Man guilty of petrol attack on Samantha Wright killer
The boyfriend of a murder victim has admitted pouring petrol over her killer and trying to set him on fire with a cigarette lighter.
Allister Gibb, 32, threw the liquid over Robert Chalmers, 59, outside the High Court in Edinburgh in May.
Chalmers had just been convicted of killing Samantha Wright, 24, and dumping her body in a wheelie bin.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Gibb wanted revenge for her death. He will be sentenced next month.
Gibb pleaded guilty to endangering the life of Chalmers and Reliance security guards Alan Simpson and Kevin McDonagh.
Solicitors, advocates and members of the public witnessed the attack, which took place on the Royal Mile as convicted murderer Chalmers was led from court.
A few hours earlier Chalmers had been convicted of killing Ms Wright, who was from Stevenage in Hertfordshire but had been living in Edinburgh, at his home in Duddingston in October 2009. He then hid her body in a wheelie bin for months.
The court had heard how Chalmers, who was nicknamed Papa Smurf, watched TV in his house as the body lay just a few feet away.
Depute fiscal Ian Wallace told the court Gibb was waiting beside the security van as it waited to take Chalmers to Saughton jail in Edinburgh.
The NHS worker suddenly pulled out a bottle filled with petrol.
He said: "Chalmers was handcuffed to the Reliance officers and was on his way to the van when Mr Gibb appeared standing beside the Reliance van.
"Mr Gibb was carrying a 500ml bottle which he had filled with petrol. As Mr Chalmers was being led away Mr Gibb threw the petrol over him from the bottle.
"The liquid landed on his clothes and it also struck the security guards."
Mr Wallace said that in the chaos that followed, guards managed to get Chalmers into the van but Gibb was so filled with rage that he managed to get into the vehicle.
He then used a cigarette lighter to try to set light to Chalmers' clothing.
The security guards managed to get him out of the van and he was later arrested by police outside Deacon Brodie's pub.
Chalmers was jailed for life in June 2011 at the High Court in Edinburgh for murdering Ms Wright.
He kept her body in a wheelie bin for months before police discovered her. Her family had reported her missing nine months earlier.
Defence solicitor David Storey the court that Gibb was very upset at losing his girlfriend.
Sheriff Stephen Arthurson QC deferred sentence for background reports.