The death of Tillicoultry grandfather Tony Parsons, whose remains lay undiscovered for three years after he was mowed down by a drink driver and buried is set to be featured in a new BBC documentary to hit screens next week.
Two 60-minute episodes will concentrate on Mr Parsons who was killed by a drink driver on the A82 near Bridge of Orchy and secretly buried in a shallow grave.
Mr Parsons, 63, had been embarking on a charity bike ride from Fort William to his home in Clackmannanshire in September 2017, but failed to return home, leaving his shattered family fearing the worst.
He was reported missing and it wasn’t until three years later Mr Parsons’ remains were finally discovered.
Sandy McKellar and his twin Robert hid Mr Parsons’ body on a remote estate in the Highlands where it remained undiscovered for three years until Sandy confided in his new girlfriend Caroline Muirhead about the killing and took her to the burial site.
She marked the location with an empty Red Bull can and later led police back to the spot.
The McKellars had been due to stand trial accused of Mr Parsons’ murder. However, Sandy McKellar pled guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to the reduced charge of culpable homicide.
Click here for more news and sport from the Stirling area.
His brother, Robert, had his not guilty plea to murder accepted and both admitted to a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
The horrific crime is to be featured as part of the latest episodes of the BBC’s Murder Case series. The episode has been titled ‘The Vanishing Cyclist’ and will air on Tuesday, August 12, on the BBC Scotland channel and the BBC iPlayer.
The episode will follow the Major Investigations Team of Police Scotland and features interviews with the family, the media who covered the case as well as the police who brought the evil brothers to justice.
The series will also cover the case of mother-of-two Lucretia ‘Kiesha’ Donaghy, 32, who was found dead at her home in Elgin in November 2023, bludgeoned with a weapon in the fatal attack and her friend Owen Grant, 43, was later arrested.
Vari Innes, Executive Producer at Firecrest Films said: “Filmed over the course of two years from investigation to trial, with the support of Tony and Kiesha’s families, these new cases offer unparalleled access to Police Scotland’s Major Investigations Team, following their quest for answers and justice for the victims and their families. We are proud and privileged to be entrusted with sensitively bringing these harrowing cases to light.”
In 2023, our sister title, the Sunday Mail, told how Ms Muirhead fled court over the pressure of appearing in the documentary.
She was arrested after failing to turn up to court for the twins’ trial. At the time, she said the demands to take part in the BBC-commissioned programme on the case led her to have a mental breakdown.
