By Hilary Duncanson
The Englishman who murdered his wife in a staged car
accident and tried to kill his second in a copycat crash in New Zealand
has lost a bid to have his conviction referred back to the High Court.
Malcolm Webster, 56, was jailed for a minimum of 30
years for killing Claire Morris, 32, in the planned crash in
Aberdeenshire in 1994 and attempting to kill Felicity Drumm in New
Zealand in 1999 to claim insurance money.
The former nurse, from Guildford, Surrey, was handed
the life sentence after being convicted of the crimes in May 2011
following a five-month trial in Glasgow.
He lost an appeal against his conviction in 2013
when judges at the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh rejected a claim he was
the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
In 2014, Webster launched a new bid to clear his
name by asking the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) to
look into his conviction.
It
is the Scottish body which reviews alleged miscarriages of justice in
criminal cases and has the power to refer a case back before senior
judges for a fresh look.
The SCCRC confirmed on Tuesday that Webster's application has been refused.
A spokesman said: "The commission's review has concluded and this case has not been referred to the High Court."
Webster claimed the death of Ms Morris was an accident which happened when he swerved to avoid a motorcyclist.
The
jury heard the killer drugged her before driving the car they were in
off an Aberdeenshire road and starting a fire while she lay unconscious
inside.
He fraudulently claimed more than
£200,000 (NZ$435,635) from insurance policies following her death, later
spending it on a Range Rover car, a yacht and on seducing a string of
women.
In 1999 he tried to murder Ms Drumm in a
copycat car crash in New Zealand in an attempt to claim more than
£750,000 of insurance money.
NZN
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