Arlene's dad 'shattered' as Fraser wins murder appeal

THE father of Arlene Fraser today said he had been left "shattered" after the man jailed for her killing was given the right to appeal to have his conviction quashed.

Nat Fraser, 52, was handed a life sentence by a judge in Edinburgh in 2003 after a jury found him guilty of murdering his wife in April 1998.

But the UK's highest court yesterday ruled the conviction unsafe after Fraser argued that evidence casting doubt on his guilt had been withheld from defence lawyers by prosecutors.

Five Supreme Court justices said Scottish judges must decide whether Fraser's conviction should be quashed and whether he should face a retrial.

Scottish prosecutors said they would seek a retrial.

Arlene's father, Hector McInnes, who lives in Bonnyrigg, West Lothian, said the family had only learned about yesterday's hearing last week on holiday, saying it had come "out of the blue".

Speaking about the court's decision, he said: "We are bitterly disappointed. In fact, that's probably an understatement - we are shattered.

"There's lots of other evidence that is compelling, but I accept the Supreme Court's decision - as if our opinion matters."

He added: "I do not do closure with reference to Arlene. She will always be in our thoughts.

"The closure I would have liked would be not having to keep going back to the courts every time Nat Fraser put in another appeal. He did the crime. He should do the time."

Mother-of-two Arlene was 33 when she disappeared from her home in New Elgin, Moray, on April 28, 1998. Her body was never found.

The disappearance led to one of the largest and most complex investigations ever mounted by Grampian Police.

In 2008, three senior judges at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh rejected an appeal by Fraser, but Supreme Court justices heard a fresh appeal in London in March.

Fraser argued that prosecutors had breached his rights under European law by failing to disclose evidence to his lawyers. Supreme Court judges concluded that Fraser's trial would have been "significantly different" if the undisclosed evidence had been available.

Judges said part of the prosecution evidence was that his wife's rings were found in the bathroom of her house on May 7, 1998.

Prosecutors suggested that Fraser had removed them from his wife's body and then placed them in the bathroom to make it appear that she had "decided to walk away".

But judges said it later emerged that prosecutors had evidence from police to suggest that the rings were in the house on the night Mrs Fraser vanished.

Fraser argued that prosecutors' failure to reveal that information to his legal team infringed his right to a fair trial.

First Minister Alex Salmond has said the Supreme Court should not play any role in Scottish criminal cases.No decision has yet been taken on whether Fraser - who is serving a minimum term of 25 years - should be freed on bail pending any retrial.