Wife killer suspected of serial fire-raising

The 52-year-old, who murdered his first wife in a car crash and tried to do the same to his second partner, has been linked to six fires which broke out when he was in the vicinity, it has been reported.

Meanwhile, Felicity Drumm, the second wife who married Webster in 1997, has branded him a "psychopath".

More details have emerged of Webster's bizarre fantasy world including claims that he was an army major working for the Special Forces in Saudi Arabia.

Retired detective inspector Charles Henry, who led the investigation in Webster's Oban home, said it was strange so many fires happened on the killer's doorstep.

He said: "Everywhere he went there appeared to be a fire. His cottage in Aberdeen got set on fire, the house that he and his second wife were going to buy was set on fire and there was a fire in his in-laws' house in New Zealand in 1998."

In the late 1990s a fire tore through an Aberdeen storage unit destroying Webster's possessions. He won 68,000 after threatening the insurers with legal action.

Webster was convicted at the High Court in Glasgow last week of staging the death of his first wife, Claire Morris to look like an accident. The plot gained him 200,000 in insurance payouts.

He then tried to repeat the fraud on Ms Drumm and began drugging her on their honeymoon and siphoning off her money from a joint bank account.

Webster then tried to kill her in a deliberate car crash on 12 February, 1999, in a bid to obtain more than 750,000 of insurance money.

Yesterday Ms Drumm revealed that after she survived, Webster told her: "You would have died happy."

"I felt physically sick," she said. "It was very clear to me then that I was lucky to be alive because everything just fell into place - the blackouts, the car accidents.

"He planned everything. I loved him dearly but to him I meant nothing - I was just a means to an end.

"It's all about control with Malcolm. When he doesn't have that complete control, he goes into meltdown. I'm convinced that's why he drugged me repeatedly. It was all about the power. I am sickened and repulsed by him now.

"He's a psychopath who lacks any sort of morality of social conscience."

Webster was also convicted of trying to bigamously marry Simone Banarjee, 41, and lying to her that he had cancer. He even shaved off his hair and eyebrows as part of the lie.

Charles Henry, who investigated Webster while he lived at Ms Banarjee's Oban home, said detectives found a full desert army uniform and ballistic helmet in the property.

He said: "He hinted to Simone that he was a major in the Saudi Arabian army.

"We got a warrant to search the house, after an allegation that he had embezzled 5,000 from the local fishing club, and we found a full desert army uniform, with major insignia on it, and a ballistic helmet.

"He was saying to various women that I spoke to that he had jobs out there in Saudi Arabia, with the military, but that was rubbish."