Man who killed wife for insurance payout jailed for minimum of 30 years

Malcolm Webster, who murdered his first wife and tried to kill his second in order to profit from insurance policies. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

A man who murdered his first wife in a faked car crash and tried to murder his second in the same manner for an insurance payout has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years.

Malcolm Webster, 52, was convicted in May of murdering 32-year-old Claire Morris in a staged car crash in 1994 and fraudulently claiming more than £200,000 from insurance policies following her death.

The former nurse, from Guildford in Surrey, drugged Morris and drove the car they were travelling in off a remote Aberdeenshire road – then started a fire while she was unconscious in the vehicle.

He was also convicted of attempting to murder his second wife, Felicity Drumm, 50, in a copycat car crash in New Zealand in February 1999 in a bid to claim more than £750,000 from a life insurance policy.

At the high court in Edinburgh on Tuesday Webster was sentenced to life in prison and told he would serve at least 30 years for his "utterly appalling" crimes before he can apply for parole – one of the toughest sentences ever imposed in Scotland.

The judge, Lord Bannatyne, said the murder of Morris was "coldblooded, brutal and callous".

Webster's schemes had been carried out for the basest of motives, financial gain, noted Bannatyne – and Webster had shown no remorse.

As he left the court, Peter Morris, the murdered woman's brother, said: "I believe that is the correct sentence for an extremely dangerous criminal."

He added: "Despite his mild mannered appearance, you are dealing with a very wicked man who, if he were still at large in society, would be a danger to many women."

Described by prosecutors during his trial at the high court in Glasgow as "a most cruel, practised deceiver", Webster had also been found guilty of a range of crimes committed from 1994 to 2008, including theft, fraud and attempted bigamy.

The investigation, which culminated in Scotland's longest murder trial against a single accused, involved detectives in Scotland, England and New Zealand.

Webster murdered Morris just eight months into their marriage 17 years ago.

After drugging her and using petrol to start a blaze at the crash site, he tricked police investigators into believing he had swerved off the road as he tried to avoid a motorcyclist.

He went on to claim against a £200,000 life insurance policy, then squandered the money within six months on luxury goods including a yacht and a Range Rover.

Webster, who was nicknamed "Pyro" in the scouts because of his love of fires, tried to use the same tactics five years after the murder in Auckland, New Zealand, where he drugged then tried to kill his pregnant second wife.

She recovered but not before Webster had emptied their savings account, taking NZ$140,000 (£70,000) and fleeing, provoking a fresh police investigation into the Aberdeenshire crash.

Webster had planned to claim £750,000 from Drumm's life insurance policies.

He then attempted to bigamously marry a third woman, hospital executive Simone Banerjee, 41, in Oban.

Pretending to have leukaemia, Webster shaved his eyebrows and hair and lost weight before trying to get the woman to take out a £500,000 life insurance policy in his name.

She did not know that Drumm was still alive and still legally married to Webster.

Banerjee, who was in court to witness the sentencing, said she was "very pleased" with the sentence handed down. She added: "I feel very lucky to be alive."

During the trial Derek Ogg QC, for the prosecution, told the jury that Webster would go down as one of Scotland's most notorious murderers.

Edgar Prais QC, for the defence, insisted his client was innocent but acknowledged he was a "thief", a "liar", a "philanderer" and a "ratbag".

Police twice reopened the case but failed to find sufficient evidence to charge Webster, despite widespread doubts about the original crash and campaigning by his victims' families for him to be tried.

In 1994 car crash victims were not routinely tested for drugs. But in late 2007 scientific techniques allowed the police to find traces of temazepam in Morris's liver, proving she was drugged on the night of her murder. That linked her killing to the attempted murder of Drumm.

Following Webster's sentencing, Lindsey Miller, head of the serious and organised crime division at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: "A vast amount of painstaking work went into this investigation and prosecution.

"Webster was a calculating criminal who wove a web of lies and deceit around people who entered his life in good faith.

"Today, my thoughts are with the families and friends of his victims."

Earlier Peter Morris said he wanted to establish a foundation to help victims and their families to recover from the trauma of violent crimes.

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that he was aiming to raise £1m for a permanent retreat and recovery centre where people can be supported after the trauma of a court case.

"It's a very simple idea that would give them, hopefully, a very wonderful and positive experience and to initiate the road to rebuilding their lives," he said.