'I really suspected all along that it was McMillan'

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.