Malcolm Webster, 'Wicked' Wife Killer, Gets Life Term

'Wicked' Wife Killer Gets Life Term

Press Association -- A "wicked" man who murdered his first wife in a staged car crash and tried to kill his second in a copycat smash has been jailed for at least 30 years.

Malcolm Webster, 52, was handed a life sentence for killing Claire Morris, 32, in the planned crash in Aberdeenshire in 1994 and trying to kill Felicity Drumm in 1999 in New Zealand.

His "cold-blooded, brutal and callous" crimes, driven by an insatiable appetite for money, formed part of a fraudulent plot to pocket almost £1 million in insurance payouts.

The former nurse, from Guildford in Surrey, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh after the longest murder trial against a single accused in Scottish legal history.

After the hearing, Ms Morris's brother Peter said: "It's the correct sentence for an extremely dangerous criminal who is a mass danger to society."

Mr Morris wants to set up a foundation in his sister's name intended to help victims of serious cases with their after-court care.

Standing outside the court building, he added: "I believe, despite his mild mannered appearance, you are dealing with a very dangerous and a very wicked man, who if he was still at large in society would be a danger to many women.

"I believe the correct sentence has been passed.

"I would love now a situation where people could actually start saying, 'let's forget about Webster, let him rot in jail'."

Handing Webster a life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years, Judge Lord Bannatyne said he could find no mitigation for the "dreadful" crimes.

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