Should I Marry A Murderer? (2026) s01e03 Episode Script

1
[vehicle engine rumbles]
[ominous music plays]
[Caroline] So I'm in my flat,
and Sandy's on the way.
He knows I've gone to the police.
I'm the one who marked the grave site.
[Caroline breathing]
All of a sudden,
Sandy's slamming the car door
and storming up to the door.
[Caroline breathing frantically]
My God,
I think he's got a spare key.
I honestly thought he was gonna kill me.
[ominous music crescendos]
But I was finding this anger
just bubbling up inside me.
What right did he have to threaten me?
He was the one that did this.
And so I hit the record button.
If he dares lay a finger on me,
I can take that to the police.
"Do you know what?
Fuck you, Sandy. Fuck you."
Sandy, why did you get me involved
in all of this?
Why?
What good did you think
was gonna come of it? You have--
[Sandy] I'll never forgive myself
for what I've done to you.
-You will for what you did to Parsons?
-[Sandy] No!
[Caroline] I was expecting Sandy
to kick off.
But actually,
in that moment, he was a bit broken.
-Sandy, you told me after a month.
-[Sandy] I know.
[Caroline] Why?
[Sandy] I fucking loved you
and I trusted you.
I mean it, Caroline, when I say,
fuck me, I never felt so comfortable.
I never loved somebody
as much as when I met you.
And I said, "But you've just heard
about this Red Bull can."
He went, "See, at the end of the day,
whatever happened, happened."
"But you weren't involved."
"I involved you."
[Sandy] Deep down, like,
it's not your fault.
It's my fault.
Him apologizing to me
for everything… [inhales]
…it released a lot of the fear.
[Sandy] Christ, you've done more for me
than anybody's ever done in my life.
[Caroline] One side of my brain is saying,
"This is the loving man that I fell for."
"The gentle Sandy."
The other side of my brain is saying,
"Caroline, this guy's dangerous."
My emotions were all over the place.
[exhales]
[dramatic music plays]
Sandy and I decided
we would stay in touch,
and he went back to the estate.
Now, Sandy didn't hurt me that night,
but it could've gone
a very, very different way.
I went to the police.
I'd done the right thing.
But I thought,
"The police will support me through this."
And they didn't.
They just completely revealed me
as the betrayer.
It made me see the police
in an entirely different light.
[officer] What is your complaint?
[Caroline] Do you understand how much
me going to help you guys
has literally ruined my life?
And you couldn't even promise me safety.
[weeps]
Do you understand
why this is so sad and serious?
[dark music plays]
The police abandoned me that day.
[dramatic string sting]
[David]
As head of Homicide and Major Crime,
I had investigated many, many murders.
Every one of them is a jigsaw.
You don't necessarily have all the pieces,
but you have to put together enough
to present
that compelling picture to a jury.
At this stage in the investigation,
the information that we had
from Dr. Muirhead led us to the body,
but it wasn't sufficient to allow us
to take proceedings against the McKellars.
We needed to find
more pieces of the jigsaw.
[dark music plays]
The police were conducting
very, very extensive searches
to see if they could recover
Tony Parsons' bicycle,
his helmet, his rucksack.
We needed to find out
what vehicle had been involved.
It was essential that we recover
every single possible shred
of forensic evidence,
so that we don't allow them to get away
without any consequence of their actions.
[dark music continues]
On top of that,
Dr. Muirhead told the police
that Robert McKellar had confirmed to her
that Tony Parsons was alive at the time
they removed him to the estate.
If he was still alive,
that takes you into the territory
of murder or culpable homicide.
In order to corroborate
what has been said to her,
we need to conduct
a full postmortem examination.
In this case,
the receiving mortuary would be
the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Mortuary
in Glasgow.
[Caroline] Incredibly,
the human remains of Tony Parsons
was brought to the same mortuary
I was contracted to work at.
For which I had specialist access
to files, to computer programs,
ID badges, staff access.
It really wasn't appropriate that
she should be in or around the mortuary
during the time
Mr. Parsons' body was there.
[Caroline] I was then put initially
on special leave,
in case I became a conflict of interest.
I didn't anticipate
there would be any problem for her.
[Caroline] I was devastated.
I loved my job.
[dark music continues]
[James] In medicine,
work does kind of become all-consuming.
It's just all you do, all you talk about.
[pensive music plays]
She'd have been training
for 11 years by that stage.
Every day has been
about medical school or work as a doctor.
