Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Man, 80, deemed fit to stand trial accused of murdering Renee MacRae and her son in 1976

Renee and Andrew MacRae disappeared in 1976.

An 80-year-old man has been judged fit to stand trial accused of murdering Inverness mum Renee MacRae and her son Andrew, who disappeared in 1976.

William MacDowell will be tried by a jury for the alleged crimes at the High Court in Inverness next September.

Ms MacRae’s disappearance – along with that of her three-year-old son, Andrew – is currently the United Kingdom’s longest-running missing persons case.

MacDowell’s trial will hear evidence from “beyond the grave” in the form of police statements given by witnesses who have since died.

There had been concerns about the accused’s fitness to stand trial after he injured his neck falling off a wall in a “bizarre accident” at his home in Penrith, Cumbria, recently.

His solicitor Murray Macara QC told the High Court at Livingston that MacDowell is still wearing a neck brace and was consulting with his local general practitioner again to discuss health issues.

Due to the age of the case, a number of witnesses have passed away

However, Mr Macara said, following discussions with the Crown, he accepted a trial date should be set while preparation of the defence case and attempts to trace “a number of potential witnesses” continue.

He said productions in the case include a “proof of life” report which police carried out in an attempt to compile a list of sightings of the accused and Andrew in the weeks and months surrounding the boy’s disappearance in November 1976.

He also said the report would address whether they were correct in eliminating some of those sightings.

Renee MacRae.

He added: “The defence has sent a list of names to the Crown to find out whether they are still alive and, if so, what their addresses are so the defence can take statements and, if they are dead, to get death certificates and original police statements.

“We have already made applications in the case of witnesses who have died in the last 45 years.”

Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC said the age of the case presented “significant challenges” but stressed the Crown is ready for trial.

Accused denies all charges against him

He said: “Having considered the matter carefully, I’m of the view that the Crown case is likely to take about two weeks and in discussion with Mr Macara there is potential for a defence.

“I don’t demur from the course suggested that a four-week diet would be sensible.

“I also agree that a continued preliminary hearing would be useful in the spring just to address where we are.

“The Crown also has the challenges of witnesses passing away due to the length of time which has passed.

“That’s an ongoing feature of this case.”

He said the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service would do its best to speed up the process by assisting the defence in overcoming hurdles such as sourcing death certificates.

 

MacDowell is accused of assaulting Christina ‘Renee’ MacRae and her son Andrew at a lay-by on the A9 trunk road near Dalmagarry, or elsewhere, on November 12 1976.

He is charged with causing them injury by unknown means, as a result of which they died, and thereby murdering them.

He is also charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of the two bodies and their personal effects by means unknown to prosecutors.

He is further alleged to have disposed of a pushchair, set fire to a BMW vehicle and disposed of a boot hatch from a Volvo vehicle to conceal the alleged crimes and avoid detection, arrest and prosecution.

He has pled not guilty to all the charges.

Judge Lord Armstrong agreed to hold a continued preliminary hearing at Glasgow High Court on 27 April next year fixed the trial for September 12, 2022 at Inverness High Court.