Renee MacRae had planned to spend the weekend of her disappearance with her secret lover – the man now accused of her murder, a court has heard.
Close confidante Valerie Steventon made the claim in a police statement taken after the Inverness mum and her three-year-old son Andrew vanished on November 12 1976.
Mrs Steventon, who was too unwell to attend court in person, had her evidence read out to the jury at the High Court in Inverness, where William MacDowell, 80, denies killing the pair.
The witness statement was read aloud by former Detective Constable Ruth Mason who was part of Operation Abermule, a reinvestigation of the pair’s disappearance.
She said Mrs Steventon spoke of Renee being “deeply in love” with MacDowell and she was told that, for the weekend of the disappearance, a chalet had been booked at a Rannoch hotel to spend the weekend with him before a move to a new life in Shetland.
MacDowell insisted that Andrew come along, claiming he wanted to get to know the boy well, and also that Renee did not tell anyone else, the jury heard.
Over previous months, Mrs Steventon said MacDowell kept seeking assurances from his lover that he and the affair remain anonymous.
Mrs Steventon believed that they were all to return on the Monday but then heard that Renee’s BMW had been found burnt out in a lay-by on the A9.
She said: “I phoned all the hotels in the Rannoch area and I got a negative from each.
“On the Sunday afternoon, I kept ringing Renee’s house. I drove out to the A9 and sat in a lay-by looking for a white Range Rover (MacDowell’s.)
“I then phoned MacDowell’s house at 10pm that night and he answered, but I didn’t speak to him.
“From that moment, I felt very concerned. I am certain if she was alive she would have been in touch with me by now.”
Plan to move to Shetland
Mrs Steventon said her 36-year-old friend thought that MacDowell could lie to her frequently but seemed to accept it.
The jury was told that Renee also doubted that the move to Shetland would actually take place.
The witness gave details of what Renee said she had been told by MacDowell of plans to make a new life together.
Mrs Steventon explained that initially, MacDowell had talked of Renee, her two sons and himself emigrating. But that changed in August 1976 to a plan to move to Shetland.
MacDowell said he had applied for a job with Texaco and the company were giving them all a house with a verandah, a big kitchen and she wanted to fit a new bathroom.
“She was very excited and said that Bill has got a job in Shetland working for Texaco and the four of us are going. He said he would show her the plans for the house,” Mrs Steventon said.
But a joint minute agreed between prosecution and defence indicated that MacDowell had never applied for a job with Texaco.
Accused sacked over secret affair
Mrs Steventon’s statement referred to MacDowell giving Mrs MacRae vouchers from his work to buy items for their new home, without the knowledge of his boss, Mrs MacRae’s husband Gordon.
However, Mrs MacRae appeared to be suspicious and tried to locate a container that MacDowell had claimed to buy for the move, without success.
She also tried to secretly find out if MacDowell had resigned from his job, as he had claimed.
MacDowell had just been sacked by Mr MacRae who had discovered that his company secretary was having a secret affair with his wife.
Mr MacRae had also learned that MacDowell was actually Andrew’s father.
Alibi and incrimination
MacDowell denies murdering Renee and Andrew and disposing of their bodies at an unknown location.
He also denies destroying evidence by burning Mrs MacRae’s blue BMW car, which was discovered in an A9 lay-by, 12 miles south of Inverness.
The accused has lodged special defences of alibi that he was elsewhere at the time and that Renee’s estranged husband, Gordon, along with unknown others were responsible for the crimes.
The trial, before Lord Armstrong, continues.