KEY POINTS:
The man suspected of killing his first wife and drugging his second says he is innocent.
Police want to speak to Malcolm Webster about the death of Claire Webster in a car accident in Scotland in 1994.
There is also a warrant out for his arrest after his
second wife, New Zealander Felicity Drumm, was badly hurt in a crash in Takapuna on Auckland's North Shore four years later.
Both women were found to have high levels of a strong drug used to treat epilepsy.
Webster left New Zealand soon after the 1998 crash and failed to appear in North Shore District Court in 2000 on two arson charges, one charge of selling, giving, supplying or administering a drug and a fourth charge of stupefying his wife.
Scottish police, who originally ruled the death of Claire Webster was an accident, reopened the file when they learned of the New Zealand charges.
Webster has told Scottish media he is co-operating with police. "I categorically refute the suggestions about Claire's death," he told the Scottish Daily Mail.
He also said that he tried to return to New Zealand in 2000 to deal with the charges against him but was turned away at Auckland Airport.
Webster told the paper he contacted police as soon as he heard the investigation into his wife Claire's death had been reopened.
"I also categorically refute the so-called allegations about Felicity," he said.
Webster said he found out about the four New Zealand charges in 1999 and tried to return to New Zealand in 2000. However, he said he was detained at Auckland Airport and refused entry so he returned to Britain.
He said he lodged another visa application at the New Zealand High Commission in London but it was refused.
Webster also confirmed he was still living in England and since his return had held various posts in the National Health Service.
He said he had not spoken to New Zealand police about the criminal charges laid after the Takapuna crash.
"At no time have I ever been interviewed by the New Zealand police with regard to these allegations."
It was also revealed this week that Webster had twice faced Scottish authorities on unrelated matters since he left New Zealand.
He was reported to have been investigated by police for allegedly embezzling thousands of pounds when he was treasurer of the Oban and Lorn Angling Club in Scotland in 2005.
Webster also appeared in Oban Sheriff Court charged with stealing a laptop computer from a hospital in 2005. He was released after there was found to be no case to answer, despite the laptop being found in his home.
The police officer in charge of the inquiry in New Zealand, Detective Inspector Mike Bush, said yesterday Webster left New Zealand before the charges relating to Felicity Drumm were laid.
He could not comment on Webster's claim that he was turned away at Auckland Airport when he tried to return to the country in 2000.
- NZPA