To have that taken away from you,
it's devastating. That's all you have.
Suddenly, you're at home.
There's no one to speak to.
And this was during lockdown.
[pensive music continues]
Left to her own thoughts.
Oh, my life!
[James] It must have been
extremely distressing for her.
[Caroline] It was difficult.
I had no purpose, nothing to wake up for.
Oh, my gosh.
I would start recording everything,
even myself,
trying to keep a grasp on my own reality.
[pensive music continues]
[Margaret] It was a terrible time.
She became totally paranoid.
-[Stephen] Mm-hm.
-Um…
And anti-police.
[Margaret] Anti seeing anyone,
talking to anyone,
doing anything.
[Caroline] I felt like such a failure
to my parents by this point in my life.
I knew I'd thrown
their world into turmoil.
[phone buzzes]
And I couldn't face that.
[somber music playing]
My mum explicitly asked the detectives
if I could have someone
professional to talk to.
The officer said, "Your daughter's
not allowed to speak to anyone,
or she could compromise the case."
[somber music fades]
My support network of colleagues was gone.
My family was torn apart by this.
I had nothing in Glasgow.
[dramatic string music plays]
[James] I was getting
occasional messages from Caroline.
She was a mess.
You know,
a whirlwind romance, an engagement…
I don't know if you have an opportunity
to suddenly turn those feelings off.
[Caroline] I was so broken
and feeling as if
no one would want to be with me.
Sandy would send
little photos and little videos,
saying, "Oh, my gosh, I miss you so much."
I had handed him in and ruined his life.
He should hate me.
It made me feel loved,
made me feel wanted.
And that… feeling of being treated well
when you've not been,
you cling onto it so strongly.
I still had that toxic draw
when he would message me.
[Sandy] You make me smile
more than anybody.
[Caroline laughs]
[Sandy] You make me laugh
more than anybody's done in my life.
I've never met somebody like you
before in my life.
[dramatic string music continues]
[Caroline]
As mad as it may sound to people,
you can't just turn your affection off
even if they've done a terrible thing.
I drove to the Auch Estate,
back to Sandy.
It weirdly felt like I was going home.
Being somewhere where maybe…
[dramatic string music continues]
…I'm actually loved.
Even if it's the most
warped love in the world.
We've all, at some point,
done or kept to something
we know is bad for us.
We're all human.
[dramatic string music fades out]
[Caroline] Morning!
[chuckles]
Aye… [grunts]
Being on that estate, you could
hide yourself away from the world.
Ah, to be alone in Scotland.
Yeah.
Sandy and I, thereafter, lived in a bubble
of our own little false reality.
[distorted] It's just the best.
[regular voice] His brother, Robert,
he accepted me back.
I remember Robert once saying,
"This is the most fucked-up,
dysfunctional situation,
but we all love each other."
[sad string music plays]
Me, Robert, and Sandy were
the only three in the world who knew
the intensity of what was going on.
When you're on the estate
and the police turn up…
Every time a police car would even come
past the road, everyone would freeze,
thinking they were gonna get rearrested.
[David] I was made aware by the police
that she was back living with him.
And it seemed to me
to be a very, very odd decision, indeed.
[sad string music continues]
He had told her he'd killed somebody.
[reporter] A funeral has taken place
of a charity cyclist
whose body was found
three years after he went missing.
[David] The fact that
she was still associating with Sandy
certainly created in my mind
a-- a nagging worry or concern
that she may not be willing to participate
as a witness at a later stage.
[sad string music continues]
She told me that she was moving
back to the boys' estate.
That sounded completely mental.
I didn't know what she was doing.
[man] How do you think people will judge
that decision to go back to the farm?
[sad string music fades out]
My brain couldn't fathom
and cope with the idea
that the man that I'd fallen in love with
was a murderer.
And I was able to…
Poor coping strategies or whatever,
I was able to change my beliefs.
I'd be like, "It's the parents' fault."
"He had a bad childhood,"
"Didn't mean it," "Under the influence…"
Or, "If I do this, I can improve,
I can change this, I can control this."
[inhales deeply]
That little bit of your brain
that holds onto this idea
that, "Maybe I was wrong,
maybe they are a good person," which is…
And… we had a bond,
which, obviously, is not healthy at all,
but it was a bond,
and there was an awful lot of love.
[sad string music plays]
Love is such a strong emotion.
It pulls you away from the reality
because reality is too painful.
In this moment,
I was desperate to see the good in Sandy.
