Man loses leg after trek for murdered sister

THE brother of a murdered bride who has had part of his leg amputated after sustaining injuries during a fund-raising walk has vowed to continue his campaign for victims of serious crime.

Peter Morris, whose sister Claire was murdered by her husband Malcolm Webster, was forced to abandon a 150-mile walk from her graveside in Aberdeenshire to the Scottish Parliament last month after he developed severe blisters during the trek.

Earlier this week surgeons removed two of his toes in the hope of saving his right foot which had become infected with gangrene. But on Wednesday night the surgical team was forced to amputate his right leg below the knee to save the life of Mr Webster, who suffers from diabetes.

Yesterday, as he recovered from the lengthy operation, Mr Morris spoke of how he was simply “happy to be alive” and determined to carry on his campaign to establish a foundation in his sister’s memory and to open a retreat dedicated to helping the families and victims of murder and other serious crimes.

He declared: “I have no regrets. Once the court convicted Webster of the terrible things he did I felt very strongly about trying to do something for other people affected by crime and I wouldn’t change a thing.

“If I can help to make some changes through the Victims’ Rights Bill, which is going through Holyrood at the moment, then this will have been worthwhile because it means that forever and a day people will benefit.”

Mr Morris insisted: “I would never ever do anything different. I didn’t feel that I had a choice – it was a compulsion to do that and try and improve things for other people. And I don’t have any regrets whatsoever.”

He continued: “I am more determined than ever to carry on my campaign for victims’ rights. Obviously, I would far rather have two legs instead of one but I have just to get on with it. If anything, the campaign gets stronger now rather than less.”

Mr Morris had set out from his sister’s grave at the cemetery in Tarves last month to promote a petition he planned to deliver to the Scottish Parliament, calling for the establishment of the CLAIRE (Caring Loving And Inspiring Retreat Environment) Foundation.

He had to abandon the 150-mile trek after developing severe blisters and spent four days being treated at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital. But he later completed his walk to the Scottish Parliament on crutches to deliver a 6,000-signature petition to MSPs and address the parliament’s petitions committee.

Mr Morris, 48, from Gillingham, in Kent, was admitted to the Medway Maritime Hospital in the town after he returned home following his appearance at the Scottish Parliament.

He gave up his job as a manager at a bookmaker’s last September to attend every day of the trial at the High Court in Glasgow. It led to Webster’s conviction for murdering his first wife, Claire Morris, 32, in Aberdeenshire in 1994 in order to inherit more than £200,000 in insurance payouts, and attempting to murder his second wife, Felicity Drumm, 50, in New Zealand five years later.

Mr Morris explained that, following his return home to Gillingham, his injured right foot had become infected. Late on Wednesday night he went back into the operating theatre to have his right leg amputated below the knee.

Mr Webster, a father of four with two grandchildren, said: “The operation went very well. It saved my life.

“If I hadn’t had my leg amputated I would have been dead within a few days. It was the right decision to make.”