Alesha MacPhail was looking forward to spending her summer holidays with family on the Isle of Bute at the beginning of July 2018.

The little girl, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes, loved the island where her father Robert lived, and the holidays and weekends she would spend with him and his family there.

Robert told how his six-year-old daughter enjoyed trips to the park, swimming and visiting the beach during her visits.

He said: "We were never in. We were always doing something."

The "smiley and happy young girl" had big dreams, the biggest of which was to become a famous YouTuber when she was older.

She would film short videos on mobile phones, chatting about subjects such as pasta and smiling into the camera.

Having just finished school for the summer at Chapelside Primary in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, where she lived with her mother Georgina Lochrane, she was ready to spend time with her father's side of the family during the holidays.

On July 1, she wandered out of bed at the house her father shared with his partner Toni Louise McLachan and his parents on the island and went to his room.

She ate a little food with her father and his partner, then he took her back to bed, playing her a Peppa Pig DVD to help her fall asleep around 10.30pm to 11pm at night.

At around midnight, his partner Toni got up to turn off the DVD, which was playing the menu page on the television screen.

Alesha was asleep, her face turned away from the door with her hair trailing behind her.

It would be the last time Alesha was seen alive.

Alesha's grandfather Calum MacPhail woke early on July 2 and was startled to find the six-year-old's bedroom door open. He looked inside but she was nowhere to be found.

The family checked cupboards and under beds, but she had disappeared.

Alesha's grandmother Angela King contacted police to report her missing at 6.23am and soon search parties formed across the island.

Messages were posted on social media, urging people to look for the missing child and were shared far and wide.

Volunteers searched Alesha's favourite places on the island, including the park.

At 8.45am, a member of the public found her body in a wooded area and she was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.

She had been injured 117 times, raped and murdered.

For the small island community of Bute, the tragic death of the bright little girl was devastating.

Flowers and tributes piled up in the street outside the home of her grandparents.

Her mother Georgina travelled to the island and in her grief thanked the residents for their help.

She said: "I would like to thank each and every single one of yous of the Isle of Bute for everything you have done for mines and Robert's darling daughter.

"She will be looking down with that big massive glowing smile of hers and would be so proud for everything everyone has and will continue to do for her."

A vigil was held on the island for the little girl days after she was found dead.

Locals gathered to light candles for the six-year-old in Rothesay's Guildford Square on Sunday evening.

People across the country affected by Alesha's death shared a #lightforalesha hashtag online, alongside images of candles.

Hundreds of mourners gathered on July 21 in Coatbridge to say goodbye to Alesha, a white horse-drawn hearse carrying her tiny pink coffin with feathers to match on the horses harnesses.

Asked to wear pink in the little girl's memory, the congregation was told of Alesha's love of gymnastics, swimming and riding her bike.

Alesha's headteacher Wendy Davie was among those paying tribute during the ceremony.

She said: "She always helped anyone who needed it. She was born for the stage.

"She said good morning to everyone at breakfast club and had to hurry down her own breakfast."

Bubbles were blown and the theme tune to Peppa Pig was played for the little girl.

Her uncle, Calum MacPhail, who also spoke during the ceremony, added that the six-year-old's proudest day was when she threw away her stabilisers.

He said: "She was the best friend, best daughter, best sister, best niece anyone could ask for."

In the immediate aftermath of Alesha's death, the question on everybody's lips was 'who could have killed the bright and engaging little girl?'.

It would transpire that a 16-year-old boy, who knew Alesha's father and partner Toni, was responsible for the horrific crime that rocked the small community and across Scotland.

The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, had phoned Toni in the early hours of July 2 looking to buy cannabis from her. Asleep, she did not notice the missed call on her phone until the morning, asking him what he needed.

He casually responded "doesn't matter" accompanied by two laughing emojis.

In that time period, he had murdered and raped the little girl Toni and Robert believed to be sleeping next door.

At the High Court in Glasgow, jurors heard how the 16-year-old came to the house where Alesha slept and, brandishing a knife taken from a chopping block at his mother's house, abducted the little girl.

CCTV images from multiple properties during the early hours of July 2 showed a figure dressed in dark clothing "carrying something", with one witness saying it looked like "legs were hanging down" as the figure walked.

The boy then carried the schoolgirl to the site of the former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel on the island.

The court heard he took off Alesha's clothes and shook her violently before placing his hands over her nose, mouth and around her neck.

The boy is said to have smothered, causing more than 100 "catastrophic injuries", before going on to rape and murder Alesha.

During the trial, the court heard of the "mountain of evidence" which linked the teenager to Alesha's murder.

The jury heard 14 samples of DNA found on the child's body matched the killer, with the odds of it being from anyone else more than one in a billion.

A pair of jogging bottoms with a pair of boxers tangled together were found on a beach opposite the home where Alesha was last seen.

The jogging bottoms, which had been in the sea, had partial traces of DNA which matched the killer.

A black hooded top was also found on the beach by a dog walker.

A volunteer member of the coastguard discovered a knife similar to one in the boy's mother's kitchen, telling the court it appeared "clean" as though it had been in the water but left exposed by the tide.

CCTV footage from the house the killer shared with his mother showed him leaving and returning the property three times in the early hours of July 2, with his mother later sharing this information with police.

The day after Alesha's body was discovered, a Google search was made on the killer's phone, asking 'how do police find DNA?'.

The court heard the search led to a page being accessed shortly after 12.30am on howstuffworks.com under 'collecting DNA evidence'.

The jury also heard that the boy had told "a pack of lies" to police when questioned about where he had been and who he had seen on the night Alesha was murdered.

On the first day of the trial, the legal team for the 16-year-old boy lodged a special defence, saying that Alesha's father's girlfriend Toni Louise McLachlan committed the crime.

During the trial, Ms McLachlan told the court she had no involvement in the killing, saying she loved Alesha "to pieces".

During the closing statements, the jury was told that there was no evidence whatsoever to implicate Toni, but that there was a "mountain of evidence" to implicate the boy.

Friends of the teenage killer told the court of his "dark sense of humour", especially following the disappearance of Alesha.

One said he posted on Snapchat a video of himself to around 25 friends on the day Alesha was found dead, showing his top half but not his face, accompanied by the message: "Found the guy who's done it."

Another told of messages she had received in 2017 from the boy, saying he "might kill one day for the lifetime experience".

Other messages said he would probably "stalk her" and "go into her room".

She asked him the chances of getting away with murder with a good plan and he replied: "Well if it was a good plan then 100%."

Both witnesses said they had thought of the messages as "bad jokes" or "a dark sense of humour".

After the trial concluded on Wednesday, the jury retired to deliberate their verdict on the charges of abduction, rape and murder held against the accused on Thursday morning.

They returned just three hours later to give their unanimous verdict.

The teenage boy was found guilty of the abduction, rape and murder of Alesha MacPhail.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on March 21.

Alesha's mother cried as the boy was found guilty of the murder of her daughter, saying that her "world has been ripped from her".

The judge said that the crime was one of the most evil and wicked the court has ever heard.

The teenager will be placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

As he was led to the cells, he was called a "f****** scumbag" from the gallery.