Nat Fraser suffers setback in bid to appeal sentence

THE wife killer, Nat Fraser, has suffered a setback in his attempt to pursue an appeal.

Fraser’s grounds of appeal have been rejected by a judge, but the decision does not end his hopes of overturning his conviction.

He still has the chance to take the matter to three judges.

Fraser, 53, was found guilty in May of arranging the murder of his estranged wife, Arlene, 33, who vanished from her home in New Elgin, Moray, in 1998, on the day she was to have seen a solicitor about a divorce. He was jailed for life with a minimum of 17 years in jail.

A jury in 2003 had also returned a guilty verdict, and although Fraser lost an appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, a retrial was allowed when the Supreme Court in London held that his trial had been unfair because evidence was not disclosed to the defence lawyers.

After the second trial, Fraser lodged an intention to appeal, and submitted grounds on which he would argue that a miscarriage of justice had occurred.

The appeal court operates a “sift” process, where grounds of appeal are examined behind the scenes by a judge who allows only “arguable” points to go forward to a court hearing. A single judge decision can be challenged before three judges, again sitting in private.

Lady Dorrian has refused Fraser’s appeal at the first sift stage, and it is understood Fraser will ask three judges to overturn her decision.