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A man suspected of trying to kill his wife in a car smash in Auckland is now on the run in Britain, where police believe he murdered his first wife the same way.
Malcolm John Webster crashed his car near Takapuna in 1998 with wife Felicity Drumm in the passenger seat.
She survived, but when doctors treated her after the crash they found a strong sedative in her system.
Webster - who was also charged with arson at the home of his wife's parents - fled New Zealand soon afterwards. Four warrants were later issued for his arrest.
Scottish police now suspect that the 48-year-old killed his first wife, Claire, using the same method in 1994, the year they got married.
The 32-year-old nurse died after the couple's vehicle hit a tree in Aberdeenshire.
Webster, who was driving, was injured but managed to crawl out of the wreckage, which burst into flames.
Police said at the time that it was a tragic accident.
Webster told police his wife was asleep and claimed he had swerved their four-wheel-drive to avoid a motorcycle.
But the Sunday Mail reported that a toxicology report confirmed that at the time of the crash, Mrs Webster was under the influence of a powerful sedative used to treat extreme epilepsy.
The paper said a police source said: "New tests on Claire's blood were ordered after the New Zealand case came to the attention of Scottish police forces.
"The fact that those tests found the sedative in her system mean that the case has to be reopened and will be investigated as a murder."
British newspapers said Webster collected a £200,000 life insurance payout after his wife's death and moved to Saudi Arabia, where he met Felicity Drumm.
The Mail reported the couple moved to Takapuna and married in 1997. Shortly after, Ms Drumm told doctors she was having blackouts.
The paper said that after the second crash in Auckland, Webster went back to Britain and disappeared for a number of years.
He resurfaced late last year in Oban, Scotland, where he met National Health Service manageress Simone Banerjee.
The Mail quoted an insider as saying: "Officers here believed the Oban woman's life was in such jeopardy she had to be warned. That's how seriously this is being taken."
A New Zealand police spokesman told the paper: "We can confirm that Malcolm John Webster is the subject of four warrants for his failure to appear in the North Shore District Court of New Zealand on July 13, 2000.
"He failed to appear at court and full warrants were issued. They are still live. Two of them are for arson, the third is for selling, giving, supplying or administering a drug and the fourth is for disabling or stupefying his victim, his then wife.
"The arson charges relate to a fire at the home of his then wife's parents."
Modern drugs for epilepsy have become available that allow many people with the condition to live virtually seizure-free lives. Many can cause drowsiness as an initial side-effect.