[sad string music continues]
[James] Deep down,
she didn't want the reality to be that…
[Caroline] Hello, friend.
…this person that she'd fallen for
had killed somebody.
[Caroline pants]
[Margaret] I think Caroline wanted, hoped,
that Sandy had admitted it to her
so that, actually,
he could redeem himself.
[exhales]
-You found it very hard to…
-I did, yeah.
I think she should just have cut the ties
and… and distanced herself.
So, at this point, we're still awaiting
the pathologist's written opinion.
[grim music plays]
The police did what they could
to search for Mr. Parsons' possessions.
But no trace of his bicycle
or his equipment had been found.
What they did discover was
the vehicle that was believed involved…
was Robert's vehicle.
It's an Isuzu pickup.
[flashbulb pops]
When examined,
it became evident that the vehicle
had been involved in a collision.
The McKellar brothers had arranged
to have the vehicle repaired
at a remote garage where it would
never normally go to be repaired
at a time that was consistent
with the aftermath of the accident.
And, astonishingly enough,
when the police went there,
the mechanic was able
to show them photographs
of the vehicle
as it had come into the garage.
And the damage is perfectly consistent
with a road traffic accident.
As it transpired,
the McKellar brothers told the garage,
that they'd had a collision with a deer.
They didn't want to claim
on their insurance.
It was a cash-in-hand job.
All of which
is plainly an attempt to cover
their involvement
in the accident involving Mr. Parsons.
Now, because the vehicle
had been repaired,
that meant that
there was not going to be a possibility
of finding forensic evidence, say,
paintwork from the bike,
fabric from Mr. Parsons' clothing.
Those sorts of things were lost.
But the repair itself
was highly significant,
redolent of their guilt.
All the little bits of the jigsaw
were beginning to fit together.
But it wasn't direct evidence that tied
the McKellars into Tony Parsons' demise.
It was clear to me that Caroline Muirhead
was the foundation of this case.
If we were to try to secure justice,
we would need her in court
to give evidence against the McKellars.
[delicate string music plays]
[Caroline] The days were flowing
into weeks, into months,
and this harmonious little bubble was
becoming more somber and quite menacing.
[pulsing music plays]
I tried to go back to work,
but I really wasn't
in a fit state to practice.
We all knew
they were gonna get rearrested,
but it just seemed to go on forever.
Myself, Robert, and Sandy
indulged in drugs and alcohol.
Three-day bender, no surrender for me.
Two for you.
It was a way of escaping.
-Fuck off.
-[Robert chuckles]
[Caroline] Oh, fuck.
But we were arguing much more.
In the middle of fucking nowhere,
and Sandy's in a cunt of a mood.
Here I was, isolated on a farm,
just in this haze and limbo,
wasting my life,
waiting.
[grim music plays]
One night, we're playing Scrabble,
and… then being high on drugs,
he started talking about the case.
And I clicked record again.
[Sandy] See, when I hit him,
we looked at each other and said,
"What the fuck was that?"
And he's like, "I don't know."
Anyway, I thought it was someone homeless.
I was like,
"Who'd be cycling this time of night?"
He then starts talking about the bike.
"It's under a waterfall somewhere."
[Sandy] I took it down, like, to the loch
and tried to launch it.
But the loch goes up and down.
So I had to, like, swim in and get it.
Fucking hell.
[Caroline] Is that up by Loch Lyon?
[Sandy] Hm.
[Caroline]
Have the police found that bike?
[Sandy] I have no idea. Fuck knows.
[Caroline] Then Sandy started to talk
about the police investigation
and conversations
he'd had with his own lawyer.
[Sandy] He says they might have
one little thing, which is Caroline,
but they've got nothing else.
It's very circumstantial.
[Caroline] There was an arrogance,
almost disdain in his voice,
of, "We've got away with this."
[Sandy] "How did that man get there?
Was it the boys?"
"We don't know."
There was no compassion, no remorse.
Normal people don't do that.
[grim music continues]
He was someone's husband.
Someone's dad.
[Sandy]
[Caroline] It was a huge wake-up call.
Who is this man? Who is this monster?
Whoever I loved didn't exist.
I was living a lie.
And being high and drunk
made that possible.
I'd lost my sense of self
and my sense of right and wrong.
Anyways, that's good. Could be an option.
After that, this false bubble of reality,
I knew, was gonna burst.
I'm not allowing you
to completely ruin my life anymore,
because that's what you keep doing.
I finally just had to accept
that he was never gonna change.
