Malcolm Webster appeal date set after murder of wife in fake car crash

Malcolm Webster: Killer is appealing his conviction and sentence.© STV

A former nurse who killed his wife has been told that he can expect to have his appeal against conviction and sentence heard this autumn.

Malcolm Webster has raised the legal challenge after he was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 30 years in prison.

Webster, 53, was convicted of murdering Claire Morris, 32, in a faked car crash in 1994 in Aberdeenshire before staging a similar attempt in New Zealand on a second bride.

The killer set fire to the vehicle with Ms Morris inside it and went on to receive an insurance payout following the death in Aberdeenshire.

Webster of Guildford, in Surrey, later moved to New Zealand where he married Felicity Drumm before trying to commit a similar offence in 1999 near Auckland.

He denied the offences during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow, but following his conviction launched an appeal.

A bid by his legal team to have further grounds of appeal included in the hearing was earlier refused by judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.

During a procedural hearing in the case on Wednesday defence counsel Chris Shead told Lord Carloway that apart from the issue of transcription of evidence from an expert there was "no reason the matter cannot proceed to a hearing".

Mr Shead said he had suggested a day and a half of court time would be required for the appeal, but added it might be possible to deal with it in a day.

Lord Carloway said he considered it was likely a date would be available in later September or early October, but it may be an earlier hearing could be fixed.

Webster's appeal includes a claim that the Crown failed to lead sufficient evidence to exclude the accident as a cause of the fatal fire.

Following his trial the judge, Lord Bannatyne, told him the murder was "cold-blooded, brutal and callous" and carried out for the "utterly base" motive of financial gain.

Related articles

People who read this story also read