How a Red Bull can helped solve mystery of missing cyclist

It was two months into their relationship when Dr Caroline Muirhead’s new boyfriend confessed he had killed a person and left him in a shallow grave.

Alexander McKellar supplied to take her to the spot the place the physique was buried – and her fast considering was essential in cracking a case which had baffled police for 3 years.

Caroline secretly dropped a can of Purple Bull on the spot, in a distant property in Argyll, then referred to as police to inform them in regards to the location.

The shallow grave contained the physique of Tony Parsons, who had gone lacking on a charity cycle trip three years earlier.

Tony’s son Mike mentioned that with out Caroline’s intervention, it was unlikely that his physique would ever have been discovered – and expressed the household’s gratitude for what she had carried out.

The case is the topic of a new two-part documentary which reveals the twists and turns of the police investigation and the Parsons household’s lengthy look forward to justice.

Mike Parsons advised BBC Scotland Information that his dad was the type of man who was all the time decided to finish any problem he set himself.

Tony had beforehand been handled for prostate most cancers and needed to provide one thing again.

So he deliberate a 104-mile charity cycle from Fort William to his house in Tillicoultry, setting off on Friday 29 September 2017 and biking by the night time.

Mike mentioned his household began to develop into involved when Tony had not contacted them by Saturday night time.

“I truly texted him myself, with what’s my dad and myself’s sense of humour, a easy textual content: ‘Are you continue to alive?’

“Trying again now, it isn’t good to know that was the very very last thing I texted to him, figuring out at this level he would have been handed away.”

Tony was subsequently reported missing, sparking a significant search operation.

Police knew he handed by Glencoe Village at about 18:00 on Friday earlier than happening to the Bridge of Orchy Lodge in Argyll.

The final recognized sighting of him was on the lodge at 23:30 that night time, earlier than he headed south on the A82 within the route of Tyndrum.

As the times progressed, former police officer Mike and his household grew more and more involved about Tony.

“I knew the timescales that might be concerned,” he mentioned.

“The longer the times went on, I knew in my head that the possibilities of him being discovered alive can be fairly slim.

“However I mainly needed to persuade my mum there was nonetheless an opportunity, and mendacity to any person like that’s not straightforward.”

Regardless of quite a few public appeals together with an look by Mike on Crimewatch, it appeared that Tony Parsons had vanished into skinny air.

Then, in late 2020, police obtained a telephone name that might change every little thing.

The feminine caller was distressed.

She mentioned she had details about against the law that had been dedicated three years earlier at Bridge of Orchy.

It involved successful and run, the concealment of a physique, and mendacity to police.

She mentioned the sufferer’s identify was Tony Parsons.

The caller was Dr Caroline Muirhead, the girlfriend of Alexander McKellar. Generally known as Sandy, he labored on a close-by property together with his twin brother Robert.

Police had spoken to the brothers after an nameless letter in August 2018 mentioned they have been within the Bridge of Orchy Lodge the night time Tony Parsons had vanished, however no additional motion was taken.

In June 2020, they have been once more questioned about Tony and confirmed being within the lodge with a looking celebration that night time. Nonetheless, they mentioned that they had not seen the bike owner.

In November 2020, Caroline Muirhead and Alexander McKellar had been collectively for 2 months.

She requested her boyfriend if there was something in his previous which can have an effect on their future collectively.

He advised her he had hit Tony as he drove house from the lodge together with his brother, however didn’t search medical help.

It was later revealed that Tony’s accidents have been so unhealthy that he would solely have survived for 20 or half-hour with out assist – nevertheless it was unlikely that he had died immediately.

The twins left the world and got here again to the location in one other automotive earlier than taking Tony’s physique to the Auch Property, the place they buried him.

Mike Parsons mentioned: “What they did was inhumane and also you would not do this to animals.

“They killed him by not searching for any medical therapy.”

After confessing to his girlfriend, Alexander McKellar led her to the shallow grave the place Tony’s physique had been buried.

Caroline secretly dropped a Purple Bull can as a marker for the spot, earlier than later calling police.

Mike Parsons mentioned she had proven “exceptional foresight.”

“Being brutally sincere, I am not so positive if I used to be in the identical scenario I’d have carried out and thought the identical approach.

“From my perspective, I’ve nothing however huge quantities of gratitude for that, as a result of had she not carried out that and put herself into these positions, then we’d by no means have discovered my dad’s physique.”

Tony’s body was recovered from the grave in January 2021 after a two-day operation by specialist officers.

He was discovered to have suffered “catastrophic” rib, pelvic and backbone fractures following the collision.

Tony’s funeral was held at Stirling Crematorium in April 2021.

The brothers have been arrested and questioned twice by police, however have been initially uncooperative, giving “no remark” interviews.

With the proof in opposition to the twins mounting, police ultimately charged the pair with homicide.

In July 2023, shortly earlier than their trial was attributable to start on the Excessive Court docket in Glasgow, Sandy McKellar admitted the decreased cost of culpable murder.

His brother had his not responsible plea to homicide accepted, however the pair each admitted trying to defeat the ends of justice by masking up the crime.

Sandy McKellar was sentenced to 12 years in jail, whereas his brother was jailed for 5 years and three months.

Mike Parsons mentioned that no sentence would ever be sufficient.

“They’ve left my mum and not using a husband and us and not using a father.”

Mike mentioned he would really like his dad was remembered for the great he did in his life, fairly than the circumstances of his loss of life.

“For me, he was a grumpy outdated dad who you had your run-ins with now and again,” he says, smiling.

“However, I might like individuals to recollect him as simply the man who needed to assist all people.”