And so I had to leave.
-[Sandy] This really how we're ending it?
-[Caroline] Yes, it was already ended.
You're going to jail.
You have literally ruined my life.
Look what you've got me involved in.
Get out!
[door slams]
[Caroline breathes roughly]
And I actually moved back to Glasgow.
To my parents' house.
Hello.
Because…
Hey, darling.
…I'd given up my flat.
Oh, Blue, hello.
[Margaret] When she came back,
it was such a relief.
[plays "Claire de Lune"]
But very often
she was up all through the night,
and she was in her room all day.
[Caroline] Being back at my parents' house
forced me to acknowledge
my behaviors and my decisions.
I felt like I'd let a lot of people down.
[cries]
She was not in a good place at all,
was she?
No.
["Claire de Lune" continues in background]
Oh fuck. Cunt and shitty fuck.
I just wanted
the investigation to be over.
Sandy had no idea
about the recordings I'd taken.
I thought to myself,
"Maybe the investigation is taking so long
because they haven't got the bike."
Maybe the bike is vital,
crucial evidence to the prosecution.
And so I called up the detectives,
and I said, "I have another recording."
And two detectives came
to my parents' house.
I played them the secret recording
where Sandy was talking about the bike.
[Sandy] I took it down to the loch
and tried to launch it,
but the loch goes up and down.
The police acted on that information
and searched every waterfall.
There are countless waterfalls
on the estate.
The police were keen to find the bike
because there may have been paint
from the vehicle that was involved on it.
But…
they found nothing.
-[Caroline] Was the windscreen not fucked?
-[Sandy] It was all right.
Having to sit
and listen to this recording,
I can hear myself snorting the cocaine.
[Caroline snorts in recording]
It's vile.
And I said, "Look, I need help."
The detective said,
"Have you not been referred
to the Victim Support Service yet?"
And I went, "No."
He said, "You should have been
with them from the word go."
-[dramatic music plays]
-[sirens blare]
[Frances] In Scots law,
witnesses who are in relationships
with an accused person
are to be treated as vulnerable witnesses.
The police and the Crown
had a duty to provide…
[quietly] Fuck it.
…emotional and mental support
to Dr. Muirhead right from the very start.
Let's go home.
As I understand it,
the relationship was not
a lengthy relationship.
It was a matter of weeks or months.
I have no doubt that that played a part
in the risk assessment
the police made at the time.
[Frances] The length of a relationship
bears no relation
to the fact that she was
a highly vulnerable person.
[energetic string music plays]
We could have referred her to help,
but you have to bear in mind
that we're talking here
about someone who is highly intelligent.
She's a fully qualified doctor,
someone who knows
exactly what's available to her.
[Frances] Dr. Muirhead did not fit
the police's stereotype
of a vulnerable witness.
And that's where
the system started to let her down.
I just think she was treated appallingly.
[David] Finally, the results
of the postmortem came back.
The forensic pathologist found
that Mr. Parsons had sustained
multiple blunt force trauma injuries,
consistent with being struck
by a motor vehicle.
But they were injuries
that did not indicate
he would've died immediately.
The pathologist's opinion was very clear.
Mr. Parsons was still alive
after the collision.
Immediately, we need to have an expert
in accident and emergency medicine
to provide an opinion as to how long
Mr. Parsons might have lived.
The expert's opinion
was between 20 to 30 minutes.
It's utterly central
to the jigsaw of evidence.
[pulsing music plays]
In Scots law, you can commit murder,
either intentionally
or by what's known as wicked recklessness,
the carrying out of an act
where you don't care
whether the person lives or dies.
-[tires screech]
-[thump]
They don't call for assistance.
They don't call the police,
don't call the ambulance service.
They don't take any steps whatsoever…
[inhales] …to give Mr. Parsons
a chance at life.
It's callous beyond… beyond anything
that I can imagine, really.
[pulsing music continues]
Finally, all the pieces of the jigsaw
were in place.
I instructed the police
to arrest the McKellars.
This was the most serious crime
it could be,
murder.
[woman] Can you confirm your name?
Alexander Gardner McKellar.
[man] Can I ask you your name, please?
Robert McKellar.
During the interviews, the police tactic
was to try to humanize Mr. Parsons,
try to unsettle the McKellar brothers.
You know who that is?
Look at that picture
and think what you did to him.
His family.
I can see the photo.
Can you see the man?
Your actions
could have kept that man alive,
and you chose not to.
