Malcolm Webster case: Motive for murder

Detective Chief Inspector Phil Chapman described Webster as 'an individual with an outstanding ability to manipulate people'. Photo / Supplied

What motivates a man - outwardly amiable, articulate and friendly - to pursue, marry, then murder a beautiful young woman?

For the man tasked with bringing Malcolm Webster to justice, the answer was clear.

"Malcolm had an insatiable appetite for money and the trappings of wealth," said Detective Chief Inspector Phil Chapman. "We put together a profile of an individual whose thirst for money was incredible, his ability to spend unprecedented."

The detective and his team delved back through time, tracing the people who knew Webster best - family, friends, former classmates and his best man.

And at every point of his life, a similar pattern emerged - Webster was consumed by the desire for money.

Chapman said: "Within months of Claire's death he had spent everything - about £200,000.

"I'm not a psychologist but any normal person who came into that sort of money would - from my own point of view - pay off their biggest debt, like their mortgage.

"But he never put a penny into that and in six months he had spent everything.

"He was described by witnesses as charming, witty gregarious and benevolent - good at remembering birthdays and lavishing people with gifts.

"It appeared his whole drive was purely the status associated with being able to do this.

"A lot of people said it was beyond that and that he was overly generous. Felicity [his second wife and intended second murder victim] said this too and she said it made her feel uncomfortable.

"Malcolm was outwardly the life and soul of the party but when you scrape away that veneer you have an individual with an outstanding ability to manipulate people who has told outright lies, convincing people he had a terminal illness.

"We went through this guy's life, all the way back to school. His behaviour was consistent, even his best man said he was a downright liar. He told his own family he had a fatal illness. [He] told Felicity and others that he had childhood leukaemia and was infertile.

"He shaved his head and eyebrows and showed people puncture marks on his arm. That's not the behaviour of an individual who cares for somebody, telling his nearest and dearest horrible lies."

Even as police closed in on him, Webster hid behind a mask of calmness, almost indifference.

"Malcolm is an extremely astute individual, quite prepared to go along with police - a model prisoner in terms of his behaviour," said Chapman. "On only a few occasions did he come close to revealing what, I would suggest, was the true Malcolm - someone willing to pursue a female to the point of engaging in a romantic relationship and ultimately marrying her, solely for the purpose of using her as a vehicle to make money.

"We could see similar patterns of behaviour from his time with the women in his life - an affectionate individual who had underlying behaviour which could rear its head when things weren't going his way.

"Witnesses said he had a look, a sinister look, which could make people feel very uncomfortable.

"A lot of people don't have wills but Malcolm and the new women in his life had wills within a very short time, to which he was the beneficiary. Many people deal with grief in different ways. His was to start relationships and engage in sexual behaviour within weeks of the death of Claire."

Gavin Roberts is a crime reporter on the Aberdeen Evening Express.