Jail for revenge attack on murderer

A MAN who threw petrol over his girlfriend’s killer and tried to set him on fire outside court has been jailed for three years.

Allister Gibb, 32, had sought revenge on the day Chalmers was convicted of the 2008 murder of 24-year-old Samantha Wright.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how feelings of anger and hatred towards Chalmers had dominated Gibb’s thinking.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a charge of assault, endangering the lives of Chalmers and Reliance security officers Alan Simpson and Kevin McDonagh on 12 May, this year.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard how the petrol thrown from a bottle by Gibb landed on Chalmers and splashed the two security officers. Gibb, of Calder Crescent, Edinburgh, then lunged at Chalmers in an unsuccessful attempt to set him on fire. The court heard how Gibb, arrested moments after the attack, apologised to the Reliance staff at the time.

A background report compiled for the court found that Gibb had “ongoing feelings of hatred and anger” towards Chalmers. Those feelings, as well as his desire for revenge, dominated his thoughts and actions, it noted.

Defence lawyer David Storrie told the court that his client was unlikely ever to be in a similar situation again.

Chalmers was jailed for life in June and was ordered to spend at least 23 years behind bars for murdering Ms Wright in June 2008 at his Edinburgh home. Revealed in court to be a double killer, Chalmers hid his victim’s partially dismembered body in a bin after the murder.