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A man whose wife died in a car crash in Scotland and whose second New Zealand wife survived a car crash on Auckland's North Shore, has been arrested and is facing charges in the UK relating to both crashes.
Malcolm Webster, 49, will appear in court in Scotland tomorrow, New Zealand time, charged in connection with the death of his first wife, Claire, who died aged 32 in 1994.
Grampian police said the man had also been charged in connection with events in the UK and New Zealand which led to the attempted murder of another woman.
Malcolm Webster's wife Felicity Ann Drumm survived a car crash in Takapuna in 1998.
Both women were found to have high levels of a strong drug used to treat epilepsy.
Webster left New Zealand soon after the crash and failed to appear in the North Shore District Court in 2000 on two arson charges, one charge of selling, giving, supplying or administering a drug and a fourth charge of stupefying his wife.
New Zealand police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty confirmed the outstanding charges against Webster in the North Shore District Court were still valid but that New Zealand was not seeking extradition at this stage.
She said Webster had been charged with murder and attempted murder.
Scottish police had originally ruled the death of Claire Webster was an accident but reopened the file when they learned of the charges Webster was facing in New Zealand.
The Herald reported that police were trying to locate Webster in April of last year.
He later told the Scottish Mail that he was "cooperating with police".
"I categorically refute the suggestions about Claire's death," Webster said.
"I also categorically refute the so-called allegations about Felicity," he said.
The Herald reported in April that New Zealand court documents showed that there was an alleged arson of a home in Bayswater, on which the then newly-married Webster couple had put down a deposit, in January 1999.
Webster is also charged with setting fire to the home of Ms Drumm's parents two weeks later.
A charge of "stupefying" Ms Drumm ranges from April 26, 1997 - reportedly their wedding day - through to February 1999.
The fourth charge he faces relates to giving Ms Drumm the class-C drug clonazepam - a sedative used to treat epilepsy - the same month.
- NZHERALD STAFF
