NAT Fraser is to face a retrial for the murder of his wife after his conviction was formally quashed by a Scottish court yesterday.
The 52-year-old former fruit and vegetable salesman will be put in the dock again after the Crown Office announced it would mount fresh proceedings against him, following an unprecedented decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
Judges sitting on the UK Supreme Court had ruled his right to a fair trial was infringed under human rights legislation and remitted the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Fraser’s wife, Arlene, has never been found after her disappearance from the family home in Elgin, Moray, in 1998.
Fraser was given a 25-year minimum term by the High Court in Edinburgh in 2003, after being found guilty of killing his wife.
But the Supreme Court judges ruled last month that key police evidence, which may have altered the verdict, was not put before trial.
Fraser, who took notes throughout yesterday’s hearing, had hoped to be released from prison so he could see his mother and children while awaiting trial.
However three judges refused him bail and he was escorted back to Addiewell Prison in West Lothian.
He showed little emotion during yesterday’s hearing, in which the court granted the Crown authority to prosecute Fraser.
Lord Hamilton, sitting with Lord Reed and Lord Carloway, said: “The decision of the court is to grant the Crown motion. I set aside the verdict of the trial court, quash the conviction and grant authority to bring a new prosecution.”
The court heard the full reasons surrounding the judgement would be published. Strict reporting restrictions cover the legal submissions made by Advocate Depute Alex Prentice, QC, and Fraser’s legal team, headed by Maggie Scott, QC, Carol Gillies, the sister of Arlene Fraser, said she could not comment on the retrial, as she left the court house with her husband.
The Supreme Court’s ruling last month was the first time an appeal against a murder conviction brought in Scotland was allowed in the London-based court. Luke Mitchell, convicted of killing his 14-year-old girlfriend Jodi Jones, is also to apply to the Supreme Court to have his case reviewed.
The Supreme Court was established in 2009 to replace the judicial function of the House of Lords, which in the past was the final arbiter of civil cases heard in Scotland.
Previously, the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland always had the final say in criminal cases, but the Supreme Court now allows appeal decisions taken north of the Border to be revisited on issues raised under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In Fraser’s case, the Supreme Court found he had suffered a miscarriage of justice due to undisclosed evidence at the trial.
In a summary of the Supreme Court ruling, it said: “There was a real possibility, in light of the undisclosed evidence, that the jury at this trial would have arrived at a different verdict.”
The summary added that if the evidence of two witnesses were accepted, “the Crown’s theory of the case would have been untenable”.
No date has been set for the retrial.
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