3 years ? ago. Scotland. Cyclist went missing. Anyone familiar with this ?

[glasgowcyclist]

This makes it murder. Sad that they get away with it because the injury was caused by car, and they copped to some much lesser crime.

They were originally charged with murder but the advocate depute advised the court that the crown would accept a guilty plea to culpable homicide instead.

 

[mjr]

Such a confession itself would be heresy,

I think autocorrect bit. That should be hearsay, surely.

 

[Drago]

It might be heresy too if they were renouncing the church or somesuch!

 

[Kingfisher101]

They were originally charged with murder but the advocate depute advised the court that the crown would accept a guilty plea to culpable homicide instead.

I've looked online and I dont know if this is correct but it says its max 5 years prison plus a possible fine for Culpable Homicide. 5 years for that hideous crime is outragous. They will be out in 2.5.
If I was the family I'd be looking at some type of judicial appeal if thats all they get.

 

[T4tomo]

Well the body was found 3/4 years later wasn't it, which is normally as a result of a tip off to the police, not continuous arduous investigative work..

Police probably had suspicions all along but its hard to bring a murder / homicide etc charge with no body....once they found the body they pretty much immediately arrested the pair of them.

The police will still have collated as much evidence as possible, interviewed drivers, farmers, businesses along the route, gathered cctv footage, telephone records and so on. I doubt they sat on their arses for three years and then scrabbled about looking for evidence in retrospect, as by then it would already have been lost.

Suspicions are easy but establishing sufficient evidence for a conviction is a damn sight different.

you mis interpreted my point there.

the evidence would be collected in the aftermath of the event. they wouldn't actively doing stuff for all of those 3 / 4 intervening years. they would likely have a good idea of what happened but unable to prove it, and crucially unable to prove murder or homicide (vs missing person) with no body, so it sits in the unsolved / pending tray.....

...and then bingo they get a tip off, find the body and its arrest and charge time.

I've looked online and I dont know if this is correct but it says its max 5 years prison plus a possible fine for Culpable Homicide. 5 years for that hideous crime is outragous. They will be out in 2.5.
If I was the family I'd be looking at some type of judicial appeal if thats all they get.

I hope you're wrong, I'd assume they'd accepted a lesser plea as a more sure way to significant jail time. leaving someone to die at the road side is effing evil.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I've looked online and I dont know if this is correct but it says its max 5 years prison plus a possible fine for Culpable Homicide. 5 years for that hideous crime is outragous. They will be out in 2.5.
If I was the family I'd be looking at some type of judicial appeal if thats all they get.

The maximum penalty for culpable homicide in Scotland is life imprisonment. The two brothers pled guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice, which also carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Courts will often give several years for such a conviction, even in ‘victimless’ crimes such as falsely naming someone else as a driver so you can avoid points on your licence.

I expect the driver will get around 12-15 years for the culpable homicide, given that he admitted driving at excessive speed and being drunk and has a string of road traffic convictions including careless driving, dangerous driving and drunk driving.

Noting the extreme efforts that both accused made to cover up the crime, I would expect a sentence of 8-10 years for that. Such sentences tend to run concurrently.

 

[Drago]

While there is evidence still to view/check out/ have examined by the relevent expert, they will indeed have kept going at it for those 3 or 4 years, albeit it might get allocated to one D only to plug through.

It won't get filed as undetected and parked in the cold case queue for future review until all the available evidence has been exhausted and there are no qvenues of investigation remaining, at least the the two forces in which I worked sarf of the border it wouldnt.

Just before I left in 2017 I did some work on one from 2001 that was still active. One skipper running it only, and borrowing in staff with expertise as needed rather than having her own staff assigned, but it was still ticking and it won't stop while there are still avenue of investigation.

Meanwhile they're wasting time on officers beards and having to pay compo to four officere that dug their heels in and started tribunal proceedings (one of the four has just retired and has joined the IODPA and has been telling us about it.) Nice to know that my home farce has their priorities as jarked as the plod down here.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

More details are being reported as to how the victim’s body was found. The driver’s fiancée asked him if there was anything in his past that would affect their future together. He confessed to killing Mr Parsons and subsequently took her to the burial spot. On seeing it, the fiancée dropped a Red Bull can as a marker and then notified the police.

This is the area where the victim’s body was dumped.

 

[T4tomo]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-66317438

further report

smart & brave work from the girlfriend

 

[glasgowcyclist]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-66317438

further report

smart & brave work from the girlfriend

I suspect that the girlfriend had a suspicion that made her ask that question about anything in his past that could affect their future. If so, she’s a very clever woman.

 

[Kingfisher101]

More details are being reported as to how the victim’s body was found. The driver’s fiancée asked him if there was anything in his past that would affect their future together. He confessed to killing Mr Parsons and subsequently took her to the burial spot. On seeing it, the fiancée dropped a Red Bull can as a marker and then notified the police.
View attachment 700551


This is the area where the victim’s body was dumped.

View attachment 700552

He must have been involved in that criminal life etc for her to ask that type of question surely? Sounds like she knew he was a wrong un so to speak.

 

[Jody]

I suspect that the girlfriend had a suspicion that made her ask that question about anything in his past that could affect their future. If so, she’s a very clever woman.

Must have been some rumours going around given the piece below

"In August 2018, police received a letter saying to "pay attention" to the twins as they had been in the hotel the same night as Mr Parsons.

Police approached the twins in January 2019 but were asked to leave the estate."

 

[Beebo]

https://apple.news/AlNIgd-hwRlCiS0azTLuYyw

Interesting back story in this article.
The police were already looking at these guys for some time. They had the knowledge and ability to dispose of dead deer on a remote farm. So getting rid of a body was easy for them.
The police received an anonymous letter in 2019 and one of the idiots confessed to a girl friend, who deliberately dropped a red bull can at the burial site to help the police find it. ( the first rule of committing a crime is never tell anyone)
The autopsy said although Tony was probably still alive after the crash his injuries would almost certainly have been fatal.

 

[Poacher]

Callousness passed from father to sons; more background info. The father, Tom McKellar, should have received a custodial sentence for his crimes against wildlife back in 2012. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-19517341

"Police were alerted after a golden eagle was found dead on the slopes of Beinn Udlaidh, near Bridge of Orchy, after being poisoned with carbofuran.
During searches at the Auch Estate, officers found quantities of carbofuran in three separate containers and traces of it within a syringe.
They also found a dead fox, which had been poisoned, and a sheep carcass laced with carbofuran.
A Webley revolver and a Browning pistol were also recovered
When interviewed by police, McKellar indicated that he had, in the past, placed carbofuran on meat for foxes to eat.
Following the searches, McKellar pleaded guilty at Oban Sheriff Court in April to possessing carbofuran.
He also admitted, during an appearance at the High Court in Glasgow in November last year, four charges relating to the illegal possession of firearms.
McKellar was later sentenced to 300 hours of community service for these offences.
He was fined over possession of carbofuran during a further appearance at Oban Sheriff Court on Friday.
Following his fine, Craig Harris, head of the Crown's wildlife and environmental crime unit, said: "Carbofuran is an extremely toxic pesticide and even the tiniest amounts can be fatal to our wildlife.
"Possession of carbofuran is illegal and those who unlawfully retain stocks can expect to be brought before the court.
"This conviction and sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks about keeping this substance."
However, the RSPB's head of investigations, Ian Thomson, said it was "very disappointed" that no-one had been charged with poisoning the golden eagle."

 

[Jody]

Makes sense now why police weren't allowed onto the estate in 2019 and maybe another reason why early suspicion was raised against the twins.