A NOTORIOUS Moray wife killer has had four months added to his life sentence after being caught with a mobile phone in jail.
Nat Fraser – who has been twice convicted of murdering mother-of-two Arlene – was back in court, where he admitted having the illegal device.
Livingston Sheriff Court heard he hid the mobile to avoid it being found during a search of his cell by prison officers.
But the guards spotted the phone – hidden between his buttocks – on October 10.
The 54-year-old is serving a 17-year sentence, at Addiewell prison in West Lothian, for murdering his wife, whose body was never found.
But he will now serve another four months after being caught with the phone in a “targeted search”.
Stuart Houston, prosecuting, said officers were asked to search Fraser’s cell, in the Forth Charlie Wing. “They entered the cell and saw the accused lying on his bed with no clothes on,” the court heard.
“He was given a dressing gown to put on then he was asked to stand at the cell door in order to observe the search.”
Fraser was asked to put on a pair of shorts but appeared reluctant to do so, the court heard.
“He opened his dressing gown and turned round where the prison officers observed a mobile phone concealed within his buttocks,” Mr Houston said.
Becky Houston, defending, said Fraser had already served eight years in prison for the murder of his wife.
“He fully accepts he shouldn’t have had a mobile phone in his possession and has pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity,” she said.
She asked the court to take into account the length of sentence Fraser was currently serving.
Sheriff Graeme Fleming QC told Fraser: “There are good and well-known reasons why mobile phones are prohibited in prison.”
He said he had discounted the sentence from six months because of the early plea.
Arlene Fraser, 33, vanished from her home in Elgin, Moray, in April 1998.
Fraser was found guilty of murder in 2003 and jailed for at least 25 years but started a lengthy appeal process which led to a retrial.
He was found guilty of murder for a second time last year. The sentence was a minimum of 17 years.
In October, he lost another appeal against his conviction.
His legal team argued that he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice after a witness at the trial let slip that Fraser had spent time in custody.
But judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal concluded that the trial had been fair and refused the appeal.