Alesha MacPhail’s death: what happened to the six-year-old?

Alesha MacPhail was reported missing yesterday

A police investigation has been launched after the body of
missing schoolgirl Alesha MacPhail was found in woodland on the
Isle of Bute.

Detectives said they would be carrying out door-to-door
inquiries and questioning holidaymakers in the town of
Rothesay, where the six-year-old had been staying with her
father and grandparents.

When did she disappear?

Alesha was reported missing yesterday at 6.25am.

Her body was found at 9am “in the grounds of a derelict hotel on
Ardbeg Road by a member of the public after a large-scale search
had been launched”, reports The Guardian.

The scene where she was found was concealed by thick
foliage. “A small clearing in the shrubs, which appeared to be
an entrance to the grounds of the former hotel, was also taped
off,” says the Daily Record.

According to the newspaper, Alesha’s maternal grandmother,
Angela King, had earlier posted an appeal on her Facebook page.
Underneath, Alesha’s mother, Georgina Lochrane, based in
Coatbridge, near Glasgow, had written: “Someone tell me what’s
happened. That’s my daughter.”

One Rothesay resident said: “Alesha’s family are well known on
the island. She spent a lot of time here so had built up a good
group of friends.

“She was out playing with a friend a few days before and was
quite happy and everything seemed fine, so it’s a mystery as to how
this has happened. Things like this just don’t happen on
Rothesay so it’s a shock to the community.”

What have the police said?

Detective Superintendent Stuart Houston, from Police Scotland’s
Major Investigations Team, said: “This death of a six-year-old
child has shocked the tight-knit community of Rothesay and it is
imperative that we find out what has happened.

“We know that once the alarm was raised about her being missing,
there were a number of local people who assisted with the search. I
would like to speak to anyone who was involved in that search who
have not yet been spoken to by the police.”

Houston said the death was being treated as “unexplained at
this time”.