The son of Helen Torbet speaks to Kirsty Scott in an exclusive
interview
ALASTAIR TORBET, left, spoke of the family's devastation over the
death of his mother and his suspicions from the start that Donald
McMillan was her killer.
The 32-year-old insurance brokerage director from Blanefield said the
family had been in torment since Mrs Torbet disappeared last July.
Donald McMillan's eventual admission during his trial that he had killed
her had not eased their suffering.
''It did not really help at all, to be honest,'' said Mr Torbet. ''As
far as I am concerned, I really suspected all along that it was him. He
admitted at the trial to killing her but it was an admission of culpable
homicide. It was not an admission of murder. I won't rest until he
admits to murder and justice is done.''
Mr Torbet said he had been working in Manchester when his father
called him to say he was worried that his wife had not been in touch
during her hillwalking holiday. Suggestions that his mother had run off
with someone else were completely ridiculous, he said.
''She said she liked the house because of the views and the friendly
atmosphere. It was used by a lot of hillwalkers.'' He came face to face
with Donald McMillan only once, when he and his father travelled to the
guesthouse to pick up Mrs Torbet's car.
Mr Torbet said he could not praise the police enough for their
handling of the case and their sensitivity with the family. ''I think
the police were excellent and I have written to the chief constable of
Highland region telling him. They have been extremely supportive to my
family. I also know that the police had very little evidence initially
but they had their suspicions.''
Mr Torbet said he did not see much of his mother when he was working
in Manchester, but had gone hillwalking with her near Luss about three
months before she disappeared.
''We didn't often have particularly meaningful conversations but she
had expressed a real contentedness to have a family, and a love of my
father -- there is just no way she was having an affair.''
His father, he said, had found the whole ordeal particularly hard.
''This has been a terrible time for him. He had only been retired for
three days when she went missing. He has been devastated by it. His life
has been ruined by this. The way the press treated him at the time he
put the house up for sale I thought was a disgrace. For people to park
themselves outside his house with cameras is disgraceful.''
For the man who subjected his mother to an ''agonising, and violent
death'', he wants to see nothing less than a lifetime behind bars.
''Donald McMillan humiliated and murdered my mother in a guesthouse. I
believe he should never be allowed out of prison -- he could never be
trusted again,'' he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article