Claire Inglis: 'She said he would change. He did - into a murderer'

When Christopher McGowan was released on bail from prison, a court ordered that he stay at the home of his new girlfriend.

He was a known criminal with a string of previous convictions including a domestically aggravated breach of the peace and a lengthy history of breaching bail.

Within weeks his partner, Claire Inglis, a full time mum to her young son, was dead.

McGowan beat and strangled her before burning her with a lighter and pushing a wet wipe down her throat.

After he was found guilty at the High Court in Stirling it emerged his previous convictions included three for assault.

McGowan has now been jailed for a minimum of 23 years for a murder that was described as being "beyond sadistic" by the judge.

Claire was one of nine women in Scotland killed by their partner or former partner in 2021. In each case, the killer was male.

Her heartbroken parents want to know why a violent offender was allowed to live with their daughter.

Fiona Inglis sits next to husband Ian, flicking through treasured photos of their daughter.

They show happy times - family days out and Claire's graduation.

Fiona stops at a photo of Claire's coffin. It's pink, her daughter's favourite colour.

"Everything in Claire's life was pink, everything," Fiona said. "I said we can't just have an oak coffin, it has to be pink."

Fiona and Ian are now caring for a young boy who lost his mother in the most traumatic circumstances imaginable.

"If he had been there that night I would have had a pink coffin and a small white coffin, because he would have tried to protect his mum," Ian said.

"Claire was such a lovely person, so caring, loving, bubbly, lived for her wee boy," said her friend Gemma Hughes.

Another friend, Stacey Marshall, said Claire was "the nicest lassie you'd ever meet."

Christopher McGowan, known as Kicky, was a familiar face to the police in Stirling, picking up his first conviction, for a breach of the peace in 2009, aged just 14.

More convictions followed over the next 12 years, including dealing heroin, criminal damage, shoplifting and multiple breaches of the peace.

At the time of Claire's murder, he was on five bail orders.

Gemma was shocked when she heard about the relationship.

"They were totally chalk and cheese, they were complete opposites," she said.

"He was in and out of jail, horrible, always getting up to no good. Just someone you would never think Claire would go for."

Claire's parents were also concerned. Fiona said Claire told her McGowan had shouted at her in the street.

Fiona said: "She said she was glad to get away from him and he's a bad one.

"Then three weeks later, she phoned out of the blue and said she's in a relationship."

Ian added: "This is a girl walking her kid back and forth to school, that was basically her life.

"Then he comes in, and from that point until she died, she was under control of him."

Claire had been with McGowan a few weeks, interrupted briefly by a spell in HMP Low Moss near Glasgow.

It was from this prison that McGowan appeared via video link at Stirling Sheriff Court in September 2021.

The court heard McGowan was desperate to be released as his mother had recently died and he did not want to attend her funeral in handcuffs.

It was told he wanted to kick his Valium habit and stop drinking.

And it was told McGowan was in a "positive" relationship with a new girlfriend.

McGowan was granted bail to Claire's address, a housing association flat, and placed on a 21:00 to 07:00 curfew.

He set about pawning Claire's possessions including a watch she received for her 21st birthday and her son's PlayStation.

Claire's dad Ian said: "He thought his Christmases had all come together.

"He should never ever have been put in her flat with my grandson and Claire. Not with the criminal record he had - it should never have been allowed."

Fiona said: "He's been on a tag [curfew] he's a guy about town, he'll have been like a caged animal.

"We'll never know what happened that night, but I keep thinking was she trying to get him out?"

Texts supposedly sent by Claire included bad spelling and emojis, which she never used.

Her parents are convinced McGowan sent the messages himself after taking Claire's phone.

Fiona and Ian made the difficult decision to cut off contact with Claire in the hope it would get through to their daughter and prompt an end to the relationship.

Fiona said: "She told me, 'You're just a drama queen, he's good to me, he's going to change'.

"And he did. Into a murderer."

But why was McGowan granted bail in the first place, and why to Claire's address?

In September 2021, he pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, resisting arrest and breaching a bail curfew.

When someone is bailed, they must provide an address where they will stay until their case is concluded.

There might be special conditions, like a bail curfew, which is what happened to McGowan.

In accordance with normal procedure following a guilty plea, the Crown would not oppose bail unless it had received specific intelligence that someone was at risk.

McGowan's record was mostly breaches of the peace and breaches of bail.

One of the breaches of the peace from 2014 had a domestic aggravation, but this did not involve Claire.

Ian Moir, partner at law firm Moir and Sweeney, who deals daily with bail applications, said sheriffs have "a balancing act" to carry out.

He said: "The older the offence is that's on the record then obviously the less significance or weight the sheriff will attach to that.

"There isn't a "three-strikes-and-you're-out" or anything like that. But obviously, the more often you're said to have breached your bail, the more difficult it will be to get bail a further time."

A spokesperson for the Judicial Office said: "In considering whether or not to grant bail to an accused person in a particular case, the sheriff must apply the correct legal tests, taking into account any relevant previous convictions and what is put to the court by both the Crown and by the defence.

"Each case depends on the unique facts and circumstances prevailing at the time and the decision can, of course, be appealed by the Crown or the defence."

Scottish Women's Aid's chief executive Marsha Scott believes the system failed badly when it came to Claire.

The week Claire was murdered, Scotland's top politicians gathered at Holyrood for a minute's silence to remember the women and girls killed at the hands of men.

Ms Scott said: "Any system that considers itself competent around domestic abuse should have had their red flags going off.

"It should have thought before bailing him to that address. The answer isn't to take the most vulnerable people in society and make them more vulnerable."

When a community is small, grief is magnified. And the weight of it, shared.

After Claire's death, the local community rallied round and their donations helped fund a bench in her memory.

The plaque on it says: "We will look for you in rainbows."

Fiona Inglis misses a lot of things about her daughter.

She said: "Her cuddles, her coming in and shouting 'Hiya Mammy'.

"Just picking up the phone and knowing that she was at the end of the phone, she was my best pal. She was a brilliant wee daughter."

Watch now on BBC iPlayer: Killed by my boyfriend - The story of Claire Inglis, who was murdered by Christopher McGowan while he was out on bail