Parents of murdered Stevenage woman face double killer in appeal court

Double murderer Robert Chalmers hopes to have his sentence reduced (Image: Archant)

Robert Chalmers was told in June 2011 he would serve a minimum of 23 years in prison after being convicted of murdering Stevenage woman Samantha Wright and hiding her body parts in a wheelie bin at his Edinburgh home.

Miss Wright, formerly of Archer Road, was reported missing on what would have been her 25th birthday in January 2009 after moving to the Scottish capital four years earlier.

CCTV cameras captured the former Bedwell Primary and Nobel School pupil talking to Chalmers in 2008, leading detectives to the 60-year-old’s address where Miss Wright’s partially dismembered body was found.

Chalmers, who was also given a life sentence for murdering a man in 1973, appeared before the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh on Thursday, watched by Miss Wright’s parents.

The appeal has been launched after judges ruled in another Edinburgh murder case that a sentence had to be reduced from a minimum of 25 years to 14 years because no cause of death had been established.

Miss Wright’s parents Jeremy Wright and Catherine Gibson, who both still live in Stevenage, admitted it was hard to move on under the circumstances.

“He (Chalmers) wants to reduce his sentence for his own selfish reason but I think it’s all a big game to him,” said Mr Wright.

“The conviction will always stand but it’s hard to move on until this is over. We are a bit frustrated but we understand why they’ve got to get it right.

“I’m all for people getting a fair trial but once they’ve been convicted life should mean life.”

Mrs Gibson added: “It just seems wrong that it can all be brought up again when we’re trying to get on with our lives. I don’t think he should have human rights when he’s murdered not once but twice.

“We just have to sit and wait until they tell us the next court date. It’s horrible.”

No date has been set for a further hearing.