The last utterance of Renee MacRae when she was alive was a “blood-curdling scream” in the dark, a jury has been told.
These were the opening words of advocate depute Alex Prentice KC, who asked a jury to convict 80-year-old Bill MacDowell of the murders of Mrs MacRae and their son Andrew on November 12 1976.
Mr Prentice’s last words to the jury in a speech on the 10th day of evidence at the High Court in Inverness were: “When you retire to the jury room, ask yourselves this question – why get rid of the boot floor of a Volvo car?”
The prosecutor reminded the jury they had already been told of the screech heard that night by a farmer’s wife close to the Dalmagarry lay-by.
‘That hindered the investigation’
He reminded them that they had already been told that MacDowell had a company Volvo estate car.
There was Renee MacRae’s blood in the boot, her light blue BMW car had been set on fire, and a man was seen pushing a pushchair with what looked like belongings piled on it.
The jury had earlier heard that Andrew had a pushchair which was similar.
Mr Prentice recalled MacDowell had sought an urgent replacement for the Volvo boot floor which he had burnt two days after the disappearance.
He told the jury MacDowell had been seen “scrubbing” the floor and refused to immediately give the vehicle back to his employers – Renee’s husband’s firm, MacRae builders – because he hadn’t finished cleaning.
The jury were asked to consider: “A sinister complexion is placed on this – getting rid of the lid on the Volvo floor. Inferences can be drawn.”
‘I did and I didn’t’
The motive for murder, he suggested, was that Mrs MacRae was becoming demanding about MacDowell leaving his wife.
He had told her they would have a new life in Shetland.
He said: “It is obvious. Life for Bill MacDowell would change dramatically if it all came out in the open. He would lose his job, his family, his home.”
The court heard how MacDowell’s alibi changed several times, claiming he was never near the A9 that night and got home by 8.30pm.
His wife, Rosemary, backed this up in statements to the police. But in one of her statements, she said her husband didn’t come home until after 10.15pm when a cowboy programme being watched by their two daughters finished.
She also hauled him out of an Inverness police station he had entered to provide information.
“That hindered the investigation,” Mr Prentice maintained.
Reference was made to an offer made to Inverness criminal Dennis Tyronney, now deceased, who claimed MacDowell had offered to pay him to kill Renee and Andrew with acid in an alleged confession.
‘It slipped my mind’
It was said that MacDowell told his handyman at the Crook Inn in Tweedsmuir, which the MacDowell’s once owned, “I did and I didn’t” when Mitchell Yuill asked him if he had killed them.
Mr Prentice said the jury should treat these words with caution but were entitled to make of them what they would.
Evidence was given by retired journalist Stuart Lindsay who was told by MacDowell that Renee was still alive because he continued to receive coded phone calls from her after she went missing.
“When asked by Mr Lindsay why he didn’t tell the police, MacDowell replied ‘it slipped my mind’.
“His son was missing. Surely he would have concerns about his son being missing,” Mr Prentice added.
“Who would maintain that they were still alive? I suggest the person who knows they aren’t.”
Defence counsel Murray Macara KC will address the jury in the morning before Lord Armstrong gives instructions in law and his charge.
MacDowell denies murdering Renee and Andrew, disposing of their bodies, destroying evidence by burning the BMW and disposing of evidence like Andrew’s pushchair, the Volvo boot hatch and the MacRae’s belongings.