Ex-fiancée of killer had to 'revisit her darkest times' in Netflix documentary Should I Marry A Murderer?

A woman who helped prosecute her ex-fiancé after he killed a cyclist and attempted to cover it up had to revisit her “darkest times” during the filming of Netflix’s new true crime documentary.

In 2017, drink-driver Alexander McKellar struck and killed charity cyclist Tony Parsons in Argyll and Bute.

Alongside his twin brother Robert, he took Mr Parson’s body to the nearby Auch Estate, where they buried him in a peat bog used to dispose of animal carcases.

McKellar then confessed his crime three years later to his new fiancée, Dr Caroline Muirhead, who led police to the shallow grave by dropping a Redbull can as a marker.

However, the former forensic pathologist lodged several complaints with the Crown Office about the police’s handling of the investigation and the support she received.

Caroline Muirhead in Should I Marry a Murderer? Netflix

After featuring in Should I Marry a Murderer?, Netflix’s new true crime documentary, Muirhead said she hopes the show can “start an honest conversation about greater protection for victims and witnesses”.

“Since the sentencing, I’ve worked incredibly hard to rebuild and regain control of my life and it’s only now that I’m finally in a place where I have felt strong and confident enough to tell my story,” she said.

“When I came forward in December 2020, I trusted that the system would stand by me and keep me safe when I was at my most vulnerable but that wasn’t my experience.

“I hope by speaking out and sharing what happened to me, we can start an honest conversation about greater protection for victims and witnesses and why a far deeper understanding of mental health within the police and court system is so desperately needed.

The red bull can that Caroline left for police Supplied

“All too often the impact of trauma and abuse is overlooked or dismissed entirely and this means people like me are being left high and dry to pick up the pieces alone.

“This has to change. It is vital that services take a trauma-informed approach to witnesses, ensuring staff are both trained to recognise trauma responses and are able to provide appropriate support.”

Muirhead met McKellar on Tinder in the autumn of 2020, and they were engaged only weeks later. Following their engagement, he revealed that three years earlier, he had hit a cyclist as he drove home from a hotel with his brother, but did not seek medical assistance.

It was later revealed that Mr Parsons had not died instantly, but his injuries were so extensive that he would only have survived for 20 or 30 minutes without help.

As the relationship progressed, Muirhead recorded secret confessions and went back to the Auch Estate, where she secretly dropped a Red Bull can as a marker, before later calling police to tell them where to search for the body.

As the case progressed, Caroline, a key prosecution witness, was scheduled to testify against the McKellar brothers but failed to appear, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

The Crown subsequently accepted reduced pleas of culpable homicide for Alexander McKellar, and attempting to defeat the ends of justice for his brother Robert.

McKellar was sentenced to 12 years in jail, while his brother was jailed for five years and three months.

Muirhead, who talks candidly in the programme about how she turned to alcohol and drugs as a method of coping, went on to make multiple complaints against Police Scotland.

After a five-year investigation, the majority of Muirhead’s complaints against the force were not upheld, and the police maintain they offered Muirhead appropriate support.

“Making the documentary with Netflix meant revisiting the darkest of times and none of that was easy,” she admitted.

“But it has also been a cathartic experience and for the first time in several years, I now have hope for the future and the freedom to begin the next chapter of my life.”