A court has heard that a pensioner accused of murdering his lover and their three-year-old son more than four decades ago told his handyman that he ‘did and didn’t’ kill her.
William MacDowell, 80, denies murdering Renee MacRae, 36, and their son Andrew MacRae on November 12, 1976, in a layby south of Inverness.
Following the alleged murder, MacDowell and his wife, Rosemary, relocated to the Crook Inn in Peeblesshire, where, in the autumn of 1986, MacDowell hired ex-convict Mitchell Yuill as a handyman, according to the High Court in Inverness.
Mr Yuill told police in 1987 that when he first started working for MacDowell, he had no idea he was connected to the disappearance until the pub chef informed him.
William MacDowell, 80, denies murdering Renee MacRae (left) and their son Andrew (left) on November 12, 1976, in a layby south of Inverness.
On the tenth anniversary of Renee and Andrew’s disappearance, MacDowell asked Mr Yuill to obtain two copies of a newspaper in which the story was featured. Yuill stated that MacDowell’s reaction indicated that he was not overjoyed at the story’s reappearance.
Mr Yuill stated that he discussed the mystery with MacDowell after work, while they were playing pool.
‘He wasn’t surprised by the question but gave a big sigh or blow,’ Yuill said in a police statement read aloud in court by former cop George Gough.
Mr Yuill stated that the subject came up again while he was drinking with MacDowell on another occasion.
‘I inquired of MacDowell whether (Andrew) was his son. He said (he) was,’ and added that MacDowell had “tears running down both cheeks.”
The court was informed ‘There’s one or two things I need to get off my mind,’ MacDowell explained to the handyman. You’ll find out about it eventually.’
Mr Yuill also stated that MacDowell mentioned a cottage that no one knew about, and that he hoped no one found out or MacDowell would be in trouble.
Renee Macrae and her son Andrew, who have been missing since 1976, have been found.
‘In a subsequent conversation, I asked MacDowell about Renee MacRae – if he did it, meaning if he killed her,’ Mr Yuill told police.
‘I did and I didn’t,’ he said.
Mr Yuill, who is now deceased, was accused of stealing MacDowell’s car and was detained in October 1987, according to the court.
Mr Gough, who testified about Mr Yuill’s statement, told the court he was unaware of the accusation.
According to the court, Mr Yuill told police that MacDowell had guns, including a submachine gun.
According to the court, during the police interview, Mr Yuill stated that he was speaking with officers because they had told him that if he stole the car, he would not face any consequences.
The prosecution and defense agreed that the blood found in the boot of Mrs MacRae’s burned-out BMW was assumed to be hers because only 1 in 100,000,000 people would match her DNA profile, which they obtained from an old hairbrush.
Debris recovered from the emptied Leanach Quarry near Inverness, which is being searched as part of the investigation into the disappearance of a mother and her son.
MacDowell, of Penrith, Cumbria, is accused of murdering Mrs. MacRae and Andrew by assaulting them at the Dalmagarry layby on the A9 trunk road south of Inverness or elsewhere.
He is also accused of disposing of the bodies of Mrs MacRae and her son, as well as disposing of a boot hatch from his Volvo car, all of which he denies.
He has filed a special incrimination and alibi defence, part of which is that he was at the Mercury Motor Inn in Inverness that evening before returning home via his work and a shop.
The trial before Lord Armstrong is still ongoing.