THE "tenacity and determination" of the investigation team which brought Nat Fraser to justice has been praised by a former senior officer who led the team in Moray.
And former Elgin-based Alan Smith, deputy investigating officer on the inquiry, also paid tribute to the "unwavering support" and strength of Arlene’s family, which he said had helped the police crack the case.
Mr Smith, a detective inspector based at Moray command during the inquiry, has since retired from the force.
"The overwhelming emotion is one of relief that the jury came back with a guilty verdict," he said.
The lack of a body, crime scene and any forensic evidence meant that the police team painstakingly had to build a circumstantial case against Fraser.
"The biggest key was motive. You could look at it any way you wanted, but at the end of the day you kept coming back to the same belief: that the only person in the world who was going to gain from Arlene’s death was Nat Fraser," said Mr Smith.
He said that Fraser’s "overly elaborate alibi" felt contrived from the first day of the criminal investigation.
"There were a lot of doors slammed in our faces early on when so-called friends of Nat felt we were victimising him. It took months for those people to reflect on the fact that Arlene wasn’t going to appear off a bus or a train."
Mr Smith believes more people than just Nat Fraser know what happened to Arlene. Read the full interview in 'The Northern Scot'.
