Man accused of touching Amber Gibson’s body had ‘gap’ in phone record, jury told

Stephen Corrigan, 45, is accused of inappropriately touching the body of Amber Gibson, 16. Her brother, Connor, 20, is accused of her murder.

The trial is taking place at the High Court in Glasgow (John Linton/PA) (PA Archive)

Jurors have been shown an analysis of data from mobile phones belonging to the man accused of inappropriately touching the dead body of teenager Amber Gibson.

Computer expert James Borwick gave evidence at the murder trial at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday after being called by the defence, discussing a report he had produced after analysing two of the man’s mobile phones.

Stephen Corrigan, 45, is accused of discovering the teenager’s body but, instead of alerting emergency services, he is alleged to have inappropriately touched and concealed her body between November 26 and 28 2021.

The body of 16-year-old Amber was discovered at Cadzow Glen, Hamilton, on Saturday, November 28.

Her brother, Connor Gibson, 20, also known by the surname Niven, is on trial accused of her murder.

Corrigan’s defence agent, Rhonda Anderson, discussed the report with Mr Borwick, who had analysed which networks the phones had connected to over the weekend of November 26-28 2021.

Jurors were shown the report for more than two hours, which detailed that one of the phones was connected to a wifi network called the “dookit” during much of the weekend in question.

This network was at the address of Corrigan’s father, William Corrigan, the court heard.

However, there was a period on the afternoon of Saturday November 27 2021, when the phone was connected to a mobile wifi device and it was not possible to determine its location, Mr Borwick’s report said.

Ms Anderson asked the witness about phone call data and where the calls took place.

She said: “You only found two occasions the phone was in the Hamilton area, the third of November and the 16th of November?”

Mr Borwick replied: “Yes”.

His report was read out to the jury, with the conclusion saying: “None of the cell sites were connected with Cadzow Glen or Hamilton.”

Advocate depute Richard Goddard KC also questioned the computer expert on Friday.

He put it to Mr Borwick that there was a mistake in his report, in that its conclusion did not reflect the “gap” on the Saturday afternoon.

Mr Goddard said: “In the points of time that the mobile is connected to this mobile device, do you know where it is?” Mr Borwick said: “No.”

The advocate depute asked “is there a mistake in your report?” to which he replied “yes, there is”.

Mr Goddard said: “Do you acknowledge that there are gaps where you cannot tell where the Alcatel phone is?” Mr Borwick replied: “Yes.”

Ms Anderson then questioned the witness again, where he agreed that an earlier part of his report made it “plain and clear” that there was a gap in the connection to the “dookit” network.

Connor Gibson, 20, is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering his sister, Amber, and repeatedly inflicting blunt force trauma to her head and body on November 26 2021.

Prosecutors also allege he compressed the teenager’s neck with his hands and strangled her with the intention to rape her.

Both men deny the charges against them, with Corrigan’s defence agent lodging a special defence of alibi on his behalf.

Later on Friday, jurors were shown a joint minute agreed between Corrigan’s defence and the prosecution.

It showed that on November 22 Corrigan attended a hospital appointment where he was diagnosed with an incomplete dislocation of one of his shoulders.

Evidence for the defence concluded on Friday, with Lord Mulholland saying that closing speeches from the prosecution and two defence teams will take place on Monday.