I'm glad we've got our girl back

FOR 18 agonising months Catherine Gibson prayed for the day that her missing daughter Samantha Wright would come home. For the last six months she has been dreading it.

Ever since the 25-year-old's remains were discovered in a wheelie bin in Duddingston last October, she has known the time would come when she would have to lay her "beautiful" daughter to rest.

Now, finally, her body has been released by Lothian and Borders Police and she can start to do the things that other grieving relatives normally do, such as planning a funeral service.

"I'm just glad we have got her back and we can finally lay her to rest," said Ms Gibson, 47, a council cleaner. "It's been six months that we have been waiting. Bless her."

Samantha – a lively and outgoing young woman, "happy and bubbly and trusting of anybody" in her mother's words – had friends in Edinburgh and Stevenage, Hertfordshire, where she grew up.

Many are expected to pack the Harwood Park Crematorium in her family's home town next Thursday to celebrate her tragically short life. The family have said that all who knew Samantha are welcome to attend.

On that day, they will briefly put aside the horrific circumstances of Samantha's death – the discovery of her body in an overgrown garden in Magdalene Drive after months of searching by police – to remember the joy she brought into their lives.

For Samantha's father, Jeremy Wright, 47, who works for a Stevenage joinery firm, it will be a moment of healing after months of "hell".

He said: "We've had an awfully long wait but the police were quite clear about what they had to do and the reason for delay.

"In fact, it was our insistence that they hold on to Samantha's body for as long as they needed to recover whatever evidence they could to secure a conviction.

"We're expecting quite a crowd to come to pay their respects.

"It's taken us all back six months. We're still a long way from getting over her loss – in fact, we'll never get over her loss – but we've been trying to move on.

"We knew that all of these feelings were going to come back and bite us eventually, with the funeral to plan and a trial looming, but the news that she's coming home has been a major setback for us emotionally.

"We've been through hell and I don't think it's something we'll ever recover from."

Samantha moved to the Capital four years ago after falling in love with the city on a family holiday.

She worked initially as a waitress, but later fell into a "haphazard" lifestyle, with a dwindling circle of friends.

The last sighting of her alive came as she made her way home from the Jobcentre at High Riggs in Edinburgh on 12 June, 2008.

She left behind all her belongings at her rented home in Stevenson Drive, Saughton.

Friends, including boyfriend Simon Sawers, 22, assumed she had upped sticks and moved back to England.

Her family reported her missing in February last year after she failed to get in contact at Christmas or on her birthday on 5 January.

Detectives soon discovered no cash had been withdrawn from her bank account and she had not used her mobile phone.

It was several months, though, before the grim discovery in the back garden of the flat on Magdalene Drive on 12 October.

Nestled amongst bits of wood and tools, behind an overgrown garden hedge, police found the bin with her remains inside.

Ms Gibson said: "She wanted to be an actress and did really well at school. I don't think she ever got told off. She was a beautiful person and I can't tell you how much I miss her and love her.

"The last time I saw her alive, I remember seeing her off on the coach and I'll never forget her face that day until I die."

Looking towards next week's funeral, her brother, Jeff Slingsby, said: "We feel like we can pay our respects and be with her again."

Samantha Wright's funeral will be held at Harwood Park Crematorium in Stevenage at 1:15pm on Thursday, 1 April.

Man charged with murder after find

A MAN arrested in the wake of the discovery of Samantha Wright's body has been charged with her murder.

Robert Davidson Chalmers, 57, was detained shortly after her remains were found in the garden of his Magdalene Drive home in Duddingston last October.

He appeared in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on 14 October last year charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He has since been charged with murdering the 25-year-old and been remanded in custody.

Police searched derelict townhouses used as drug dens near the Playhouse theatre during the eight-month search for Samantha.

In a high-profile operation, they also appealed to revellers at the Beltane Festival and to her friends on Facebook for information.

CCTV footage was also discovered showing the missing woman in Hanover Street shortly before she disappeared and an older man walking with her.