Twin brothers Alexander and Robert McKellar have today been sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow for their roles in knocking down cyclist Tony Parsons and burying his body in a stink pit on the notorious Auch Estate near the Bridge of Orchy, where their father had previously been convicted for the illegal possession of two hand guns and a banned pesticide (Carbofuran) after the discovery of a poisoned golden eagle (see here).
Alexander McKellar, who had previously been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of culpable homicide, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Robert McKellar was sentenced to five years and three months for attempting to defeat the ends of justice by assisting his brother in covering up the crime by burying Mr Parsons in a remote spot on the Auch Estate.
Mr Parsons was knocked off his bicycle by Alexander McKellar’s vehicle, part-way through a charity ride on a rainy night in September 2017. Instead of providing him with assistance, the McKellar twins drove back to Auch Estate, switched vehicles, and returned to collect Mr Parsons and his possessions and then hid everything under a tarpaulin in some woods on the estate. Mr Parson’s body was later moved to a stink pit on the estate where he was buried, and the McKellar twins burned his possessions.
Their hideous crimes only came to light in 2021 after Alexander McKellar confessed to his then girlfriend, who went to the police. That they’d been able to conceal these offences for so long, despite major searches by Police Scotland officers, mountain rescue teams, police dogs, police air support unit, as well as volunteers, and with repeated media appeals, is a clear demonstration of how easy it is for criminal evidence to be hidden on vast, remote sporting estates. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Raptor Persecution UK 
They should have got life – ‘normal’ people dont do such hideous crimes
I had to look this up…
From Crime.Scot:
“The difference between being convicted of murder and culpable homicide can be massive. While a conviction for murder carries a mandatory life sentence, there is no such rule for culpable homicide, so the full range of disposals would be available to the court. It is quite possible to be convicted of culpable homicide and not be imprisoned.”
and
“Culpable homicide is the killing of a person in circumstances which are neither accidental nor justified, but where the wicked intent to kill or wicked recklessness required for murder is absent.”
Is this really justice?
According to the sentencing council, a prisoner can expect to serve half their sentence in prison, and the remainder on licence in the community.
So Alexander McKellar could be back out and at home in 6 years time, and his brother back out in just over 2 and a half years.
Which gives them plenty more years to carry on with whatever they do in the Highlands of Scotland.
This was a despicable crime in which it appeared the offenders deliberately covered up the unlawful killing of the cyclist, something which would have left the victims family with years of doubt wondering what had happened to their family member. That family now have a lifetime without Mr Parsons in their lives.
So much for a justice system which is supposed to be victim focused!
Culpable homicide would be manslaughter in England & Wales. Massive aggravating features though – leaving him to die, the cover-up, the years of anguish for his family.. I wonder if the Procurator Fiscal will appeal these sentences?
No justice for his family. What they did after running him down was unforgivable and should have been given more weight when sentencing. I guess the court has to follow the guidelines but it doesn’t make it any easier for his family knowing he was in that pit for several years when those men could have called an ambulance and saved his life
‘Instead of providing him with assistance, the McKellar twins drove back to Auch Estate’
I’m not sure that’s accurate. I think only one of them, Alexander, was in the vehicle when it struck Mr Parsons. He, Alexander, drove home and then returned to the scene with his twin brother. It seems that by the time they arrived Mr Parsons had sadly passed away.
If the twin had been present when Mr Parsons was struck, or if Mr Parsons was likely to have still been alive at the time of their return, his sentence would have been longer.
The media are continuing to describe both men as self employed farm workers. I suppose that suits the estate’s interests.
It seems there is an ongoing investigation into the police handling of the case.
No, it was said in court that both were driving back from dinner with a German hunting party.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-66317438
“ The court heard that the brothers had dined with a hunting party at the hotel the same night.
Alexander McKellar, who had a string of driving convictions, drove towards the estate with his brother as a passenger.
Auch Estate
After the vehicle hit Mr Parsons, Alexander McKellar left the car and saw the cyclist was still alive.
He did not contact the emergency services but drove with his brother to Auch Estate, where they dumped their phones and returned in another vehicle.“
T0Interesting to note tha T he father’s job description changed from ‘gamekeeper’ at the time the firearms offence was prosecuted to ‘farmer’ when the pesticides case was held. Also, he was not given the supposed mandatory jail sentence for possessing unlicensed firearms.
