In a horrifying episode, a 19-year-old, Connor Gibson, led his younger sister, Amber, who was 16 years old, to a forested area on the periphery of Glasgow in Hamilton Park, where he attempted to assault her sexually and eventually strangled her to death.
The siblings, having previously lived in foster care together, were recently residing separately. Amber had been eager to reconnect with her elder brother on the evening of November 26, 2021, and had even sent a ‘my big bro’ captioned selfie to a friend just hours before she was fatally attacked after an argument.
Pre-crime CCTV footage displays Connor, now 20, strolling along with Amber on a sidewalk. A later clip shows a solo Connor heading home, stopping momentarily near a fence as if exhausted.
Subsequent footage captured Connor discreetly exiting his temporary housing and discarding his apparel during the attack, including a coat stained with blood which later served as crucial evidence leading to his conviction.
Reflecting on the tragedy, the siblings’ foster parents, Carol and Craig Niven, remember Connor’s initial words, ‘We are safe’ when they first welcomed him and Amber into their home before tragically disrupting the safety.
On the evening of November 26, Amber was reported to authorities as missing, and her body was discovered on November 28 at 10.10 am in Cadzow Glen. Before that, Stephen Corrigan, a 45-year-old local man, found the motionless body during his walk. Instead of informing the police, he inappropriately touched the naked body before he concealed it.
Connor was apprehended on December 1. In an act of deceit, he made a phony tribute to his sister on Facebook a day before his arrest, proclaiming his supposed love for her and a farewell message.
Despite his denial of the assault and murder, he was found guilty after a 13-day trial based on a combination of CCTV footage and DNA evidence, including his blood-stained jacket. He now awaits a life sentence following his conviction for murder and attempted rape. Meanwhile, Corrigan was convicted of disturbing the peace and obstructing justice and will also be incarcerated in Livingston on September 4.
The last known contact from Amber was at 9:51 pm on the night of her murder, when she sent a seemingly playful selfie with Gibson to a friend via Snapchat captioned ‘my big bro.’
Angel McKean, the friend who received the selfie, remembered Amber as her ‘wee sister’ and recalled her excitement about meeting her brother just hours before her tragic end.