Police play a recording Caroline Muirhead
had made of Sandy to him.
[woman] We seized a laptop,
which was later examined.
On this laptop were several recordings…
[David] It was quite clear,
from the way Sandy reacted,
that he knew nothing of the recording.
And you can see that
in the way he cracks his knuckles.
[woman] …one of the audio clips in here.
[Sandy]
Because it was either my life or his.
Fucking stupid cunt
shouldn't have fucking been there.
He was plainly shocked by it.
It doesn't sound like me, to be honest.
It sounds like it's been messed with.
In my opinion,
Sandy's body language,
his reaction to the tape recording,
was going to be dynamite
in front of a jury.
[woman] Have you no regrets
about what you've done?
No comment.
Twin brothers have been charged
in connection with the death of a cyclist
reported missing four years ago.
[reporter] Alexander McKellar
and Robert McKellar
were charged with murder.
Both were remanded in custody.
[Caroline] My phone went,
and it was one of the detectives.
And he called me and said,
"Caroline, we just wish to inform you
that the boys
have now officially and formally
been charged
with the murder of Tony Parsons."
[mysterious music plays]
And he said, "Look, Caroline,
they'll be held in jail now."
"A trial date will be set."
"You'll be called as a witness."
There was a… a relief,
but there was also, then,
that huge, impending anxiety
and apprehension of the murder trial.
I recognized
I was gonna get torn to shreds.
[Brian] The most common question
one gets is,
"How can you defend
people who are accused of murder?"
My answer to that is,
"It's not my job to decide
whether the person is innocent or guilty."
"My task is simply to represent someone
to the best of my ability."
[rhythmic music plays]
When I first met Mr. McKellar,
he no longer disputed
that he and his brother
killed and buried Mr. Parsons.
On his instructions,
I approached the Crown
offering a plea of guilty
to causing death by dangerous driving.
[rhythmic music continues]
But I was informed
that such a plea would not be accepted.
The Crown intended to proceed
with a charge of murder.
The Crown's principal sources of evidence
were the statement from Caroline Muirhead
that there had been a confession
that Mr. Parsons had been alive
at the time of the collision,
a matter which I think it's only fair
to say Mr. McKellar totally disputed.
The other evidence was a report
saying that it was theoretically possible
Mr. Parsons had survived the impact.
But the Crown's expert
was really expressing an opinion.
It was not sufficient, in my view,
to take the Crown to a charge of murder.
Their entire case, in my opinion,
was built around one witness.
[groans]
And in my opinion,
Miss Muirhead was unreliable as a witness.
[rhythmic music continues]
[Caroline] Following the arrest,
I'm still in this limbo.
Until it's resolved in the courts,
you still haven't shaken off
that shadow of what's happened.
It's a very long waiting room.
[grim music plays]
All great stories do not start with,
"I bought a box of home hair dye,"
but I went, "Do you know what? Fuck it."
Wow.
Wow.
I didn't want to even think
about my old life or my old reality.
It is bad, isn't it?
The trial date was set for July.
I was told I would be cross-examined
by both Robert's barrister
and then Sandy's, back-to-back.
I'm worried that they will destroy
my character to such an extent
that I might never be able
to practice medicine again.
And, you know,
the human brain can do
some really wild things
when it's under pressure.
Doing a 1:00 a.m. hike.
I started hanging with a crowd in Glasgow
I shouldn't have been with.
[woman] Talk to me, baby ♪
[Caroline] And I turned
to drugs and alcohol.
Namely, cocaine.
I was on a path of destruction.
Caroline, when I first met her,
was the last person on earth
who would have ever taken drugs.
But after she met Sandy,
she'd been taking drugs pretty regularly.
That had coincided with her life
completely spiraling out of control.
This is why I don't do ketamine.
There's been times she didn't come home,
times when we… we thought we'd lost her.
[Brian]
According to a number of witnesses,
Miss Muirhead was
significantly under the influence
of both drugs and alcohol.
That would, in my opinion,
impact upon a jury's view
as to whether what she was telling
the police was, in fact, accurate or not.
That, together with Miss Muirhead's
decision to continue the relationship,
would be the starting point
of discrediting Miss Muirhead
as a witness.
If the jury could not be satisfied
about her evidence,
then that would mean
they could not convict of murder.
[Caroline] At this point,
I am saying repeatedly,
especially to the Victim Support Services,
I am not in a fit place to do this.
[David] I was concerned about her.
I was concerned for her.