Thanks, Dave.
It’s been widely reported that Alexander McKellar was driving the vehicle and his brother Robert was a passenger.
There’s an article in the Mail today about the ongoing investigation into Police Scotland’s handling of the investigation:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12444579/Killers-ex-fianc-e-fears-want-revenge-jailed-12-years-used-Red-Bull-mark-shallow-grave-cyclist-mowed-buried.html
Thanks for the clarification. If that’s the case then the disparity in the sentences makes no sense.
The only difference between the two was that one rather than the other happened to be driving when the collision occurred. There’s no suggestion that the collision was intentional. It was most likely an accident albeit one made more likely because the driver was drunk. The real evil here, which is the thing that should be reflected in the sentence, was what happened immediately after the collision in failing to seek medical help, and the subsequent disposal of the body. If both were present when the collision occurred then both were equally guilty of that part and the sentences should have been much more closely aligned.
The Police (well those here in England, I’m not sure about Scotland) have for some years been persuaded to use the term Road Traffic Collision, replacing Road Traffic Accident. Driving while impaired does not cause ‘accidents’.
I hope there is an appeal, perhaps crowdfunded, into the apparent leniency of the sentences.
One assumes the pair disposed of the bike in some way, and the Police were not interested in investigating.
Sog – it’s been reported that the McKellar twins hid Mr Parson’s bike behind a waterfall. It’s never been recovered. There isn’t any suggestion (anywhere that I’ve read) that the police ‘were not interested in investigating’.
Thanks, it crossed my mind that they may have disposed of evidence. Which the bike would have been.
Just how many waterfalls are there locally?
I have an interest here.
In the past I rode my bike on quiet mountain roads in N Scotland, mostly alone. I would still do so but for health issues.
Disposal like that would have been theft, I guess, bikes can cost two or three thousand. The bike may have provided forensic information about the collision and subsequent handling. You never know until you try.
It makes one wonder if all stink pits need to be investigated? As with the nurse Letby case, it seems that some crimes are so horrific that they are beyond the normal person’s imagination. The worrying thing for me in both cases is a) that the perpetrators clearly thought they’d get away with it and b) that they actually did for so long. Dark days…
“It makes one wonder if all stink pits need to be investigated?”
How many stink pits are there in Scotland? Is it really a sensible use of police time to go on a fishing trip in each and every one of them, irrespective of whether or not there is a specific crime under investigation? It would be a great thing if the police were to devote more resource and serious intention to investigating wildlife crime but I would hope that they would go about it in a more efficient and targeted manner.
First I extend my deep sympathies to the family of mr. Parsons. The response of the twins both deepened and extended the suffering of his family.
One wonders how much the rampant criminality has been normalised in the areas where commercial shoots are held given it is largely accepted by all but the industry itself that the illegal killing of birds of prey that threaten their income stream is normalised. Those who have lived in these communities know how intolerable lives can be made should they be seen to interfere in any way to the smooth running of their business and how much eaiser it can seem to simply turn away at the sight of criminality.
This was a situation simply waiting to happen. Many shoots, as well as taking a “wee dram” with them often retiure to the local pub or the gamekeepers bothy for a drink post shoot. One might think it too optimistic that none of those involved would be over the limit when time is called on their activities and they enter their vehicles to make their way home.
A case could be made, given the father’s previous convictions and the nature of them, that the offenders clocation and upbringing innured them to certain aspects of criminality and, in such a fashion, made such a response more likely.
If enforcement of laws around shooting venues and the public houses they tend to frequent, at least as far as drinking and driving goes, then the nlikliehood of another accident like this happening would be greatly lessened.
It turns my stomach to think how this poor man must have suffered before he died and then he was dumped in a shallow grave among the rotting bodies of slaughtered birds and animals. 😱
I can’t comprehend how anyone could do this. My heart goes out to the family of Tony Parsons.
Just to add to my previous comment.
