Case Study - Malcolm Webster Murder Trial

One night in May 1994 Malcolm Webster was driving his Daihatsu Sportrak along an unlit country road in Scotland when he swerved to avoid an oncoming motorcyclist and crashed into a tree within a wooded area. Sadly his wife, who was the front seat passenger, was burnt alive as the car was engulfed in flames.

The incident was investigated at the time as a tragic accident, and Mr Webster emigrated, ending up in New Zealand. Many years later something similar happened with his second wife, and suddenly questions were asked about the Scottish incident.

As a result, in 2010, TRL was asked to assist Grampian Police, on a cold case basis, to see whether the physical evidence available corresponded to the version of events given by Mr Webster, or whether the incident was a staged event, to cover up a murder committed to obtain money from a life insurance policy.

Starting with a scale plan of the accident and photographs of the scene and vehicle, TRL's forensic scientists found that the available facts did not fit the accepted version, and decided that a more robust analysis was required.

Using our 3D Laser Scanning System, as deployed when investigating the crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, TRL's James Manning mapped out the scene, comprising the road and the wooded slope into which the car was driven.

Using this 3 dimensional platform as a basis, a ‘model' of the vehicle was driven off the road in avoidance, testing the account given by Mr Webster. There was simply no match, as the car went straight past the point where the plans and photographs depicted an impact with a fallen tree within the wood.

The model was re-run, with the swerve starting 40m earlier, which resulted in a collision with the tree. But the vehicle hit the tree too fast, and this would have caused far more vehicle damage than was shown in the photographs.

Two more situations were modelled, based on the vehicle being steered intentionally into the woods at a low speed. The resulting impacts were consistent with the physical evidence.

Animations of all four situations were created and presented to the jury by TRL's Stephen Jowitt when Mr Webster was tried for the murder of his first wife at the High Court in Glasgow earlier this year. After a 3 month trial the 15 members of the jury took just 4 hours to find Mr Webster guilty.

TRL also analysed the events leading to the vehicle fire initiation, and concluded that the version of events given by Mr Webster were not tenable, particularly the extended period between the collision and the fire. Mrs Webster would not have been rendered unconscious in the collision and was not trapped, and it was later found that she had been fed a large dose of tranquiliser.