But she had placed herself in a situation
where the Crown had no option
other than to compel her to come to court.
And I wrote a letter to her
explaining that.
[Caroline] This letter, it said,
if I didn't testify,
I'd be held in contempt of court.
It was, "You do this,
or you'll end up in jail yourself."
I was just trying to help her.
Because I'm looking
at this situation, thinking,
"You're about to throw your life away."
"You're a young, intelligent woman
with a fantastic career in front of you,
and you're about to literally pull the pin
on the grenade and go, 'Boom.'"
[grim music continues]
[Frances] There are ways to convey
the consequences of not turning up
without it being blunt.
As a Crown witness,
Dr. Muirhead should have been
offered the special measure
of having her evidence
taken by a commissioner.
It's a procedure for vulnerable witnesses
where the evidence is recorded
long before the trial process.
[David] In my view,
she didn't fit the criteria.
I'm a prosecutor.
My job is to prosecute people.
Her giving evidence in person
would be much more impactful to a jury.
I wasn't the strong person
who'd gone to give them evidence.
I was this pathetic waste of space.
What if I actually am so discredited
they lose their case?
[anchor] Twin brothers are due
in Glasgow High Court today,
accused of killing a cyclist
and covering up their crime.
Alexander and Robert McKellar
face life imprisonment
if found guilty
of murdering Anthony Parsons.
[Mike Wade] You have in the dock
a man accused of killing somebody
and the person
who's gonna testify against him,
the woman he was going to marry.
Whether you, uh, view court
as a spectacle or not,
you know, that is high drama.
If the Parsons family
were to see justice done,
Caroline's testimony
was going to be absolutely crucial.
[Brian] I thought that being
a woman of significant intelligence,
she would be
a difficult witness to cross-examine.
I anticipated that
she would be quite volatile.
Nothing suggested she was going to be
an easy witness to deal with.
[Caroline] I woke up early hours.
My mum's laid out an outfit.
I'm looking at it and I'm thinking,
"That doesn't even fit me anymore."
[dark music plays]
[Mike] It's an extraordinary feeling,
really, being in the court of justice.
As people begin to gather,
from the lawyers
to this poor man's family,
there's a rising sense of expectation.
And then the accused
are brought up into the dock.
These country lads
are wearing their best suits.
They've had nice new haircuts.
It's a moment of real tension.
[Caroline] I was so ashamed…
[sniffs] …of who I was
and what I'd become.
[woman] Court.
[Mike] And you're waiting for Caroline…
to take the stand.
[woman] Call the diet.
His Majesty's Advocate
against Alexander McKellar
and Robert McKellar.
And I just thought
I was going to let everyone down.
And I just panicked.
[urgent music plays]
I wanted to get
as far away from there as possible.
There was a sense that something
had gone wrong for the Crown.
-[judge] Advocate Depute.
-Thank you, My Lord.
I regret that I move
that the case be adjourned
until tomorrow morning.
Very well.
[urgent music continues]
[Mike] The no-show on the first day
of the star witness…
it… it's just extraordinary.
[urgent music fades out]
[phone rings]
[Margaret] The phone went.
It was the police.
"She hasn't turned up. Where is she?"
And I'm saying, "She's not here."
And now I don't know where she is.
You're having to stop
your mind catastrophizing
about what might have happened
or where she might have gone.
[dramatic music plays]
I just had this crazy notion
that if I found that bike,
maybe it'd all be okay.
I know where the bike is.
That's something else. It's not just me.
[cries] You know?
It's not just the word of a crazy person.
There might be proof they haven't found
that they did do this.
[dramatic music continues]
And so there wasn't much sense in it.
Of course there wasn't.
So, basically, no signal.
So no one knows I'm here.
To get to that waterfall…
Slight issue.
…that's a long walk.
If I go all the way round
with the flooding,
that'll take another 40 minutes.
But…
Let's go.
…I had half a bottle of wine
once I got out of the car.
The adrenaline was
coursing through me so much.
Fuck. [grunting]
Shit, man! [yelps]
I'm getting to that waterfall,
getting that bike.
No one's gonna stop me.
I'm gonna show the police.
I'm gonna do their job for them.
Three miles in to an 18-mile hike.
I haven't got much time.
I was taking snaps of myself.
Didn't send them to anyone.
And I think there was this, "Look at me
and look at what I'm about to do…"
And, "I'm this victim.
Like, look what people have done to me."
What now?
When you start something,
you've gotta finish it.
