Even after her death, Amber wasn’t safe Cunning and evil
It was 2008 when little Amber Gibson, then 3, and her brother Connor, 5, arrived at their new home in Larkhall, Lanarkshire. Welcomed by their loving foster parents Craig and Carol Niven.
In their short years, the siblings had experienced abuse and violence within their troubled birth family.
‘We are safe now,’ Connor told his little sister.
And for a while they were. Especially after the Nivens were granted permanent care of them a few years later.
Only, sadly, as the pair reached their teens, their relationship grew ‘turbulent’.
In 2019, Amber, then 14, moved into a nearby children’s care unit.
And in 2020, when he turned 18, Connor moved into a homeless hostel.
Despite it all, Amber was ‘the most giving, loving, supportive and admirable’ girl who loved art and singing.
She stayed in touch with Connor, even though they hadn’t always got along.
But things kept getting worse for Amber.
On 8 June 2021, aged 16, she was raped by a stranger in a supported accommodation unit.
Distraught, Amber bravely gave a statement to police and identified her attacker from photos.
Five months later, on the evening of 26 November 2021, Amber went to meet Connor in Hamilton town centre.
Despite their rocky sibling relationship, she’d been excited to see him.
And at 9.51pm, she sent a selfie of herself with Connor to her friend on Snapchat. My big bro, she wrote. That was the last time anyone heard from her.
When she didn’t return home, she was reported missing.
Police began searching for the vulnerable teen, and on Sunday morning made a grim discovery.
Amber’s naked body was found in woodland at Cadzow Glen.
She’d been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled, and her clothes were found nearby.
As police investigated, Connor posted a Facebook tribute to his tragic sister. Amber, you will fly high for the rest of time. We will all miss you. Especially me. I love you ginger midget. GBFN [goodbye for now] X.
He appeared to be a grieving sibling, the victim of yet more hardship in an already troubled life.
But the day after Connor posted his online tribute to Amber, he was arrested for his sister’s murder.
And then there was a horrifying twist.
In January 2022, a second man was arrested.
Stephen Corrigan, who didn’t know the Gibsons, was accused of finding Amber dead at Cadzow Glen.
Violating her body, before hiding her remains under bushes and branches.
It was sickening.
In July 2023, both men stood trial at Glasgow’s High Court.
Connor Gibson, then 20, was charged with the sexual assault and murder of Amber.
Stephen Corrigan, then 45, was charged with breach of the peace and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
His DNA was all over Amber’s body and clothing
Both pleaded not guilty but were convicted of all charges.
So what had happened that awful night?
Amber and Connor had been captured on CCTV at around 10pm, walking side by side towards the park.
Once there, Connor had pounced.
Beaten his sister, breaking her nose.
Removed Amber’s clothes and sexually assaulted her, with the intention to rape her. Then, he strangled her. At 11.44pm, he was seen on CCTV again.
This time walking from the park alone.
He returned to the homeless hostel dirty and dishevelled, like he ‘fell into a ditch’.
There, he used an office phone to call his sister’s accommodation.
Claimed she stormed off after a row, and he wanted to check she’d got home safely.
Shortly after, CCTV caught him disposing of his clothes in a wheelie bin outside the hostel.
They were stained with Amber’s blood.
And his DNA was all over her body and clothing.
But, shockingly, forensic swabs had also found Stephen Corrigan’s DNA on Amber’s body.
In 39 places, including her ‘intimate’ areas. It proved that, at some point, while her body lay undiscovered, Corrigan had stumbled across it. And instead of alerting police, he’d molested her. He denied violating Amber’s corpse, claiming he’d been in bed suffering a reaction to a COVID-19 jab for those two days.
As the despicable pair awaited sentencing, another man took his turn in the dock. Jamie Starrs, 20, had been convicted of raping two teenage girls. The first in May 2021, and then Amber, while he was on bail. Lanark’s High Court heard he raped Amber while she was asleep or unconscious. She’d bravely identified Starrs from photographs, before her statement helped convict him from beyond the grave.
In August 2023, Starrs was jailed for 10 years, six months and registered as a sex offender.
In September 2023, Connor Gibson was jailed for life, with a 22-year minimum.
Stephen Corrigan was jailed for nine years.
Three men – monsters – who had brutalised a vulnerable young woman.
South Lanarkshire Council has confirmed that an independent review is underway.
In a statement, Craig and Carol Niven said their foster daughter’s death ‘could have been prevented’.
‘We now have one daughter buried in Larkhall Cemetery and another child in prison,’ they said.
‘We are safe,’ had been Connor’s words to his 3-year-old baby sister.
But Amber Gibson was never safe.
Not from strangers. Not from her brother.
Not even in death.