Man who faked cancer borrowed money from partners

A man accused of killing his wife in a plot to profit from insurance policies often experienced "cash-flow problems", his former lover told a court today.

Malcolm Webster, 51, is on trial at the High Court in Glasgow, accused of murdering Claire Morris in Aberdeenshire in May 1994 and fraudulently pocketing more than 200,000 in insurance payouts after her death.

He is also accused of trying to kill his second wife, Felicity Drumm, in New Zealand five years later, to obtain a further 750,000 from insurance policies.

Today, his one-time partner of three years, Christina Willis, said Webster would often ask her to pay for things for him, promising to pay her back later.

She told Advocate Depute Derek Ogg QC that he also asked her to lend him money shortly after he ended their relationship.

The court has previously heard that he told Ms Willis he had been diagnosed with cancer at the same time he broke up with her.

She said: "He said he was having cash-flow problems. He had been telling me for some time that there were difficulties with payment from his major employment.

"I was very, very worried about him being ill and I was concerned that these cash-flow problems were going to contribute to his ill health so I offered to lend him some money."

Ms Willis, who shared a home with Webster for much of their relationship, said she had never seen his bank statements and he had them delivered to a post office box rather than their bungalow.

She said they had a joint account into which he would deposit money for household bills, but Webster often struggled for cash.

She said: "He might say 'I'm a bit pushed for cash. It's the end of the month - can you pay for it for me and I'll pay you back?'

"It wasn't unusual for him to suggest something that was going to involve expenditure, and then, when the time came, he didn't have the money."

Ms Willis also said she caught Webster burning a hard drive from a computer in the couple's garden.

She told the jury he said it was a work computer and contained confidential files which needed to be destroyed.

Webster, from Guildford in Surrey, also faces a further charge of attempting to bigamously marry Simone Banarjee, 41, 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, before Lord Bannatyne, continues.