Businessman Nat Fraser on trial accused of murdering wife 14 years ago

A businessman has gone on trial charged with murdering his wife 14 years ago.

Nat Fraser, 53, denies strangling or murdering his wife Arlene, who vanished from her home in Smith Street, Elgin, in 1998.

The 33-year-old's body has never been found. The mother-of-two was last seen waving her children off to school on the morning of April 28, 1998.

Fraser is accused of strangling his wife or murdering her "by other means to the prosecutor unknown". He has lodged two special defences of alibi and incrimination.

The trial began at the High Court in Edinburgh on Monday. The jury was selected during the morning and the first evidence is expected to be heard when the afternoon session begins.

The jury were assured that although the trial is being filmed for a documentary to be screened at a later date, the cameras would not focus on them at any stage.

The indictment read to the jury claims that Fraser knew his wife wanted a divorce and had gone to a solicitor to see about getting a financial settlement.

Fraser, it is alleged, along with another person or persons, arranged for the "surreptitious purchase" of a car with a boot and set fire to a car outside the Smith Street address before the attack on Arlene.

Fraser's defence of alibi, which was read to the jury, claims he left the address where he was staying at Burnside Road in Lhanbryde, at 7.30am on April 28 and spent the day making deliveries to shops, hotels and restaurants in the area, pausing at 9am to make a half-hour phone call.

He names Hector Dick, of Mosstowie, Elgin, as the possible murderer.

First Witness

Mrs Fraser's mother, Isabelle Thompson, was the first witness to take the stand during the trial.

She told the court that her daughter had cared about her clothes and appearance and had never gone anywhere without applying her make-up.

Mrs Thompson, 66, from Motherwell, said she had been a good mother to her children - Jamie was was ten years old in 1998 and Natalie who was five.

She added that her daughter had suffered from the bowel complaint Crohn's Disease and would not have been able to miss taking her medication for more than a day without suffering extreme pain and requiring medical attention.

Lord Bracadale warned jurors to concentrate only on the evidence they heard in court.

He said: "This means you must put out of your mind anything you have, in the past, read in newspapers or seen or heard on television or radio about the accused or the circumstances giving rise to this trial."

The judge also warned jurors not to try to access information on the internet.

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