Aaron Campbell had just been convicted of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl so brutally that a police officer who worked on the case broke down and wept while giving evidence, and a seasoned pathologist said he had never encountered such 'catastrophic' injuries in his entire career.
Yet as the schoolboy from the scenic island of Bute rose to be addressed for crimes described by judge Lord Matthews as 'some of the most evil and wicked' in the long, grim history of Glasgow High Court, he looked so nonchalant that he might have been being ticked off by his form-master for failing to hand in his homework.
Campbell might only be 16 years old but he didn't flinch or lower his gaze when he was convicted. There wasn't even the merest hint of a blush to his milky, unshaven cheeks as the judge described how he had stolen 'sweet, angelic' Alesha MacPhail from her bed at dead of night, then carried her to a nearby woods to be defiled and smothered; an act of such calculated sadism that he might never be freed from prison.
Now, more details have emerged in a confession to his crimes finally made eight months after he killed Alesha on July 2 last year - including his reaction upon seeing her, which Judge Lord Matthews described as: 'A moment of opportunity... At any other time in life, murder wouldn't have been the conclusion. If I was a year younger I don't think I would have done it... All I thought about was killing her once I saw her'.
Left, Aaron Campbell and right, Ian Brady. Campbell bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Ian Brady, when the Glasgow-born Moors Murderer was of a similar age
At Glasgow High Court today, the judge said social work and psychologist reports 'had painted a clear picture of a cold, callous, calculating, remorseless and dangerous individual'. He said Campbell had shown a 'staggering lack of remorse' and told the teenager: 'Not once did I detect a flicker of emotion from you'.
The judge added: 'You said that Alesha was drowsy and became a bit more awake when you went out. At one point she asked who you were and where you were going. You said you were a friend of her father and that you were taking her home.' The court heard that the teenager had said he was 'quite satisfied by the murder.'
Campbell has now been locked up for at least 27 years. Under Scottish law, no one convicted of a criminal offence under the age of 18 can ordinarily be identified.
Last month, however, the Scottish Daily Mail petitioned Lord Matthews to lift the ban and the judge decided this case was of such exceptional gravity that the public should know his identity. 'I cannot think of a crime in recent times that attracted such revulsion,' he said.
Indeed not, but having observed this chillingly youthful psychopath during the nine-day trial, and investigated his background, another young Scotsman comes readily to mind.
Campbell had received anonymity due to his age, over the murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail. He claimed he had secretly been having casual sex with the girlfriend of Alesha's father for many months
With his pallid complexion, fathomless eyes, combed-over black quiff, slender build, and penchant for dressing smartly, in a tartan suit and tie, Campbell bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Ian Brady, when the Glasgow-born Moors Murderer was of a similar age.
Alesha MacPhail, six, is pictured above. A seasoned pathologist said he had never encountered such 'catastrophic' injuries in his entire career
They share many of the same personality traits, too. Campbell's arrogance and narcissism, and his ability to concoct the most heinous lies and use them to his advantage, with utter disregard for the damage they will cause, are classic Brady. In attempting to cheat justice, Campbell claimed he had secretly been having casual sex with the girlfriend of Alesha's father for many months.
On that hot summer's night on the Isle of Bute in July last year, it was she, not he, who had killed the little girl, he maintained, suggesting she must have tainted Alesha's body with DNA from a condom in an attempt to frame him.
Then there are their backgrounds. Just like Brady, there are indications that Campbell was deeply disturbed at an early age, with a penchant for inflicting cruelty became evident during his boyhood, when neighbours on the Isle of Bute discovered to their horror that he had stolen cats and skinned them alive before burying them in the garden.
There are claims that he regularly carried a knife and a confrontational element developed in his stare. He would hold his gaze far longer than many considered polite, making them highly uncomfortable.
According to one well-placed source, her killer Aaron Campbell developed a particular fascination for a sinister internet character called 'Slender Man'
One local in his home town of Rothesay said: 'He would always sit at the front of the bus and eyeball the whole bus. He would be looking at people's shoes, what they were wearing, taking everything in. If you caught his eye, he would stare right back and hold your gaze.'
Indeed, some noticed that he did so even in court while standing trial for murder.
Back in the Fifties when Brady was growing up there wasn't an internet to corrupt receptive young minds with violent videos and 'games'. Campbell's fascination with this sickening form of entertainment began when he was still an adolescent, and would shut himself in his bedroom with his computer after school.
According to one well-placed source, he developed a particular fascination for a sinister internet character called 'Slender Man', about whom a Hollywood film was made.
In one film sequence, this faceless, spidery-limbed monster stalks little children and drags them off into the woodland. We can but wonder whether Campbell, who carried little Alesha — just 3ft 9ins and 3st — along the shoreline on the Isle of Bute before attacking her in the woods, set out to emulate the Slender Man
After all, this appalling creation has apparently turned other young minds. In America, in 2004, two 12-year-olds cited watching videos of this warped internet creation as their motivation for horrifically stabbing a schoolgirl.
Campbell also played other notoriously violent games, such as Fortitude, Grand Theft Auto and Call Of Duty, and regularly posted self-indulgent videos of himself on YouTube from 12 years old, using the menacing sign-on Poison3dApp13.
His mounting excitement, as he played and watched these terrifying videos are chilling. Commenting on a creepy film of some faceless person unlocking a blood-streaked door, for example, he can be heard to exclaim the words 'stab' and 'shank'.
Campbell is pictured in a YouTube video vlog. His mounting excitement, as he played and watched these terrifying videos are chilling
He was then still in the first year at secondary school.
Campbell also developed a fascination for the occult and voodoo which perhaps explains the animals he tortured and buried.
Aligned to all this was his pathetic craving to be noticed. One YouTube video he posted shows
