Tony Parsons, a 63-year-old retired
Royal Navy officer, cancer survivor and grandfather from
Tillicoultry in
Clackmannanshire, disappeared on the night of 29 September 2017 while attempting to cycle the 100-mile route from
Fort William back to his home in aid of a
prostate cancer charity. He was last seen outside the Bridge of Orchy Hotel late that evening, and despite extensive searches by Police Scotland, mountain rescue teams and volunteers, no trace of him was found for more than three years. Parsons had in fact been struck on the A82 between Bridge of Orchy and
Tyndrum by a vehicle driven by Alexander McKellar, a 25-year-old deer-stalker who had been drinking with a German hunting party at a local hotel. The McKellar twins, who lived and worked on the 9,000-acre Auch Estate near Bridge of Orchy, returned home, switched vehicles and went back to collect Parsons and his bicycle; they buried his body in a "stink pit" used to dispose of animal carcasses on the estate, and hid the bicycle behind a waterfall, where it has never been recovered. In September 2020, Alexander McKellar began a relationship with forensic pathologist Dr. Caroline Muirhead, whom he had met on Tinder. When, two months later, Muirhead asked whether there was anything in his past that could affect their relationship, McKellar confessed to the
hit-and-run. Several weeks later he mentioned that there would be a development starting near where the body was buried and so he would have to move the body. McKellar began asking question of Muirhead, such as questions about burning a body. After this Muirhead went to her parents house where they contacted the police and met with detectives. Realising that she didn't know specifically where the body was buried, Muirhead left the house in the early morning to return to the estate to McKellar. She asked to go clay pigeon shooting as he had previously stated that where they went shooting was close to where he had buried Parsons. Once they were there, Muirhead told McKellar that without knowing where the body specifically was, she wouldn't be able to help him. McKellar then showed her the grave site where she secretly left a
Red Bull can stamped into the ground at the site as a marker before contacting the police again. The McKellar brothers were arrested on 30 December 2020 and Parsons's remains were recovered for forensic examination in January 2021. At the
High Court in Glasgow on 26 July 2023, Alexander pleaded guilty to
culpable homicide and attempting to pervert the course of justice, while Robert pleaded guilty to attempting to
pervert the course of justice; on 25 August 2023,
Lord Armstrong sentenced Alexander to 12 years in prison and Robert to five years and three months. ==Production and release==