Arlene Fraser trial: ‘She was a very loving mother’

ARLENE Fraser’s children, Jamie and Natalie, were not in court to see their father convicted of their mother’s murder for a second time.

Her son was ten and her daughter five when Mrs Fraser disappeared on Tuesday, 28 April, 1998. On that day she had been due to meet her solicitor to discuss access arrangements for her estranged husband.

The children were among the last people to see her alive, when she waved goodbye as they headed off to school.

Mrs Fraser’s mother, Isabelle Thompson, said the children were important to her. “I did not expect it of her, but she turned out to be a very good mother, a very loving mother,” she said.

After her disappearance the children were looked after by their paternal grandmother, Ibbie Fraser. At the time, Mrs Fraser’s family decided not to contest custody, saying the children were being well looked after.