Man accused of killing wife 'seemed odd' - victim's mother

A MAN accused of murdering his wife in a fake car accident and pocketing more than £200,000 in insurance policies after her death "just didn't seem normal", a court has heard.

The mother of his alleged victim told the High Court in Glasgow yesterday that while her daughter was "smitten" with Malcolm Webster, she "just didn't trust Malcolm from the start".

Webster is accused of killing Claire Morris in Aberdeenshire in May 1994 and pocketing more than 200,000 in insurance policies after her death.

He denies drugging her and then deliberately crashing a car she was in before setting fire to it.

Advocate Depute Derek Ogg QC read a statement yesterday that was given to the police in 2008 by Betty Morris, in which the 85-year-old former nurse, from Kent, said of her adoptive daughter's relationship with the accused: "I didn't trust Malcolm right from the start. He wasn't the sort of person I would marry. He just seemed odd and it's hard to put my finger on why."

Webster is accused of trying to kill his second wife Felicity Drumm in New Zealand to obtain more than 1 million from separate insurance policies. The 51-year-old, from Guildford in Surrey, also faces a further charge of attempting to bigamously marry Simone Banarjee and inducing her to make a will leaving everything to him, as well as lying about having leukaemia.

He denies the charges against him. The trial continues.