ALESHA MacPhail’s killer Aaron Campbell has had his switch to an adult jail halted — after prison chiefs realised a relative of the murdered six-year-old is an inmate there.
The fiend, 21, was set to transfer to Glenochil nick near Alloa until the revelation sparked fears for his safety.
An insider said: “Bosses had to put a stop to it.”
The move to an adult jail was stopped at the 11th hour when “final checks” exposed risks to his safety, it emerged last night.
Prison bosses put the brakes on after being made aware that a family member of Campbell’s six-year-old victim Alesha McPhail was serving a sentence at the same prison.
The revelation scuppered months of preparations in the run-up to the fiend’s 21st birthday to switch him to Alloa’s tough nick from Polmont Young Offenders Institution in Stirlingshire.
Campbell — one of the country’s most despised inmates — was 16 when he raped and killed schoolgirl Alesha after snatching her from her bed as she visited her grandparents and dad on Bute in July 2018.
A source told The Scottish Sun how jail chiefs were alarmed to discover that a relative of the Airdrie youngster has been an inmate at Glenochil since 2017.
The insider said: “He was all set to be moved to Glenochil, but on doing some final checks it was picked up that a member of Alesha’s family is in there.
“It wouldn’t be safe to have them in the same nick.
“Bosses had to make a decision and put a stop to any move just now.”
Campbell will now stay at Polmont until a suitable prison for him has been identified.
The source added: “Who knows how long that will take.
“In the meantime, he still visits the gym daily in his bid to toughen up because he knows he will not get a warm welcome wherever he goes.”
We revealed last month how the monster was “bulking up” in Polmont’s gym for fear he will be targeted by adult lags following his move.
We also told how psychiatrists from Glenochil spoke to him at Polmont.
In June last year, Campbell was rushed to hospital after being battered by young cons in his cell at the juvenile institution.
The smirking brute was caged for at least 27 years— cut to 24 on appeal — after being found guilty of murdering Alesha following a harrowing trial at the High Court in Glasgow in February 2019.
He later confessed to social workers and told them he had to “zip his mouth shut” during the case to stop himself laughing.
Judge Lord Matthews described the beast as “cold, calculating, remorseless and dangerous”.
On July 2, Alesha’s mum told of her anguish on the fifth anniversary of her “beautiful” daughter’s death.
Georgina Lochrane, 27, wrote on charity page Alesha’s Beaming Smile: “Five horrible, heartbreaking years without you.”
Last night, a Scottish Prison Service spokesman said: “We do not comment on individuals.”