A WOMAN whose husband murdered his first wife before trying to kill her in a fraudulent bid to claim her money is working alongside his next intended victim on a new TV drama based on the case.

Felicity Drumm's former husband Malcolm Webster was convicted in 2011 of attempting to murder her in a staged car crash in New Zealand in 1999, five years after he had murdered his first wife Claire Morris in similar circumstances in Aberdeenshire, He went on to date Simone Banarjee and faked cancer in a bid to fast-track a bigamous marriage and gain access to her estate.

Ms Drumm and Ms Banarjee are now working as consultants for ITV's The Widower, a three-part series which will star Sheridan Smith as Ms Morris, Reece Shearsmith as Webster and John Hannah, who plays a detective on the killer's trail. Archie Panjabi portrays Ms Banarjee while Ms Drumm is played by Kate Fleetwood.

Jeff Pope, executive producer and head of factual drama for ITV Studios, said: "This is a quite extraordinary story, far more chilling than any fiction. Webster was a banal, almost benign, face of evil. He was so clever at hiding his tracks and presenting a plausible front to his friends that he was able to do what he did without really attracting suspicion."

Webster, a nurse, drugged Ms Morris after they were married in 1993 and then staged a car crash before setting fire to the vehicle. At the time the crash was thought to have been a tragic accident.

He later settled in New Zealand, attempting to embark on a similar scheme to cash in on insurance payments. Ms Drumm survived the attempt but Webster later moved back to Scotland, where he met Ms Banarjee.

He was only caught when Ms Drumm's sister met a police officer at a conference in the UK in 2005 and raised her fears with him.

Webster was jailed for a minimum of 30 years.