You're…
I'm not sane.
You know, this was my home.
I lived here, I love it.
I lost everything.
I miss it so much.
[disturbing music plays]
[Mike] It would be fair to say
on that first morning when this happened,
the defense team was a bit more upbeat
than the, uh, prosecution team. [laughs]
If your key witness
is not prepared to take the stand,
that's a problem.
Dr. Muirhead did not appear
in answer to her citation.
A warrant was sought for her arrest.
[disturbing music continues]
She had been sighted on the estate.
[Caroline] Hello!
I've only done seven miles.
I was supposed to testify,
what, three hours ago?
The hours are going by.
They'll be looking for me.
All the cars
are going to come along there.
I've still got another, what,
seven miles to get to the dam?
Then I heard
the low hum of the helicopter.
I mean, it's echoing.
[helicopter descends]
They're coming, boys!
Run into the barn.
Seeing that helicopter
took even, like, whatever little bit
of rational thought there was there,
and then it was gone.
I'm so fucking lucky
I got here before they did.
I'm under a table, I'm in a shed.
There's nobody here.
There's no trace of me, right?
For me to get to this waterfall,
I am running out of time.
I needed a faster form of transport.
[breathing heavily] Oh my God.
See if the keys are in this.
Oh my God.
Fucking idiots left the keys!
Now, I have no idea
how to drive a tractor.
[imitates tractor engine]
Shit!
Turn around, and there's the manual,
still in its plastic casing,
in the back seat.
And I went, "Right."
With the manual on my lap,
putting the key in, being like,
"Turn this, do that," then… Vroom!
I have stolen
a tractor.
Oh… my… fucking…
God!
Whoo!
I drove the tractor
to where the waterfall nearly is.
Blocked the road.
Now the police can't get past me.
Fuck.
Like…
I mean, this is crazy!
We see right there,
there's a wee cave bit behind.
And the pressure of the water,
when you throw the bike down,
it churns it up into the back.
And… if that bike is still there,
I'm going to try and find it.
I'm wading through the water.
I mean, the water is freezing cold.
And the shock of the cold water
actually made me very emotional.
["Non, Je ne Regrette Rien" plays]
[mouths]
In that moment,
my brain was working so fast.
Not logically, but so incredibly fast.
I thought,
"Do you know what? Fuck it all."
[sings along]
"Non, je ne regrette rien."
[sad string music plays]
Mania.
Psychosis.
And that's what I'd become.
You're an hysterical, broken person.
Don't let anyone else
get abandoned and broken like me.
I have just fucked my whole life up.
For what?
For a man who actually killed somebody.
And that grief,
and that loss, and that stress
culminated into that
psychotic finale.
["Non, Je ne Regrette Rien" continues]
I need to know if the bike is here.
If there is something more than me.
I did not start a murder trial
for something I didn't fucking see.
["Non, Je ne Regrette Rien" continues]
I am found at the waterfall,
and I am then arrested
for contempt of court.
I never found the bike.
["Non, Je ne Regrette Rien" continues]
I then get taken to the High Court.
["Non, Je ne Regrette Rien" ends]
[pensive music plays]
[Caroline breathes uneasily]
I'm sitting there, waiting to testify.
And I'm thinking,
"My mum and dad
will be so angry and upset with me."
The police called…
Oh, yes.
…and said they found her.
[approaching footsteps]
She faces prison.
[pensive music continues]
I was just
stunned by the whole situation.
I couldn't cope with it.
So much of her young life has been wasted
by this sequence of events.
That pains me.
Because, you know…
young life is to be lived.
And that… [cries]
…hurts me.
[pensive music fades out]
[Mike] The next day the court reconvenes.
I've heard various rumors
why Caroline hadn't shown.
Someone told me
she'd been in the cells overnight.
[urgent music plays]
[Caroline] Court!
[Mike] Sat in the court.
We thought we were getting
a live court case.
And it… it… it worked
in a completely different way.
It was very unusual.
I can advise that there has been
a development in the case.
[Caroline] I was waiting
for the guard to take me to testify.
[urgent music continues]
[Mike] And in front of the court,
the prosecutor requests
that the indictment is amended.
My Lord, in relation to charge number one,
in line 11, to delete the word "murder"
and substitute the word "kill."
[Mike] It's very significant indeed.
The murder charge
has become unsustainable.
I have instructions to tender
a plea of guilty to charge one.
I received a telephone call
from the prosecution.