From what has been reported about this case, it would seem Alexander McKellar had been drinking prior to knocking Mr Parsons from his cycle. Whilst there will have been no evidence available to the prosecution as to what McKellar’s blood alcohol level was at the time of the collision, I suggest that there must have been the possibility that McKellar was driving over the prescribed limit? Why else would he drive away after colliding with Mr Parsons and then come back to remove all traces of the collision?
Had McKellar acted in an honest way at the time and reported the collision, as the law required him to do, then the police would have been able to conduct a breath test to establish exactly what his alcohol level was. Had McKellar been over the prescribed limit, then this could have given rise to a prosecution for causing death by careless driving whilst over the prescribed limit, which carries up to 18 years imprisonment.
If I have read the sentencing guidelines correctly it would seem that the court has a full range of sentences open to them for culpable homicide including life imprisonment.
So taking into account the McKellar brothers subsequent horrific actions after the collision to hide the initial crime, avoid justice, deny the victim a proper funeral, and the distress this will have caused Mr Parsons family, then I have to wonder that with all these aggravating factors why the judge didn’t start with a minimum custodial sentence of at least 18 years, which could have been a sentence imposed for causing death by careless driving whilst over the prescribed?
What the McKellar brothers did after the collision is just so horrific, surely such actions deserve the maximum prison sentences which the court could have imposed?
The drink drive limit in Scotland is so low that even one drink can put you over. 22 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath
So it’s likely he was
I think the sentence given of these 2 criminals is pathetic.
Where is the justice in such a short sentence? They left Mr Parsons severely injured, to die on the roadside. They deprived him of possibly life saving treatment. They left his family worrying about what had happened for many years and gave them no closure following his death.
Their deplorable actions are cruelty in the extreme to Mr Parsons, his family and friends. They clearly didn’t think about the victim and his circle of family and friends. They don’t deserve to be getting out of gaol in so short a time.
This demonstration of justice is not right or fair. It suggests leniency for the criminals and scarce consideration for their heinous crime.
The whole case is as fascinating as it is grotesque and tragic.
No doubt it will in due course become the subject of TV documentaries and true crime mini series.
For now, and for those wondering why the case is relevant to the world of raptor persecution, this passage from The Adventure of The Copper Beeches might provide a clue.
#####
“Do you know, Watson,” said he, “that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there.”
“Good heavens!” I cried. “Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?”
“They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”
Having lived in Scotland for a number of years now I have seen some very strange sentencing in the crime reports. My conclusion is that the influence of Freemasonry is behind these. The judiciary are extremely likely to be Masons. I should have thought that those connected to the Auch Estate could have similar connections. The Brothers wield a powerful exertion over such matters.
One can debate what length of sentence is appropriate for such a grotesque crime but twelve years is objectively a long sentence when compared with sentencing statistics and suggests the court did take a very serious view of his actions. In 2020-21 the average sentence for culpable homicide (i.e. excluding murder) was a bit over 5 years so Alexander McKellar’s sentence was more than twice this (the fact that he will probably not serve all of this is irrelevant because the same applies to all prisoners). I don’t think there is really any evidence of nefarious connivance between the judiciary and those connected with the Auch Estate.
The fact that this crime was only discovered due to drunken ‘boasting’ (!!??!!) does not indicate any remorse which is as disgusting as anything else about this case. How incredibly sad that a decent man making a big effort to help others ran foul of this entitled and selfish pair who felt they were above the law and obligations to display even basic humanity. That they were familiar with a stink pit suggests that being labelled ‘farm labourers’ is not the true story, but attempted distraction.
Les, with respect, if you read Ms. Muirhead’s interview with the press she states that McKellar appeared uncomfortable in the presence of passing police cars and broke down, confessing his hideous crime when pressed by her. He allegedly informed that the trigger for his unconscionable actions were a deep rooted mistrust of the police. I wonder if that stemmed from the his occupation as an estate worker and the raptor persecution incident (golden eagle) associated with the estate or other actions? Either way, I think the callous disregard for life and nature promoted by the use of snares, stink pits etc, must have contributed to his actions and shaped his response regarding the lack of concern for his victim.
What equally concerns me is the apparent deep rooted support for the McKellars by a section of the local community. The alleged response of locals/barman in the pub towards Ms. Muirhead needs examining and if true they should be named and shamed.