Missing Arlene Fraser ‘a loving daughter and good mother’
THE mother of missing Arlene Fraser yesterday described her outgoing and loving daughter, watched by the man accused of murdering her 14 years ago.
Isabelle Thompson told the trial of Arlene’s husband, Nat Fraser, that her daughter cared about her clothes and appearance and never went anywhere without applying her make-up.
The 33-year-old mother-of- two also liked to wear rings and expensive watches, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.
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Jurors were told how Arlene, of New Elgin, Morayshire, had suffered from Crohn’s disease.
Advocate depute Alex Prentice, prosecuting, asked what would happen if she did not take her medication and Mrs Thompson said her daughter would “be in a lot of pain”.
Fraser, 53, denies that he strangled Arlene or murdered her “by other means to the prosecutor unknown” between April 28 and May 7, 1998.
I didn’t expect it of her but she turned out to be a very good mother, very loving. She always loved to buy them new clothes, took them swimming, took them dancing. She was always doing something.
Mrs Thompson told the court that her daughter had been a good mother to her children – son Jamie, who was 10 years old in 1998, and daughter Natalie, who was then five.
Speaking quietly, Mrs Thompson, said: “I was quite surprised. She made a very good mother.
“I didn’t expect it of her but she turned out to be a very good mother, very loving. She always loved to buy them new clothes, took them swimming, took them dancing. She was always doing something.”
The 66-year-old, of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, told the court her daughter married Fraser in 1987 and the pair set up home together in New Elgin.
Mrs Thompson, who was divorced from Arlene’s father, lived in Glasgow and would keep in touch with her daughter by telephone every week.
Jurors were shown a photograph of Arlene and photographs of her home in New Elgin. Mrs Thompson said that her daughter had some “very expensive” watches and would take pride in the clothes she wore.
“She liked her hair done nice. She liked to wear make-up,” Mrs Thompson added.
Arlene used her make-up to cover a mark on her forehead, the trial also heard.
Prosecutors allege that Fraser knew his wife had consulted a solicitor about a divorce and obtaining a financial settlement from him.
Fraser is said to have acted with others unknown to arrange the “surreptitious” purchase of a car which was hidden at Wester Hillside Farm, Elgin, on April 27, 1998.
The next day, Fraser and the others are said to have murdered Mrs Fraser at her home by compressing her neck and strangling her, or by other unknown means.
Previously, Fraser had shown malice and ill will towards his wife, it is claimed.
Lawyers for Fraser have submitted two special defences on his behalf, of alibi and incrimination.
They claim that on the morning of the alleged murder, Fraser, who had a fruit and vegetable business, spent the day making deliveries to shops, hotels and restaurants in the area, pausing just after 9am to make a half-hour phone call.
Fraser also says that if the alleged offence was committed, then it was committed by a man called Hector Dick, of Mosstowie, Elgin.
The jury were assured by judge Lord Bracadale that, although the trial was being filmed for the purposes of a television documentary, the cameras would not focus on them at any stage.
The trial continues.