BBC documentary looks at how case built to convict William MacDowell of murder of Renee and Andrew MacRae
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The second part of a documentary looking at the 1976 murder of Inverness mother and son Renee and Andrew MacRae will be broadcast next week.
Prosecution efforts to convince a jury to find William MacDowell guilty of the murders of Renee and Andrew MacRae are laid out in the second part of BBC documentary Murder Trial: The Disappearance of Renee and Andrew MacRae.
Their task was made difficult through the absence of any bodies in the case but Alex Prentice KC, leading for the prosecution, is shown aiming to place before the jury a weight of circumstantial evidence that he hopes will persuade them that it is nevertheless possible to convict MacDowell.
In the court room we hear evidence that MacDowell, Renee's secret lover and mother of their three-year-old son Andrew, had convinced her they could start a new life together in Shetland where he had secured a job – when no such job existed.
An archive television report which includes a view inside Renee's house after her disappearance suggests she certainly believed she was set to move, with various boxes and suitcases packed.
Mr Prentice says: "The false promises, the belief by Renee that she was going to a new life, all of that combined to suggest that matters were coming to a head.
"The Crown theory is that they met and that he took the most drastic of actions to resolve what he saw was the problem by killing Renee MacRae and, unfortunately, that would mean the death of young Andrew as well."
On the other side Murray Macara KC, for the defence, cited part of a statement made by Renee's friend Valerie Steventon in which she said: "Renee never said of her experiencing any aggressive or violent behaviour from Bill MacDowell. She was in love with him and spoke fondly of him."
The defence also tries to call into question the evidence of a number of witnesses who claimed to have seen either MacDowell's and/ or Renee's car in the Dalmagarry layby where Renee's car was ultimately found on fire, or someone with a child or a child's pushchair in the area on the night Renee and Andrew disappeared
Questioning them about the weather that night the defence tries to suggest that, if they cannot accurately recall that detail, then their recall of other matters might be reasonably in doubt.
Elsewhere the behaviour of MacDowell on the day and evening of the disappearance is also examined.
The court hears of a restaurant booking made for MacDowell and his wife by a member of staff at the company where MacDowell worked only for another member of staff to be asked by MacDowell to cancel the booking – while MacDowell himself tells his wife he couldn't get a table.
Evidence is also heard that his joining workmates for a post-work drink in the evening was out of character and that he appeared "agitated" at the bar.
Mr Prentice says: "It had all the appearances of a staged alibi."
He takes a similar line on evidence from former journalist Stuart Lindsay who described going to MacDowell's house after news of his affair with Renee became public.
He said MacDowell volunteered the information that, when Renee wanted to get hold of him, she would phone his house, let the phone ring just twice and then end the call and he would know by that signal to get in touch with her.
Mr Lindasy said he told reporters such a call had been made to the house twice since Renee's disappearance, but when asked about whether he had informed police of this he said "it must have slipped my mind".
Mr Prentice said: "If we just think for a moment, that he's maintaining effectively that she's still alive when there is a massive police inquiry looking for her and he doesn't tell the police about it, that seems an extraordinary thing to me."
Another journalist, David Love, who spoke previously about his experience covering the case over its duration called it "sad" that Renee had been "suckered" into accepting MacDowell's "pack of lies" about their joint future and said his actions "suggest that he might have been planning this (murder) for a long time – not over a few days, not over a few hours but over a few months.
He adds: "Does that suggest that the man was so callous that he was planning to kill his own son many, many weeks before they disappeared? And the jury are going to have to believe that if they are going to convict."
It appears, ultimately, that they did.
The second part of Murder Trial: The Disappearance of Renee and Andrew MacRae will be broadcast on BBC Scotland next Monday (August 28). Both parts are available now on BBC iPlayer.
