Christopher McGowan jailed for at least 23 years for the murder of Claire Inglis in Stirling
A man who murdered his girlfriend in what was described as a “beyond sadistic” attack has been jailed for a minimum of 23 years.
Christopher McGowan, 28, violently beat and strangled mother-of-one Claire Inglis.
He also burned the 28-year-old with a lighter and jammed a wet wipe down her throat.
Ms Inglis sustained 76 injuries in the fatal attack, which left her with bleeding inside her skull and extensive injuries to her neck.
McGowan was handed a life sentence with at least 23 years behind bars at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
Judge Michael O’Grady said: “To those who have not listened to the evidence in this trial, it is difficult to truly convey the utter brutality of the death you inflicted on Claire Inglis.
“By the time her broken and lifeless body was found, she had no fewer than 76 separate sites of injury.
“The fact is, this young woman was not only murdered; she was subjected to nothing short of torture.
“I shudder to imagine what her last minutes were like.
“To describe what you did as sadistic falls woefully short of the mark. It was beyond sadistic.”
Claire Inglis captured on CCTV before she was murdered by Christopher McGowan. Pic: Crown Office
Ms Inglis died at her home in St Ninians, Stirling, on Sunday 28 November 2021.
McGowan was found guilty last month following a trial at the High Court in Stirling.
He had initially claimed he had been acting in self-defence.
‘He should never have been in flat with my grandson’
McGowan was said to have a “long record of offending”, comprising some 39 previous convictions.
The court heard his relationship with Ms Inglis was “new”.
McGowan had previously been remanded in custody on charges including dangerous driving but was bailed to Ms Inglis’ home address a few weeks before the attack.
Four of the five bail orders in force against McGowan at the time of the murder were granted in little more than two months before the killing.
Speaking after the case, Ms Inglis’ parents criticised the decision to release McGowan to live at their daughter’s home.
Her father Ian said: “He should never ever have been put in her flat with my grandson and Claire – not with the criminal record he had.”
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‘You have shown not a flicker of emotion’
Judge O’Grady noted a background report which said McGowan had accepted full responsibility for the murder and had shown “remorse and regret”.
However, the judge added McGowan had gone to “great lengths” to “minimise and deny” his responsibility for Ms Inglis’ death.
The judge said: “And as for your remorse and regret, I have watched you carefully throughout these proceedings.
“Even in the face of the most graphic and distressing evidence, you have shown not a flicker of emotion, not a hint of distress, not a shadow of remorse.”
The judge said McGowan’s detailed account of the events of that night was a “self-serving tissue of lies and a grotesque distortion of the awful truth”.
He added: “It is that dishonesty which is the true measure of your remorse.
“As for the tears you shed at interview, I have no doubt they were shed for none but yourself.”
Young son ‘bereft and bewildered’ after ‘evil’ crime
The judge said Ms Inglis’ life “ended in pain and terror at the age of 28”.
He said: “I have in particular mind the victim impact statement of her young son who now spends each day lonely, bereft and bewildered, unable to make sense of why he must grow up without his mother.”
Judge O’Grady added: “It is often said in these courts – because it is always true – that no sentence a judge can impose can truly reflect the taking of a life.
“It cannot bring back one who is lost, or change the past, or turn back time.
“All it can do is, in some measure, punish the perpetrator and mark the horror and despair that all right-minded people feel when forced to confront the evil done by such as you.”
Ms Inglis was a mum-of-one. Pic: Crown Office
Following the court case, Moira Orr, Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for homicide, said McGowan showed “cruelty and contempt” for Ms Inglis.
Ms Orr added: “As prosecutors, we have worked to deliver justice for Claire.
“The case was carefully investigated by COPFS working with Police Scotland, demonstrating that McGowan had displayed aggressive and controlling behaviour towards Claire prior to her murder.
“By not accepting responsibility for his actions, McGowan made Claire’s family go through the ordeal of a trial. Our prosecution team unpicked his deception, and this has resulted in his conviction for murder.
“Our thoughts are now of Claire, and we offer condolences to everyone who loved her.”
UK
‘A catastrophic scandal’: Inside the tower block so dangerous residents face being kicked out at any moment
The moment we step into Willow Rise, the smell of damp is overpowering.
There are water stains across the carpet and rotten wood on the doors.
Around the corner, there’s a hole in the wall, barely patched up with a piece of polystyrene sheet.
We’re meeting a resident on the 13th floor of the building in Kirkby, Merseyside – but the lifts are broken and wires hang out of the service panel.
Like everyone living here, we will have to walk.
The disrepair in this block is everywhere you look.
Damp staining and ceiling damage around the block
It has now been deemed so unsafe by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service that they are days away from serving a rare prohibition notice on this tower and its neighbour, Beech Rise, meaning residents will have to leave with immediate effect.
In total, 160 households here face instant homelessness.
After climbing 13 flights of stairs, we meet Chris Penfold-Ivany.
