Malcolm Webster: Historic crime: Murder similar to 1972 case

THE Webster trial has parallels with one of the most notorious crimes in Scottish history.

Derek Ogg, QC, said the Webster case could be compared to the infamous murder trial against Ernest Dumoulin nearly four decades ago.

In 1972, Dumoulin, a 21-year-old German, met Helga Konrad, 18, through a lonely hearts advert. They eloped to Scotland, where on Friday, 13 October, they were married at an Edinburgh registrar office, the humble service witnessed by Herbert Wood and his wife, the couple in the charge of the Torphichen Street guesthouse where the newlyweds were staying.

A grisly fate was to await the new Mrs Dumoulin, however. The morning after the marriage, Mr Wood was awakened by a knock on the door. Opening it, he was greeted by two detectives and a dazed-looking Dumoulin. He was informed of how a seaman strolling along the foot of Salisbury Crags had found Helga's body, with Dumoulin telling how the couple went for a romantic walk, only for Helga to lose her footing.

Mr Wood discovered a letter addressed to Dumoulin from an insurance firm, detailing a 412,000 insurance policy on her life taken out just days before her death. At trial in Edinburgh, Dumoulin denied it all. However he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Now 63, he lives back in his native Germany, working as a minister.