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Sun 12 Mar 2006 The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service made the discovery as Fraser's legal team prepare to mount an appeal. It has also emerged that Grampian Police has asked the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland to appoint a lead investigating officer into the force's handling of the murder inquiry. Detective Chief Constable Ricky Gray of Strathclyde Police will lead the investigation in a bid to establish the facts and to ensure that all relevant evidence is available for the appeal. Fraser, 46, was jailed for life in January 2003 after a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh convicted him of murdering his estranged wife, Arlene. The trial judge, Lord Mackay of Drumadoon, ruled Fraser should spend a minimum of 25 years in jail before being considered for release. Fraser's legal team lodged grounds for an appeal in 2003, but it was not until January 2004 that Lord Mackay completed his report on the case for the Court of Appeal. Arlene Fraser was 33 when she disappeared from her home in New Elgin, Moray, after waving her two children off to school on April 28, 1998. Her body has never been found. A spokesman for the Crown Office said yesterday: "In preparing the Crown's response to this appeal, Crown Counsel learned that evidence which was relevant to the case was not made available to the defence or to the Court at the time of the trial. Crown Counsel considered that this evidence should be made available to the defence under the duty which the Crown has to disclose evidence which undermines the prosecution case or may assist the defence. "We have now provided this information to the defence as it may be of relevance to the appeal. The next of kin of Arlene Fraser have been advised of the position by the Area Procurator Fiscal for Grampian. "The Lord Advocate regards it as a matter of serious concern that this evidence was not made available to the defence prior to the trial. For that reason, the Area Procurator Fiscal for Glasgow, Catherine Dyer, has now been asked to conduct a full investigation into this matter." Deputy Chief Constable Pat Shearer said: "I sought the involvement of an outside force to ensure a thorough, independent and objective inquiry to clearly establish all the facts and to assist the Crown Office and its inquiry in ensuring that all relevant evidence is available for the appeal."
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