Killer’s ex-fiancée fears he will want revenge as he is jailed for 12 years – after she used a Red Bull can to mark shallow grave of cyclist he mowed down and buried
- Alexander ‘Sandy’ McKellar, 33, mowed down and killed cyclist Tony Parsons, 63
- McKellar’s fiancée Caroline Muirhead gave police a clue to find Mr Parsons’ body
A woman who gave detectives the bombshell clue they needed to catch her killer fiancé has revealed her fears he will hunt her down after he was jailed for 12 years today.
Caroline Muirhead, 32, gathered evidence that helped to convict Alexander ‘Sandy’ McKellar after he knocked down and killed cyclist Tony Parsons, 63.
McKellar and his twin Robert tried to cover up the crime in September 2017 by burying the former Navy petty officer on the 9,000-acre Auchy estate off the A82 in Argyll, Scotland.
Three years later, McKellar showed his terrified girlfriend the spot where Mr Parsons was buried – which she marked out by dropping an empty can of Red Bull – allowing police to pinpoint the body’s location.
McKellar, 33, pleaded guilty to culpable homicide and both he and his brother admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.
McKellar was today jailed for 12 years and while his brother was sentenced to five years and three months in jail.
Ms Muirhead, a pathologist, revealed to Sky News that she has been offered 24-hour security cameras at her parents’ Glasgow home amid fears for her safety.
Caroline Muirhead, 32, gathered evidence that helped to convict Alexander ‘Sandy’ McKellar after he knocked down and killed cyclist Tony Parsons
McKellar and his twin Robert tried to cover up the crime in September 2017 by burying the former Navy petty officer
Cyclist Tony Parsons was struck by a pick-up truck being driven by a drunk Sandy McKellar with Robert in the passenger seat
Tony’s body was discovered thanks to a can of red bull left at his burial site by Muirhead
READ MORE: The unmarked grave of a charity cyclist who was hit by a drink-driver and buried in the Scottish wilderness with the help of his twin brother – but was caught after confessing to his fiancée who told police where to find it
She said there was a ‘100%’ risk that Sandy could harm her after his release from prison, adding: ‘You’re telling me that man is not going to come knock on my door when he gets out?’
Ms Muihead is now pressing for greater protection for witnesses in High Court trials and is exploring legal actin against criminal justice authorities in Scotland.
She alleges that after giving Police Scotland the clue they needed to find Mr Parsons’ body, detectives pressured her into ‘spying’ on the twins for a further nine months in order to bolster their case.
She also claims officers leaked key evidence to locals revealing the part she was playing in the inquiry.
Scotland’s police watchdog the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) confirmed it has been instructed by the Crown Office to probe ‘allegations of criminality’ against the force.
She said: ‘I have not just been manipulated by being lied to. I’ve been violated. I’ve been abused and taken advantage of.
‘I literally gave them as much as I could above and beyond. They never saw me as a human. They terrorised me. They intimidated me. They took me out of my job. Here I am, I’ve lost my job. I’ve lost my possessions. My family are terrified.’
Ms Muihead described one incident where she walked into a pub, while the patrons all stopped and stared. She said the barman asked if she wanted a ‘Red Bull sugar free like the gravesite?’ and the other customers spat at her.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ‘It would not be appropriate to comment on these assertions as criminal proceedings have not concluded.
‘There are a number of outstanding complaints which will be progressed at the conclusion of all criminal proceedings.’
Police search a Highland farm at Auch Estate in connection with the disappearance of Tony Parsons on January 8, 2021 in Bridge of Orchy, Scotland
Father-of-two Mr Parsons had won a battle with prostate cancer, travelled north by train on the morning of September 29, 2017.
But after 11pm, when he was last seen having a drink in the Bridge of Orchy hotel, he was struck by a pick-up truck being driven by a drunk Sandy McKellar with Robert in the passenger seat.
The brothers had been drinking in the same bar as Mr Parsons before they crashed into him on the A82 on their way back home through the 9,000-acre Auch Estate in Argyll.
They decided to bury his body in a peat bog and lived with their secret for just over three years. Sandy McKellar admitted his crimes to Ms Muirhead in November 2020 as they discussed getting married.
She told the Sunday Mail: ‘I was in shock, frozen almost. I didn’t know what to believe. This man I thought I could be with for the rest of my life had just told me he was a killer. I didn’t know what to do.’
After his confession, Ms Muirhead spent a month gathering information before dropping a can of Red Bull at Mr Parson’s shallow grave so it could be found by police, as the Mail reported last month. Ms Muirhead, a forensic pathologist from Glasgow, told how McKellar first appeared gentle and kind towards her, but his personality could change when he drank heavily.
She recalled asking him in late November 2020 if he was OK after he visibly tensed when a police car drove past them one evening.
She said: ‘I asked him, “What is it? What is going on? What is it you’re not telling me?”
‘I said if we were going to be together and be a team, he needed to tell me what was wrong and I’d support him.
The widow of charity cyclist Tony Parsons, Margaret Parsons (left) and their daughter Victoria, arrive at the High Court for drunk driver Alexander McKellar’s sentencing
Mr Parson’s son Mike (right) and his wife arrive at the High Court, Glasgow, for the sentencing of drunk-driver Alexander McKellar who killed his father with his car on September 29, 2017
The final journey of former naval officer and charity cyclist Tony Parsons
Police officers search the valley on the outskirts of Tyndrum, Stirlingshire
‘He started having a panic attack. He was gasping and started wailing. Then he told me what he’d done… something that he’d got away with for years.’
He then took her to the site of the grave on the estate where he lived. Ms Muirhead said: ‘He pointed out where the body was and told me what had happened and how they (the brothers) had hit him, that it was an accident.
‘He said they hadn’t trusted the police, they’d had issues with them before and thought they were out to get them, so that’s why they didn’t go to the police.’
Both McKellars had been due to stand trial for murder, but appeared in court last month to plead guilty to lesser charges.
Alexander admitted culpable homicide, while Robert pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice. They are due to be sentenced on Friday.
Ms Muirhead is reported to be considering legal action against Police Scotland over claims she felt ‘coerced’ into spying on her ex after she alerted them to the grave.
She is also said to have lodged multiple complaints against the force, with the Crown Office referring eight complaints to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC).
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘It would not be appropriate to comment on these assertions as criminal proceedings have not concluded. There are a number of outstanding complaints which will be progressed at the conclusion of all criminal proceedings.’
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: ‘This case remains active until sentence. It would not be appropriate for COPFS to comment.’
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