Category: Scotland
Date: 19.10.2005
Printable version
Frontline Scotland - Arlene Fraser Murder Trial: the Missing Evidence, Wednesday 19 October 2005, 7.00pm, 91Èȱ¬ ONE Scotland
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Frontline Scotland will tonight highlight alleged flaws in the Arlene Fraser murder trial.
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Arlene Fraser disappeared from her home in Elgin in 1998 and her case became one of Scotland's most notorious murder mysteries.
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After a five year long police investigation her husband Nat Fraser was finally jailed for her murder in January 2003 after his long-time friend Hector Dick turned Queen's Evidence.
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Now evidence uncovered by the 91Èȱ¬ Scotland documentary (7.00pm, 91Èȱ¬ ONE Scotland) could lead to the release of Nat Fraser.
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Dick had been co-accused with Nat Fraser but the charges against him were dropped when he agreed to become the prosecution's star witness.
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But Frontline Scotland's investigation will reveal evidence which casts doubt on Dick's testimony in court relating to the disposal of a car he bought for Nat Fraser.
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Dick claimed he had panicked when the car had re-appeared at his farm shortly after Arlene had disappeared.
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He said he flattened the car and took it, with some steel, to Williamson's scrapyard in Elgin.
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But Douglas Williamson, the scrapyard owner, tells Frontline Scotland that the car was never taken to his scrapyard.
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He also says the steel was returned two years before Arlene's disappearance in 1998, and produces the paperwork from the transaction.
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The murder trial ended without the jury having heard Mr Williamson's evidence. He could have verified or challenged Dick's testimony.
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He was on the witness list during the trial but was told by the prosecution team that his testimony was no longer required.
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Dick, who was previously jailed in 1999 for perverting the course of justice, stuck to his version of events when confronted by Frontline Scotland.
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Although he claimed he could prove he was now telling the truth, he refused to show Frontline Scotland the papers which, he says, support his story.
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Frontline Scotland also reports the damning verdict of a lip reading expert on a crucial part of the police investigation.
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The investigation was boosted when forensic lip reader Jessica Rees produced an incriminating report from CCTV footage of a conversation between Nat Fraser and his friend Glenn Lucas during a prison visit.
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At that time, two years after Arlene had disappeared, her husband was in jail for defrauding legal aid.
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Jessica Rees' report convinced Grampian Police that the men had been discussing the murder of Arlene Fraser.
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It was this evidence that led to Nat Fraser being charged with murder, according to Detective Superintendent Jim Stephen, Grampian Police's senior investigating officer on the case.
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Other lip reading experts, including Terry Ruane, studied the tape.
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He tells Frontline Scotland that when he checked the report he could not match any of the key words which Jessica Rees had put in her report.
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The defence were ready with an attempt to discredit the lip reading evidence if it was called in court.
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Jessica Rees has been dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in England after allegations she had misled people about her university qualifications.
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Hector Dick could now be charged with perjury for lying during the murder trial.
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Nat Fraser has launched an appeal against his conviction.
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With this new allegation that Dick lied in court the appeal court judges could decide that his conviction be squashed.
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