Murder of Arlene Fraser

Arlene Fraser, 33, disappeared from her home in Elgin, Moray, Scotland on 28 April 1998 after her two children had left for school. No trace of her was ever found. The case was initially treated by Grampian Police as a missing persons inquiry, but six months later Detective Chief Inspector Peter Simpson publicly stated his belief that a crime had taken place and that Arlene was dead.

At the time of her disappearance, her husband Nat Fraser was on bail in connection with an earlier alleged attempted murder of his wife; that charge was later reduced to assault, for which he was jailed for 18 months when convicted around two years afterward. Fraser was also charged with perverting the course of justice over a beige Ford Fiesta linked to the investigation. The car had been bought by his friend Hector Dick, who faced the same charge and, during his own trial in early 2001, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was jailed for a year. A third man, Glenn Lucas, was later charged with perverting the course of justice in connection with the case. On 26 April 2002, the Crown Office announced that Fraser, Dick and Lucas had been indicted for Arlene's murder, charged with conspiracy to murder, murder, and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

At Fraser's first trial in January 2003, the Crown dropped the charges against Dick and Lucas and called Dick as a prosecution witness. Dick admitted destroying the Ford Fiesta and testified that Fraser had told him he arranged for his wife to be killed and her body disposed of, though Dick denied any involvement in the disappearance itself. On 29 January 2003, Nat Fraser was found guilty of Arlene's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years.

Fraser appealed, and years of litigation followed, including claims that evidence had not been disclosed to the defence and that police officers had lied. His conviction was upheld by the Scottish appeal courts in 2008 and again in 2010, but in May 2011 the UK Supreme Court unanimously allowed his appeal, quashing the conviction and remitting the case for consideration of fresh proceedings. The Crown Office said it would seek to bring a new prosecution, and Arlene's family expressed support for that course while calling the Supreme Court decision "bitterly disappointing."

A second trial took place in 2012 before Lord Bracadale in the High Court in Edinburgh. On 30 May 2012, Fraser was again found guilty by majority verdict of Arlene's murder and sentenced to a minimum of seventeen years. Hector Dick again gave evidence against him. The defence argued the case was "blighted by hindsight and assumption" and suggested during cross-examination that Dick himself had been responsible for the murder, an allegation Dick denied. Lord Bracadale told Fraser he had instigated the premeditated murder of his wife and the mother of his two children, then aged 10 and five, and that the disposal of her body had been carried out with "ruthless efficiency," leaving her family without knowledge of what happened to her remains. A further appeal against the 2012 conviction was refused in October 2013.