
He said: “He has all of the makings of a serial killer. He’s another Ian Brady and they’re lucky to have got him now.
“Supposedly he used to run away all the time and his mother had to get the police to look for him.
“He was a really weird young boy. But justice has been done.
“The children in the community will now be safe. Our whole community are now in a safer place than they were before.”
Grant added: “People in the community talk about wanting him to be hung, drawn and quartered — but I hope he is put in isolation for the rest of his life.”
Roofer Richard Whitelaw, 50, said: “It’s been a sad thing for all of us. Bute is a small, quiet place.
“That boy doesn’t deserve to live his life when he’s taken another. But I suppose his life is finished anyway — even when he is released everyone will be after him.”
And waitress Colombelli Ilaria, 23, added: “He’s in jail where he belongs. He took too long to admit it. It was awful he put the family through that. He’s a monster.”
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