Nat Fraser trial: Court told of secret Hector Dick recording

The Arlene Fraser murder trial has been hearing details of a secret police recording of one of the witnesses.

Mrs Fraser vanished from her Elgin home in 1998. Hector Dick was giving evidence at the trial of her husband Nat Fraser, who denies killing her.

The High Court in Edinburgh was told Mr Dick advised another man to keep quiet to police about the purchase of a car.

Inquiries into the disappearance of Mrs Fraser included the search for a beige Ford Fiesta.

The court heard how police seeking the car - which they thought might be the key to the case - arranged the recording.

In evidence last week, Mr Dick, of Mosstowie, near Elgin, told the court that Mr Fraser had asked him to source a cheap car, which he said he did.

During investigations, officers fitted second-hand car dealer Kevin Ritchie, who sold the car to farmer Mr Dick, with a wire.

In court, defence QC John Scott quizzed Mr Dick about a 55-page transcript of the conversation which followed in January 1999.

I ran off at the mouth and I shouldn't have done”

During the chat, Mr Dick told Mr Ritchie to say nothing to police about the car, saying that he would deny everything himself and say he could not remember.

Asked if that was what he was doing in court to avoid telling the truth, Mr Dick said it was not.

In the recording, Mr Dick also turned to the publicity which followed Mrs Fraser's disappearance.

"They were on about Arlene being a goody-goody but she is a jumped-up wee critter, same as her mother," Mr Dick said.

Mr Dick then said Mrs Fraser could be "down in Hamilton next door to her mother" or she could be in Majorca.

Previously Mr Dick has claimed Mr Fraser confessed to hiring a hitman, then burning her body, grinding her teeth and scattering the remains.

Mr Scott, referring to the January 1999 recording, said: "This is after you have been told Arlene is dead, she is ashes and dust."

Mr Dick claimed he was simply being cautious when speaking to Mr Ritchie. He added: "I ran off at the mouth and I shouldn't have done."

Mr Dick also denied burying animals on his farm to test the effectiveness of heat-seeking equipment police might have been using to search for Mrs Fraser's body.

Mr Fraser, 53, denies all the charges against him.

It is alleged that he strangled or murdered his wife "by other means to the prosecutor unknown" between 28 April and 7 May 1998.

He has lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination.

Mr Fraser also alleges that if his wife was murdered, as prosecutors claim, the man responsible could be Mr Dick.

The court has heard of an earlier trial in 2003 when Mr Dick had been one of three men accused of murder, but had left the dock and given evidence for the prosecution.

The trial, before judge Lord Bracadale, continues.