If Mr. McKellar was prepared
to plead guilty to culpable homicide,
the Crown would accept.
Culpable homicide
is a crime less than murder.
Those pleas are acceptable to the Crown.
Because a plea was agreed,
then there is no trial.
The twins Alexander and Robert McKellar
had been due to stand trial
for the murder of Anthony Parsons.
But today, here at the High Court,
at the start of what was
expected to be a lengthy trial,
Alexander instead pled guilty
to the lesser charge of culpable homicide
whilst his brother Robert admitted
to teaming up with Alexander
to hide and then bury the body.
[dramatic music plays]
[Caroline] The court official said to me
that "The boys have accepted a plea."
"So you are free to leave."
"And you don't have a criminal record
for contempt of court."
"And the Parsons family
want to thank you very much."
-[man] Did you go to the sentencing?
-[Caroline] I did.
It was the final door to close.
[woman] Call the diet.
Adjourned diet for sentence.
His Majesty's Advocate
against Alexander McKellar
and Robert McKellar.
Please be seated.
[Caroline] From where I was sitting,
I could see Sandy.
And that…
was really overwhelming.
[Brian] Mr. McConnachie.
[Caroline]
Sandy's barrister read a statement
on Sandy's behalf to the judge.
[Brian] He accepts that whilst
catastrophically injured,
Mr. Parsons was alive at the time.
The only explanation
which he offers is simply fear and panic.
Using his words, he says he was
too much of a coward to come clean.
When he met Caroline,
and she went to the police,
he fully accepts that, ultimately,
she made the right decision in doing so.
Very well. Alexander McKellar
and Robert McKellar, please stand.
[Caroline] Then the judge gave out
the boys' sentences.
[judge] Robert McKellar,
the sentence which I now impose on you
is one of a period of imprisonment
of five years and three months.
Alexander McKellar,
you have pleaded guilty
to grave and serious crimes.
He wasn't convicted of murder,
but he did take an innocent man's life.
So for me,
he's a coward and he's a killer.
[judge] Alexander McKellar,
I will impose on you a single sentence
of imprisonment of 12 years.
That is all.
[dramatic music plays]
[Mike] At sentencing,
a friend of Tony Parsons said these boys
had got away with murder.
There was a sense
that without Caroline's evidence,
the full facts of this case,
the full horror of it, perhaps,
never quite got across.
I can well imagine that the family feel
there hasn't been a closure, in a way.
If people think or wonder,
if I had testified,
would they have had a harsher sentence?
The state I was in,
who knows?
[David] Had Caroline Muirhead
decided to say nothing,
then Mr. Parsons
would still be buried on the estate.
She did absolutely the right thing.
[Mike] You have to applaud her bravery,
but the pressure
must have been unbearable.
You'd be a hard person indeed
not to sympathize with her.
[man] Does part of you sympathize
with Caroline Muirhead?
No.
The whole circumstances
in which she did not deal with things
in a manner
which people would expect her to,
take away, I think,
from any sympathetic view
I might feel about her.
If the criminal justice agencies
want people to come forward as witnesses,
they have to do better
at every single stage.
There needs to be a real awareness
of the trauma experienced by witnesses.
[dramatic music fades out]
[Caroline] I have no regrets
about coming forward.
This is what happened to me.
It's my story.
I just hope other people
can learn from it,
so they don't make
the same mistakes I made.
Because, my God,
I made a hell of mistakes.
["Change" plays]
I am so lucky
to be able to move forward in my life.
I've moved to the coast.
I've managed to get myself clean.
I now see a psychiatrist.
And I tackle
a lot of the insecurities that led me
to be in the vulnerable relationship
to begin with.
Change… ♪
[woman] Three, two, one, smile!
[Caroline] I've got
a much better relationship with my family.
Like skin… ♪
I met someone new,
who is incredibly kind.
When you love yourself,
you will attract healthy love.
Like the leaves… ♪
Onwards and upwards.
Like a butterfly… ♪
-[man] That's it.
-[gasps] Thank God.
Would you live forever… ♪
-We're done.
-[man] We're done, Caroline.
While everything around passes? ♪
Would you smile forever
Never cry? ♪
While everything you know passes ♪
Death's like a door ♪
To a place we've never been before ♪
Death's like space ♪
The deep sea ♪
The suitcase ♪
Would you stare forever at the sun ♪
Never watch the moon rising? ♪
Would you walk forever in the light ♪
To never learn the secret
Of the quiet night? ♪
["Change" fades out]