Man guilty of Samantha Wright body-in-bin murder
A man has been found guilty of murdering Samantha Wright in Edinburgh, and dumping her body in a wheelie bin.
Robert Chalmers, 59, had denied killing Miss Wright, from Hertfordshire, and hiding her remains at his Edinburgh home in Magdalene Drive in June 2008.
He had blamed another man, Romanian Vasile Ungureanu, for her death. Chalmers was found guilty by majority at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Sentence was deferred until 2 June for background reports.
Miss Wright, who was from Stevenage but had been living in Edinburgh, was reported missing by her family in January 2009, on what would have been her 25th birthday.
Her body was found nine months later by police.
Speaking after the verdict, Samantha Wright's mother, Catherine Gibson, 48, said: "I am glad Robert Chalmers has been brought to justice as he has destroyed so many lives, not just ours but those of Samantha's friends, as well as his own family, by his evil actions.
"Samantha was such a beautiful, lively young woman who had everything to live for and so much more to give but Robert Chalmers cut her life short."
She thanked all those involved in the hunt for her daughter, pleading for parents who had lost contact with a loved one to contact police as soon as possible.
Outside the court, as Chalmers was led from the rear of the building by security guards, liquid was thrown over his shoulder and back.
A man then attempted to follow Chalmers into a waiting security van.
Lothian and Borders Police said a 31-year-old man had been detained in connection with the incident.
After the verdict, it emerged that Chalmers had already served nine years of a life sentence for a murder in Renfrewshire in December 1973.
The young Chalmers had plunged a knife into drinking friend William White, 47, after a row in Mr White's home in Beech Road, Johnstone.
After release on life licence, Chalmers - a handyman and labourer who once worked making children's playgrounds, eventually came to live in Magdalene Drive in the Duddingston area of Edinburgh.