‘A catastrophic scandal’
He has terminal cancer, and after chemotherapy and a liver transplant, that climb is now the only way he can get up to his flat.
Chris Penfold-Ivany warns ‘this is another Grenfell in the making’
He tells us it’s making him breathless. He can no longer get his prescriptions delivered, as the drivers won’t come up all the stairs.
“It’s a catastrophic scandal that we have been left like this,” he says.
He has lived in this flat for 15 years and has watched the block slowly begin to fall apart over the last decade.
He tells us that numerous complaints have achieved nothing. “I’m going to say it,” he says, “this is another Grenfell in the making.”
‘Nobody can live like this‘
A few floors down, Arunee Leerasiri opens the door to us, in floods of tears.
The stress of the last few weeks has left her anxious and overwhelmed. There are boxes everywhere, bare hooks on the walls where pictures hung.
She is packing up her life just three years after putting her life savings into buying this flat.
Arunee Leerasiri says she doesn’t even recognise her flat as her home anymore
Her elderly mother has come to visit, but she had to hire removal men already to take her mattress into storage as she couldn’t manage without the lifts.
Tonight, and until they are told they must leave, they will sleep on the floor.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep,” she tells us, through tears. “Sometimes, if I’m honest, I can’t even think. This used to be my home, and now I look around and I don’t even recognise it.”
“Nobody can live like this,” she adds.
‘Danger, 415 volts’
Water damage around electrical equipment, including a ‘Danger high voltage’ labelled box
She shows us a video she filmed just a few weeks ago, of one of the electrical risers on the ground floor.
None of us can quite believe what we are seeing – water is pouring through the ceiling, directly on to fuse boxes and electrical wiring.
Arunee takes us down to show us the cupboard. The water has now stopped but there are damp stains all over the floor and around the electrical equipment.
The water pipes and electric boxes are just inches away from one another within the cupboard.
One of the boxes, marked ‘Danger, 415 volts’, is rusted through.
Next to it, there is a notice stuck to a resident’s door telling them a leak has been identified in their flat – and as a leaseholder, they will be responsible for paying to fix it.
“Tell me, how is this safe?” Arunee says. “Why is this building allowed to be open for the public, as a dwelling, with this kind of set-up?”
A hole in a wall patched up with polystyrene
Hidden owners and a plea to the government
Merseyside Fire and Rescue tell us they have been serving enforcement notices on the building managers for years, to no avail.
They have now been told there is no money for the millions of pounds worth of repairs that will be needed to bring the blocks up to a safe standard.
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They have mandated a ‘waking watch’, where teams physically patrol the buildings daily to check for fire risks, without which they will serve the prohibition notice and tell residents they must leave straight away.
Knowsley Council has stepped in to pay for this temporarily – at a cost of £3,000 per day.
Their deputy leader tells us, though, that the money will soon run out.
Willow Rise and Beech Rise Towers in Merseyside have both been condemned by the fire service
Where to go?
With a complex management structure and several owners, managers and agents over the years, the council says it doesn’t even know who is to blame for the disrepair – or who even has the legal responsibility for maintaining the buildings.
It says discussions are ongoing with central government about whether any extra help – or money – can be provided to try to fix the mess.
Right now though, all the residents can do is wait.
With no date to leave and no idea if anything can be done to keep the buildings open, they are spending every day fearing the call to tell them they have to go.
They can only hope there will be somewhere for them if they do.
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has reversed his decision to quit the party, saying “the mission is too important” and that he “cannot let people down”.
Instead, he said he will return in a new role, heading up an Elon Musk-inspired “UK DOGE” team.
In a statement, he said: “Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.”
He added: “I know the mission is too important and I cannot let people down.
“So, I will be continuing my work with Reform, my commitment redoubled.”
Mr Yusuf said he would be returning in a new role, seemingly focusing on cuts and efficiency within government.
He said he would “fight for taxpayers”.
Only two days prior, Mr Yusuf dramatically handed in his resignation.
He claimed he no longer thought getting a Reform government elected was a “good use of my time” – but has now seemingly changed his mind.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage welcomed the news of Mr Yusuf’s return.
He said: “I am delighted that Zia Yusuf will head up Reform UK’s DOGE department.”
Nigel Farage welcomed Zia Yusuf’s return. File pic: PA
Read more:
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Reform’s rise forces rethink for SNP
‘Farage could become PM’
Mr Yusuf’s initial decision to quit came after he publicly distanced himself from the party’s new MP, Sarah Pochin, when she asked Sir Keir Starmer about banning the burka at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Reform said a ban was not party policy – and the chairman called it a “dumb” thing to ask.
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What is DOGE?
DOGE is a meme-coin inspired creation of Musk’s, standing for the Department of Government Efficiency.
It is the latest right-wing US import into British politics.
Before his public fallout with Donald Trump, the tech billionaire said his focus was saving taxpayers’ money by locating wasteful spending within government and cutting it.
Read more: How Elon Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
However, opposition politicians questioned the impact of his efforts and how much he actually saved.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
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