A north-east man has denied drugging and murdering his first wife and attempting to kill his second as part of a plan to make almost £1million from insurance policies.
Malcolm Webster made his first appearance at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday on charges of murder, attempted murder and fraud.
The 50-year-old, who now lives in London Road, Guildford, Surrey, is accused of a fraudulent scheme to profit from the murder of his wife, Claire Webster, in Aberdeenshire on May 28, 1994.
He is accused of murdering her between May 27 and 28 by administering temazepam to her, leaving her unconscious, and removing her from their home at East Cattie Cottage, near Oldmeldrum.
He is accused of putting her into a vehicle he had bought at Turriff just months earlier and driving to the Auchenhuive-Tarves road.
There, he is alleged to have driven off the road and down an embankment before getting out of the car, leaving his unconscious wife inside.
The 11-page indictment he faces alleges that he then, by unknown means, set fire to the car. He is accused of telling four people that he was alone in the car and then lying to police by claiming that the fire and the crash had been an accident.
The Crown says the alleged murder was part of a fraudulent scheme to dishonestly obtain money from insurance companies – totalling £208,815 – from her death.
Most of the money is alleged to have come from various life insurance polices and a mortgage protection plan that he “induced" her to enter. It is alleged that he previously induced her to leave him everything in her will.
Webster is also accused of administering temazepam to her by “unknown means" on numerous occasions between September 1, 1993, just days before they married, and the day of her death, all to her injury and to the danger of her life.
He also faces a number of charges relating to his second wife.
He is charged with trying to murder Felicity Drumm on February 12, 1999, in Auckland, New Zealand, by deliberately crashing a vehicle.
It is alleged that he falsely pretended the steering was faulty and that he lost control, caused the vehicle to swerve across a three-lane carriageway, drove on to the hard shoulder, down an embankment and caused the passenger side to collide with a tree in an attempt to cause a car crash in which she would be fatally injured.
It is alleged he had already placed a container of petrol and newspapers in the rear of the vehicle.
It is further alleged that he attempted to murder Ms Drumm by administering clonazepam and other drugs to her and mixing them with unknown substances in the knowledge she would take them to her severe injury and to the danger of her life and the life of her unborn child between July 1, 1996, and February 19, 1999, at Easter Letter Cottage, Lyne of Skene, Aberdeenshire, in England, the Middle East and New Zealand.
The alleged murder bids are claimed to be part of a fraud scheme to get money from insurance firms from the death of his wife.
It is alleged that, as part of the scheme, he married Ms Drumm in Auckland on April 26, 1997. It is alleged he tried to obtain £514,026 and NZ$500,000. It is also alleged that he forged her signature on three life insurance policies months after they wed
Webster is also charged with tricking her into opening joint bank accounts with him then stealing more than £35,000.
He is accused of a fraudulent scheme to enter into a bigamous marriage with Simone Adams or Banarjee to gain access to her estate. It is alleged that he induced her to accept a marriage proposal and make a will leaving him her whole estate.
He is alleged to have started a relationship with her in 2004 at the Lorn and Islands District General Hospital and a property in Glenmore Road, both at Oban.
It is alleged that between October 1, 2005, and January 11, 2008, at Oban and elsewhere, he falsely pretended to her that he had been diagnosed with chronic lymphatic leukaemia and was terminally ill.
Webster is alleged to have entered into “a romantic and sexual relationship” with all three women.
Other charges he faces include setting fire to Easter Letter Cottage at Lyne of Skene on September 16, 1997, and over-claiming £18,000 on a £68,000 insurance payout after a fire at the Shore Porters warehouse in Aberdeen destroyed his property.
Webster’s counsel, Edgar Prais QC, told the High Court in Edinburgh at yesterday’s preliminary hearing that Webster was pleading not guilty to all the charges.
He said it was “a case of enormous proportions”, adding: “I can’t remember in four decades of work a case with as many witnesses, productions and complexities.”
Part of the defence team, solicitor John McLeod, had been hoping to leave for New Zealand at the end of the month and it was anticipated he would see 50 or 60 people there.
The court was told it had been indicated a trial would last 18 weeks.
Judge Lord Uist said he would continue the case until May to be advised of the state of defence preparations.