Double killer William MacDowell confessed in entrance of his spouse that he’d been having an affair with lacking girl Renee MacRae.
The 80-year-old – who was convicted of the 1976 killing of Renee and their four-year-old son final week – had not spoken to police when he made the startling admission to the Sunday Mail’s Alan Dow.
Alan, now 79, referred to as it a “calculated confession” as MacDowell knew that police could be seeking to converse to him, 9 days after the mum from Inverness had gone lacking.
Alan recalled: “I had been at MacDowell’s home just a few occasions however he had by no means been in. I referred to as once more at lunch time on the Saturday and his spouse Rosemary answered the door.
“She advised me that he could be prepared to speak with me and I used to be invited into the entrance room. Rosemary appeared fairly relaxed in regards to the affair as if it was one thing that she had come to phrases with.
“She didn’t appear offended in any manner. The spouse was a powerful character and no shrinking violet. MacDowell too appeared a really cool buyer, calm and picked up, charming and clean speaking.
“To me it was a calculated confession that he was the key lover.” MacDowell, then 35, had lured Renee and her son Andrew to a lay-by on the A9 south of Inverness in November 12, 1976 with the promise of a weekend away.
He then murdered them each, set hearth to Renee’s automobile earlier than dumping their our bodies and Andrew’s pushchair. The married father of two carried out the horrific crimes fearing his affair was about to be uncovered and his marriage and profession put in danger.
On the time MacDowall had been working as firm secretary for Renee’s estranged husband Gordon who owned a building enterprise. MacDowall was additionally the actual father of Andrew, who was Renee’s youngest son.
The accountant advised Alan that he had been sacked that week after Gordon realized of the affair following his spouse’s disappearance.
And Alan mentioned he shocked by the double killer’s apparently lavish way of life. He mentioned: “The home had been constructed by MacDowell himself and appeared properly above his pay grade.
“There have been a number of acres of land and his spouse and two daughters all had their very own horses. He additionally drive a white Vary Rover which was fairly a standing image on the time. It wouldn’t have stunned me if there have been different affairs.
“I'm positive Renee wasn’t the one one. I bear in mind him being fairly useless and brushing his hair and taking off his glasses earlier than being photographed.
"The one issues that he didn’t admit to within the interview was the homicide and the truth that he was Andrew’s father. I used to be sure, even then, that I used to be wanting into the chilly eyes of a killer and was glad when he was lastly dropped at justice final week.”
At the moment 32-year-old Alan had identified MacDowell was the prime suspect of their disappearance and that he had additionally been having a four-year affair with the lacking mum.
MacDowell was jailed for all times on the Excessive Court docket in Inverness 46 years after the mum and her son disappeared. The investigation had turn out to be one among Scotland’s longest operating lacking individual’s circumstances.
Alan, who wrote the story that will change the course of the police investigation, was on the record of prosecution witnesses for final month’s trial.
Police launched a reinvestigation codenamed Operation Abermule in August 2018 after three earlier inquiries in 1976, 1987 and 2004 had didn't show MacDowell was the killer. They've by no means been in a position to set up how Renee and Andrew have been killed or discover their our bodies.
Renee had married Gordon in 1963 they usually had a son, Gordon Jr. In 1972 she launched into the affair with MacDowell after assembly him by way of her husband’s building enterprise and Andrew was born in October of the next yr.
Two years later Renee cut up from her husband and he moved out of the marital residence unaware of her ongoing relationship with the accountant.
The trial heard essential proof from Renee’s greatest buddy Val Steventon who she had advised in regards to the affair and about her plans to spend the weekend of November 12 with MacDowell and Andrew.
Police have been alerted when Renee’s BMW was discovered ablaze that night time however there was no signal of the mom and son.
MacDowell – who was dwelling in Penrith in Cumbria with Rosemary on the time of his arrest – joins a handful of killers discovered responsible of homicide and not using a physique.
There have since been appeals by Police Scotland, asking MacDowell to disclose the place he buried Renee and Andrew. MacDowell was advised by the trial decide that he should serve 30 years earlier than he could be thought of for parole, which means he'll die in jail.
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