Emily Brown
Musician Cody Ackland has pleaded guilty to the murder of 18-year-old Bobbi-Anne McLeod in November 2021.
Bobbi-Anne was last seen at a bus stop in Plymouth on 20 November, where she had been waiting for a bus to travel to the city centre and meet her friends. The teenager never arrived and three days later her body was discovered near Bovisand Beach, about seven miles away from her home.
Ackland was arrested and he appeared this morning (5 April) at Plymouth Crown Court, where he entered his guilty plea. The 24-year-old was the lead guitarist in a local indie band, Rakuda.
The musician walked into a police station three days after Bobbi-Anne went missing, when a huge search was underway in a bid to find the missing teen.
He told police where they could find Bobbi-Anne and told them he had driven her away from the street, attacked her with a blunt instrument and hidden her body in the woods.
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In the wake of her death, a memorial bench was installed for Bobbi-Anne which reads: "In loving memory of Bobbi-Anne McLeod. Shine Brightly Our Angel.”
The teenager was less than 5ft tall, and is described as having looked young for her age. Though Ackland and Bobbi-Anne attended the same high school, their six-year age gap indicates they did not know each other from school, and they are not known to have had any other links. The motive for the attack remains unclear.
Ackland appeared in court in January, where he sought to argue he had been suffering an 'abnormality of the mind' at the time of the attack, The Guardian reports. The musician had no history of violence, but psychiatrists who examined him in prison found no mental illness which would support his argument in court.
He appeared today wearing jeans and a grey jumper and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, and to enter his guilty plea. Judge Robert Linford warned Ackland he would receive a statutory life sentence, saying: “The only issue will be the minimum term.”
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The plea and trial preparation hearing was attended by Bobbi-Anne's mother, father and brother, while her friends and extended family watching the events unfold via video link.
Following her death, Bobbi-Anne's brother, Lee McLeod, shared a picture of himself and his sister on Facebook and wrote: "I love you. You didn’t deserve this. Such a beautiful and talented girl. Now go rest easy.”
Ackland is set to be sentenced next month.