Arlene witness 'crushed' car

Arlene Fraser went missing almost five years ago

A witness has admitted burning and crushing a car because of fears that it might be linked to the disappearance of missing Elgin woman Arlene Fraser, a murder trial has heard.

Hector Dick, 46, told how the Ford Fiesta was taken from his farm the night before Mrs Fraser disappeared and turned up again the following weekend.

Mr Dick had been accused of plotting the murder of Mrs Fraser and its subsequent cover-up with her husband Nat, until the charges were dramatically dropped last week.

The trial, at the High Court in Edinburgh, was adjourned last Tuesday to allow Mr Fraser's legal representatives to respond to the development.

Hector Dick: Concerned and alarmed

It resumed on Monday with Mr Dick giving evidence for the prosecution - against the friend who was best man at his wedding.

Mr Fraser, 43, of Smith Street, New Elgin, denies allegations of conspiracy and murder.

He is accused of plotting the murder of his estranged wife and dumping her dismembered body in a secret hiding place, somewhere in Scotland.

The charge alleges that mother-of-two Arlene, then 33, was attacked in her home between 28 April and 7 May 1998 and murdered "by means unknown."

Reported missing

Earlier the trial had heard how Mr Dick bought a B-reg Ford Fiesta from local mechanic Kevin Ritchie, 36, on 27 April.

Mr Dick said on Monday that the car was left in the yard of Wester Hillside Farm, Mosstowie, near Elgin, where he lives.

The keys were in the ignition, as he had arranged with Mr Fraser.

"It wasn't there the next morning," he said.

Asked by advocate depute Alan Turnbull QC, prosecuting, who had taken the car, Mr Dick said: "I am not sure."

Mr Turnbull asked him how he felt when he saw a newspaper report of Arlene's disappearance - the day after she was reported missing.

Mr Dick said he was "very alarmed".

The case is being heard in Edinburgh

He then told how he found the car in his yard on the Sunday morning (3 May) - but how it got there he didn't know.

He found a bundle of child's clothing and a woman's coat in the car and was "concerned about the connection with the disappearance of Mrs Fraser", Mr Dick told the court.

After burning the car Mr Dick half-crushed the vehicle with his farm digger, loaded it into a tractor-trailer and delivered it to a scrap-yard in Elgin.

Mr Dick also told the court of conversations he had with Mr Fraser before the disappearance of Arlene.

He spoke to him about 10,000 people going missing without trace every year.

Green-eyed

He said Mr Fraser had also told him that he had been to a library and read up about the only two cases in Scottish legal history when people have been convicted for murder in the absence of a body.

The conversations "concerned" and "alarmed" him, Mr Dick said.

He described Mr Fraser as "green-eyed", when he spoke of his jealous fears that Arlene would take up with another man who would take his two children away.

A separation from Arlene might cost him £86,000, Mr Fraser thought.

The trial continues