Malcolm Webster loses appeal against murder conviction

Malcolm Webster has lost his appeal against his murder conviction.

Webster, 53, a former nurse from Guildford in Surrey, was handed one of the longest jail terms ever imposed in Scotland when he was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment at the High Court in Edinburgh in July, 2011.

He was convicted of murdering Claire Morris, 32, his first wife, in Aberdeenshire in 1994 to inherit a £200,000 insurance payout, after drugging her, staging a road crash and setting fire to the car as she lay unconscious inside.

Webster was also convicted of trying to kill his second wife, Felicity Drumm, in New Zealand in 1999 in another staged crash. He accelerated to about 60 mph and veered across two motorway lanes before leaving the carriageway in an attempt to kill her.

The murderer had launched a bid to be allowed to be buried at the plot in the cemetery at Tarves in Aberdeenshire where Claire was interred 19 years ago. But Aberdeenshire Council has now confirmed that Webster’s contract for the lair has been declared “void” following his murder conviction.

A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “The murder conviction against Malcolm Webster has rendered his contract with the council, as relating to the lair at Tarves, void. As such, he would have no right to be buried in the same lair as Claire Morris.”

She added: We are monitoring the ongoing appeal proceedings.”

In May last year - the 18th anniversary of her murder - family and friends of Claire Morris dedicated a new memorial to her at Tarves cemetery after the Morris family won a campaign to have the “offensive” headstone erected by Webster to his “dear wife” removed.

Burial

Webster has also been refused the right to be buried beside the wife he murdered.

The murderer had launched a bid to be allowed to be buried at the plot in the cemetery at Tarves in Aberdeenshire where Claire was interred 19 years ago. But Aberdeenshire Council has now confirmed that Webster’s contract for the lair has been declared “void” following his murder conviction.

A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “The murder conviction against Malcolm Webster has rendered his contract with the council, as relating to the lair at Tarves, void. As such, he would have no right to be buried in the same lair as Claire Morris.”

She added: We are monitoring the ongoing appeal proceedings.”

In May last year - the 18th anniversary of her murder - family and friends of Claire Morris dedicated a new memorial to her at Tarves cemetery after the Morris family won a campaign to have the “offensive” headstone erected by Webster to his “dear wife” removed.