Evil brothers killed my husband & dumped him in shallow grave – I hate them and I always will
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THE wife of tragic cyclist Tony Parsons has said she still 'hates' the twins who mowed him down and buried him in a peat bog where he lay undiscovered for more than three years.
Margaret Parsons has spoken for the first time about Alexander 'Sandy' McKellar, who pled guilty to the culpable homicide of 63-year-old Tony, and his brother Robert, who was convicted of trying to defeat the ends of justice.
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Alexander McKellar mowed down charity cyclist Tony Parsons
Credit: PA
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Robert McKellar helped his brother hide Tony's body and destroy his belongings
Credit: PA
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Tony Parsons' body was buried on an estate where the twins lived
Credit: PA
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The widow of Tony Parsons, Margaret Parsons (centre) leaves the High Court
Credit: PA
She tells the latest instalment of BBC Scotland's Murder Case series she cannot forgive the brothers for what they did to the ex-Navy officer she married when she was just 17.
Margaret, 68, says: 'They just wanted to protect themselves. They could have helped but they didn't.
'They took Tony — and left us not knowing where he was for three and a half years.
'There has been no remorse. Nothing from them at all.
'To be honest, I hate the both of them. I really do. I'm still angry. It won't go away.'
Prostate-cancer survivor Tony set out on his 100-mile cycle ride on Friday, September 29, 2017, heading from Fort William to his home in Tillicoultry, Stirlingshire, to raise money for charity.
He sent a couple of messages to Margaret, confirming he had arrived safely and was setting off on his ride.
Tony was last seen leaving the Bridge of Orchy Hotel at 11pm that night. The owner tried to persuade him to book a room due to the awful weather conditions but, after a coffee, the intrepid grandfather continued on his journey.
He was never seen again.
His children Mike and Vicky, who are active police officers, tell the two-part documentary that after failed efforts to contact their dad the next day, they soon feared the worst.
Mushroom cook killer tried to kill husband with poisoned curry & cookies
Mike, 50, says: 'I got a message from my sister telling me he hadn't been in contact.
'We had a conversation as to what his exact plans were as they might have taken longer than anticipated.'
Vicky, 44, continues: 'On the Saturday he hadn't phoned anybody or checked in and his phone went straight to answer machine.
'On the Sunday I decided to take a drive up to see how he was getting on — to see if he wanted to continue or come home. But I saw absolutely no sign of my dad.
'By Sunday evening we were starting to get really concerned.
'On Monday morning I reported him as a missing person.'
Margaret continues: 'I heard the front door go. First I thought it was Tony but it wasn't — it was Vicky.
'She said 'Mum, I've reported Dad missing.' I thought for her to do that, it must be bad.'
A manhunt, involving police and mountain rescue teams, was launched that same day. CCTV captured Tony leaving the train station in Fort William and heading along the A82, but there was no sign of him by Tyndrum, Stirlingshire.
An anonymous letter to the police pointed the finger at the twins, who had been drinking at the Bridge of Orchy Hotel at the time of Tony's disappearance. But despite interviewing the pair twice, officers took no further action.
Vicky says: 'One of the hardest things is we are from a policing background. Being in the police, you know what comes next.
'We knew that he could walk through the door one day with a miraculous story — or he could be found by a dog walker.'
Mike adds: 'I spent about 13 years as a member of the police search team. So when it came to a week [after the disappearance] there was a definite change of mindset because he would have been without water and food.
'That became really difficult. My sister is a serving officer as well so she was well aware where my mind was going.'
And Margaret — who had been used to being separated from Tony for months at a time during his career on the UK's nuclear submarine fleet — was still hopeful he would return.
She says: 'I kept thinking he would just walk in. I didn't want to think it was bad. I tried not to think about him not coming home.'
After several months the search for Tony was wound down and the mystery was then treated as a longterm missing person case.
But the investigation had a massive breakthrough on December 27, 2020, when Sandy McKeller's ex-girlfriend Dr Caroline Muirhead made a tearful 999 call to report the 'murder' of Tony Parsons.
She told the call handler how her 'recent partner' had been involved in a 'a hit and run . . . disposal of a body and lying to the police'.
'I can't live with it,' she added. 'I have to report it.'
Sandy had confessed all to Caroline when the couple decided to get engaged after four months of courtship with a promise to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets.
The gamekeeper had driven her to the remote spot where he and his brother had buried Tony, but revealed they now planned to dig up the body and burn it, fearing proposed bridge works would expose his remains.
TIMELINE OF HORROR
SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 — Tony Parsons sets off on his 100-mile charity cycle from Fort William to Tillicoultry, Stirlingshire.
OCTOBER 1, 2017 — His daughter Vicky searches the A82 for her dad.
OCTOBER 2, 2017 — Vicky reports her dad missing, with police and rescue teams launching a massive search operation.
DECEMBER 27, 2020 — Sandy McKeller's ex-girlfriend Dr Caroline Muirhead makes a tearful 999 call to report the 'murder' of Tony Parsons.
DECEMBER 30, 2020 — The twins give a 'no comment' interview when questioned by police in Glasgow, at the same time specialist teams descend on Auch Estate near Bridge of Orchy.
JANUARY 12, 2021 — Tony Parsons' remains are discovered at the exact spot Dr Caroline Muirhead had crushed a Red Bull can into the ground as a marker. The McKellers, then 29, are charged and remanded in custody.
JULY 26, 2023 — After a plea deal the twins are convicted in connection with the death of Tony Parsons.
AUGUST 25, 2023 — The 31-year-old twins are sentenced. Judge Lord Armstrong tells the brothers they had caused Mr Parsons' family 'devastating loss and emotional ongoing harm' adding, 'I suspect no sentence will ever be regarded as sufficient.'
Shocked by his confessions, pathologist Caroline crushed a Red Bull she had been carrying into the ground at the exact spot where Sandy said he had buried Tony.
Mike says: 'I had spent three years coming to terms with the fact that my dad wasn't coming home.
'I was at peace with myself, with that was the way it was going to be.
'Then one phone call flipped everything upside down.'
Police called in specialist digging teams, including forensic soil specialist Prof Norma Dawson, who tells the documentary: 'The cold, wet peat had kept Mr Parsons so well he still looked like the images from the day he disappeared.'
An autopsy discovered 'catastrophic' rib, pelvic and spine injuries meant that Tony couldn't have survived more than 30 minutes.
The twins had taken their badly damaged Isuzu — which was later repaired 'by a friend of a friend' — and returned in another car to move the dying cyclist.
They dumped him behind a house on the Auch Estate where they both lived and worked as deer stalkers, then buried his body in a remote part of the estate next to a pit where they would dump the carcasses of animals.
Mike says: 'He would have been in massive amounts of pain, so to not seek any medical treatment was 100 per cent inhumane.'
In 2023, Sandy was sentenced to 12 years in prison with his brother Robert, receiving a term of just over five years.
But Margaret says: 'When they get out of jail they're going to go on with life as if nothing has happened.
'I can't do that because Tony's not here.
'They're not the ones left with a life sentence. I am. Because that's what they've done.'
Murder Case: The Vanishing Cyclist begins on August 12 on BBC Scotland at 9pm. Both episodes available on BBC iPlayer from the same day.
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