Alesha MacPhail's mum has vowed to honour her daughter's memory with charity work.

The six-year-old was murdered by a teenage boy while staying with her dad and grandparents in Rothesay, Bute, last summer.

Her mum Georgina is now planning to help others through the charity Families Against Murder and Suicide (FAMS).

She told STV News: "I couldn't have got through those days without their help. Now I just want to give them back the support they gave me."

The Lanarkshire-based organisation is run by volunteers and offers support to anyone affected by murder, suicide or suicidal thoughts.

All of its members have personal experience and some are bereaved parents or siblings.

The charity has been given the keys to its first premises in Motherwell and Georgina is now raising funds for the building's transformation while training as a volunteer.

She said: "FAMS is helping me to not only deal with what happened to Alesha, they are also helping me with my mental state as well because there are still days when I wake up and I don't want to be here.

"Their support is like the light at the end of a tunnel."

Aaron Campbell, 16, is beginning a life sentence with a minimum of 27 years for snatching Alesha from her bed, raping her and murdering her while she was on holiday with her dad and grandparents on the Isle of Bute last summer.

The 24-year-old, from Airdrie, told STV News how much she misses her daughter.

She said: "I miss Alesha every day but some days it's intense. I know I couldn't have done anything but there is still a part of me that will feel guilty for what happened to her.

"I feel guilty because I wish I hadn't let her go."

Armed with a knife, "cold-bloodied" Campbell snatched Alesha out of her bed before carrying her to the former Kyles Hydropathic Hotel on the island, where he raped and murdered her on July 2 last year.

He had told the child he was a friend of her dad Rab MacPhail and was going to take her home.

Campbell then threw his clothing into the sea before going back to the scene to retrieve his phone.

Alesha's body was found in a wooded area of the island a few hours after her family reported her missing.

The teenager previously claimed Alesha's dad's girlfriend, Toni McLachlan, had "murder on her mind", blaming the 19-year-old for the killing.

However, it was reaffirmed during the sentencing hearing that Ms McLachlan had nothing to do with it.

Georgina said her daughter's killer had "destroyed" her family but the help of the charity had made her determined to help others in a similar situation.

"He has gone in with a wrecking ball and destroyed us all but it's up to us to pick ourselves up," she said.

"Every day shocked me. I would go in to the courtroom and I would think 'right I've heard the worst' and then I would hear even more.

"He went in to the trial with a shot in the dark and hoped he would win.

"To be honest, I wasn't shocked when he admitted it. I was more shocked at how quickly he admitted it because that was all I wanted. I just wanted to know why."

She added: "I'm not going to sit back and allow Alesha to be the little girl that got murdered on Rothesay because that is not who she is.

"Now when people hear the name Alesha MacPhail, I want them to think FAMS."

Georgina first met with charity volunteers in the week before her daughter's killer's trial. Up until then, she had been relying on relatives and police family liaison officers.

She described the support from FAMs volunteers as the "warm protection around her" that she needed to face Aaron Campbell in court.

Campbell is now appealing his sentence after denying the charges throughout a two-week trial before finally coming clean at the end.

Georgina said: "He put us through the most horrific thing ever by taking Alesha, then he put us through a trial, turned around and admitted it right at the end.

"Now he wants to appeal against his sentence. He is only making it worse on himself and when it blows up in his face, I'll be sitting there laughing.

"There is no point preparing, I just take each day as it comes and i know I'll have FAMS there every step of the way so I'll be ready for it."

Georgina has spoken of the torment she goes through in trying to explain the murder to Alesha's five-year-old sister Courtney.

She said: "If I didn't have her, I would just crumble and be with Alesha right now but she is my strength.

"One day I'm going to have explain to her what happened to her big sister.

"We have told Courtney, 'Alesha went to sleep and she didn't wake up'. For now, that's the best thing for her than knowing the truth because even an adult struggles to come to terms with that, so how on earth can a child?"

The courageous mum took part in the Kiltwalk to help raise funds for FAMS and is now organising a children's fun day in Alesha's memory in Motherwell next month.