The teenager who admitted raping and murdering six-year-old Alesha MacPhail has been granted leave to appeal against his jail sentence.

Aaron Campbell, 17, was handed a life imprisonment term and locked up for at least 27 years after he was convicted of abducting, raping and murdering the schoolgirl on the Isle of Bute last July.

A court spokesman confirmed Campbell has been granted the right to appeal against the life sentence handed down by Lord Matthews at the High Court in Glasgow in March.

His appeal will be heard in Edinburgh before three judges on 7 August. 

Campbell snatched Alesha from her bed as she slept at her grandparents’ home in July last year.

He inflicted horrific injuries on the child before dumping her body in nearby woodland.

A jury found him guilty unanimously following a nine-day trial, and he later admitted the crime to those assessing him.

Judge Lord Matthews described Campbell as “calculating and remorseless” before ordering him to spend life behind bars, and warning he may never be released.

The court heard that the teenager had said he was “quite satisfied by the murder.”