A woman who went undercover with detectives after her fiancé confessed to killing a cyclist has told Sky News she fears he will hunt her down one day.
Caroline Muirhead single-handedly helped solve the mystery surrounding Tony Parsons who vanished near Bridge of Orchy in Argyll and Bute during a 103-mile solo trek through the Scottish Highlands in September 2017.
After three years of frantic police searches, involving mountain rescue teams, the investigation came to nothing.
In an exclusive broadcast interview, the 32-year-old doctor told Sky News she went to police in November 2020 after her then partner Alexander McKeller drunkenly confessed to mowing down and killing the cancer survivor.
Caroline has shared a video with Sky News of the pair together in a car moments before the truth came out.
She describes seeing a police car passing and Alexander flinching with nerves.
She said: “The whole dynamic in the car felt awkward. I pulled over… and asked what was wrong. He told me to give him my phone and keys.”
Caroline recalled that she thought to herself: “You’re in the middle of nowhere. You’re in danger here.”
Image: Victim Tony Parsons
She said he then blurted out: “It was an accident. We killed a man a few years ago. This guy’s on the estate. You jog past him most days.”
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Alexander (also known as Sandy) and his twin brother Robert McKeller, who was a passenger in the car, failed to call 999 before concealing Tony’s remains in nearby farmland used for disposing of dead animals.
In the aftermath of the confession, Alexander led Caroline to the burial site where she dropped a Red Bull can as a marker.
“He literally just lights a cigarette and taps around and goes ‘here’. I just threw this Red Bull can over my right shoulder. I went back to pick it up after Sandy accused me of littering.
“It was frosty. I crunched the can into the ground because…there’s no other way you’d ever know where that man was.”
Muirhead, who is a pathologist, became the prosecution’s key witness but now alleges detectives forced her to continue spying on the twins for nine months to help build as strong a case as possible.
The 32-year-old alleges officers in the Bridge of Orchy area leaked key evidence revealing the vital part she was secretly playing in the criminal inquiry.
She claims there was a moment in the local pub where her cover was blown: “And the guy behind the bar goes….’do you want a Red Bull sugar free like the gravesite’.
“Then people started spitting at me. I walked into the pub and everyone went silent. The woman told me I was not welcome.”
Criticising Police Scotland’s handling of her evidence, Caroline said: “I have not just been manipulated by being lied to. I’ve been violated. I’ve been abused and taken advantage of.
“I literally gave them as much as I could above and beyond. They never saw me as a human. They terrorised me. They intimidated me. They took me out of my job. Here I am, I’ve lost my job. I’ve lost my possessions. My family are terrified.”
Image: Caroline Muirhead and Alexander McKeller when they were together
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on these assertions as criminal proceedings have not concluded.
“There are a number of outstanding complaints which will be progressed at the conclusion of all criminal proceedings.”
Caroline told Sky News she has been offered 24 hour security cameras at the Glasgow home she shares with her parents amid concerns for her welfare.
She agrees “100%” that one day Sandy could harm her upon his release from prison.
Image: The Red Bull can used to mark the grave of Tony Parsons. Pic: Crown Office
“You’re telling me that man is not going to come knock on my door when he gets out.”
Ms Muirhead is now demanding greater support and protection for witnesses in High Court trials.
Sky News understands she has met lawyers and is exploring the option of taking legal action against criminal justice authorities in Scotland.
Tony Parsons’ family described him as “a much-loved husband, dad and grandad”.
Image: An aerial view of the Auch Estate where Mr Parsons was buried. Pic: Crown Office
In a previous statement they said: “When he said goodbye and set off on his charity cycle from Fort William that Friday, none of us expected it to be the last time we would be able to see or speak to him.
“As you can imagine, not knowing what has happened to someone and then the devastating news that we were provided has taken its toll on all of us as a family.”
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
The comedian has previously denied the accusations, and said all his sexual relationships were “absolutely always consensual”.
Met Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
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The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
Image: These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
Prince Andrew’s efforts to make money from his Pitch@Palace project have been branded as a “crude attempt to enrich himself” at the expense of “unsuspecting tech founders”, as new documents may shed more light on what he and his team have been attempting to sell.
Today is the deadline for documents to be released relating to Prince Andrew‘s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire and his interactions with the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
In February, an immigration tribunal heard how the intelligence services had contacted Mr Hampshire about Mr Yang back in 2022. Mr Yang helped set up Pitch@Palace China, a branch of the duke’s scheme to help young entrepreneurs.
Image: The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew
Image: Yang Tengbo. Pic: Pitch@Palace
Judges banned Mr Yang from the UK, saying his association with a senior royal had made Prince Andrew “vulnerable” and posed a threat to national security. Mr Yang challenged that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
Since that hearing, media organisations have applied for certain documents relating to the case and Mr Hampshire’s support for Mr Yang to be made public. SIAC agreed to release some information of public interest. It is hoped they may include more details on deals that he was trying to do on behalf of Prince Andrew.
So what do we know about potential deals for Pitch@Palace so far?
In February, Sky News confirmed that palace officials had a meeting last summer with tech funding company StartupBootcamp to discuss a potential tie-up between them and Prince Andrew relating to his Pitch@Palace project.
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The palace wasn’t involved in the fine details of a deal but wanted guarantees to make sure it wouldn’t impact the Royal Family in the future. Sky News understands from one source that the price being discussed for Pitch was around £750,000 – there are, however, reports that a deal may have stalled.
Photos we found on the Chinese Chamber of Commerce website show an event held in Asia between StartupBootcamp and Innovate Global, believed to be an offshoot of Pitch.
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Who is alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo?
Documents, released in relation to the investigations into Mr Tengbo, have also shown how much the duke has always seen Pitch as a way of potentially making money. One document from 21 August 2021 clearly states “the duke needed money at the time, and saw the relationships with China through Pitch as one possible source of funding”.
But Prince Andrew’s apparent intention to use Pitch to make money has led to concerns about whether he is unfairly using the contacts and information he gained when he was a working royal.
Norman Baker, former MP and author of books on royal finances, believes it is “a crude attempt to enrich himself” and goes against what the tech entrepreneurs thought they were signing up for.
He told Sky News: “The data given by these business people was given on the basis it was an official operation and not something for Prince Andrew, and so in my view, Prince Andrew had no right legally or morally to take the data which has been collected, a huge amount of data, and sell it…
“And quite clearly if you’re going to sell it off to StartupBootcamp, that is not what people had in mind. The entrepreneurs who joined Pitch@Palace did not do so to enrich Prince Andrew,” he said.
Rich Wilson was one tech entrepreneur who was approached at the start of Pitch@Palace to sign up, but he stepped away when he spotted a clause in the contract saying they’d be entitled to 2% equity in any funding he secured.
He feels Prince Andrew is continuing to use those he made a show of supporting.
He said: “It makes me feel sick. I think it’s terrible – that he is continuing to exploit unsuspecting tech founders in this way. A lot of them, I’m quite grey and old in the tooth now, I saw it coming, but clearly most didn’t. And a lot of them were quite young.
“It’ll be their first venture and you’re learning on the trot, so to speak. So to take advantage of people in such a major way – that’s an awful, sickening thing to do.”
We approached StartupBootcamp who said they had no comment to make, and the Duke of York’s office did not respond.
With reports that a deal may have stalled, it could be a big setback for the duke – especially with questions still about how he’ll continue to pay for his home on the Windsor estate now that the King no longer gives him financial support.