The first episode of a two-part documentary exploring the death and disappearance of cyclist Tony Parsons, who was killed by a drunk driver during a charity ride in 2017, his body remaining undiscovered for over three years, will air on BBC Scotland tomorrow evening.
Part one of ‘Murder Case: The Vanishing Cyclist’ will also become available on iPlayer from 12 August, with episode two following on 19 August.
The documentary follows Police Scotland’s Major Investigations Team during the case and will feature interviews with family members, journalists, and the police officers who helped bring brothers Alexander and Robert McKellar to justice.
In 2023, following an investigation spanning six years, Alexander McKellar was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing Mr Parsons while drunk, before hiding his body in a shallow grave on a remote country estate, and trying to defeat the ends of justice.
His twin brother Robert McKellar, a passenger in the car at the time of the fatal collision, was also jailed for five years and three months.
McKellar was speeding at the time of the fatal collision in September 2017, which took place on the A82 near Bridge of Orchy. The two men left Mr Parsons to die, at the side of a dark, remote road before driving to the nearby Auch Estate, where they dumped the damaged car, along with their phones.
The pair later returned to put the cyclist’s body, along with his bike and other belongings, in another vehicle. Mr Parsons’ body was then hidden under a tarpaulin in a wooded section at the Auch Estate, before being taken to another location used for the “purposes of disposing dead animals”.
The brothers then dug a grave and covered the cyclist with animal remains and bleach before being burying him along with his possessions.
> Drink driver who killed charity cyclist and hid body jailed for 12 years
Mr Parsons – who was 63 when he was reported missing – was last seen at around 11.30pm on the evening of 29 September 2017 outside the Bridge of Orchy Hotel in Argyll and Bute.
The former navy officer was in the middle of a 104-mile charity bike ride from Fort William to his home in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, in a bid to “give something back” after previously being treated for prostate cancer.
Despite repeated police appeals, Crimewatch appearances, the release of CCTV footage, and extensive searches – involving local mountain rescue teams, volunteers, Police Scotland dogs, and the force’s air support unit – the whereabouts of the grandfather or his bike remained a mystery for over three years.
Mr Parsons’ body was only discovered after Alexander McKellar’s girlfriend Caroline Muirhead, who he confided in about the killing, alerted police to the location by leaving a crushed tin of Red Bull at the site of the grave. The brothers were arrested in December 2020, with Mr Parsons’ remains finally being discovered on 12 January 2021 close to a remote farm on the Auch Estate.
In 2023, Ms Muirhead was arrested after failing to turn up for the trial, after claiming that the police allegedly pressured her to continue to spy on the McKellar brothers, who did not know she had contacted the police, in a bid to collect more evidence, and alleging that officers threatened her with legal action if she did not co-operate.
It was also reported that the demands to take part in the upcoming BBC documentary caused her to have a breakdown.
In the documentary, Mr Parsons’ wife Margaret criticised the decision to allow Alexander McKellar to plead guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide, while Robert’s not guilty plea to murder was also accepted.
“They took Tony, they buried him and left me, my kids and grandkids for three and a half years not knowing where he was,” she tells the programme.
“When they get out of jail they will get back to life as if nothing has happened. They are going to enjoy themselves. I can’t do that because Tony is not here.
“They are not the ones left with the life sentence, I am. There’s no remorse, nothing from them at all. I hate them both, I’m still angry. It won’t go away.”
Tony’s Mike, a former police officer, added: “He would have been in massive amounts of pain and for them not to seek any form of treatment is just 100 per cent inhumane.
“If you know you have hit someone and know they are still alive, any basic human instinct says you need to try and get help.
“To willingly let someone die, that to me is murder and our opinion will always be the same. They murdered my dad and they have taken him away from us.”
> Family of charity cyclist killed and buried by drink driver to receive six-figure compensation
The documentary also features interviews with the investigating officers, as well as forensic experts who found the exact spot where Mr Parsons was buried.
“Where Tony was recovered was an area where there were kill pits, where a farmer or a gamekeeper will dispose of fallen livestock,” DC Gavin McKellar said.
“Words can’t describe what would go through someone’s head to put another human being into that position. They are horrible.”