A driver saw a man staring with “fear or panic” at the spot where the burned-out car of a woman thought to have been murdered with her son more than 45 years ago was found.
Jean Wallace told cops in 1977 that on the night in question she saw a lone man with a pushchair at a place she later located as the Dalmagarry lay-by on the A9.
Her statement was read out in the trial against William MacDowell, 80, at the High Court in Inverness.
MacDowell, of Penrith, Cumbria, denies murdering his son, Andrew MacRae, three, and the child’s mum, Renee MacRae, 36, on November 12, 1976.
Jurors heard Jean told police the man she saw was “bending over” the pushchair and had “one arm supporting some stuff heaped on the pram”, adding: “Whatever was on the pushchair was covered by clothing and overhanging the side of the pushchair.”
As she and her husband drove past him, she told police: “The man turned, he looked directly towards me. His eyes were wide and staring and I thought then this was not a natural stare and was caused by fear or panic.
“This man’s staring was frightening me and I looked away.” Jean, who has since died, at the time told officers she asked her husband if there was something wrong with their car because she could smell rubber burning, the court heard.
Renee’s BMW was found burned out in the lay-by that night. It was recovered by cops. The court heard forensic experts had recovered a “heavy deposit of blood” from the underside of the BMW’s boot carpet about 3cm in diameter.
Jurors also heard that after Renee and her son vanished, MacDowell gave four statements – at first denying any involvement with her, but later admitting it.
In a statement of November 18, 1976, read out to court, MacDowell said: “I never harmed Renee in any way apart from mentally perhaps. I couldn’t do that.”
In another interview, he told cops she “kept wanting me to go away with her, saying we would hit it off” but he “always made it clear” he could not leave his wife and children for her.
He told cops at the time he couldn’t explain her disappearance and had no idea where she might be, the court heard. MacDowell has lodged a special defence of incrimination and alibi. The trial continues.
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