The sister of a woman who was murdered by her husband almost 30 years ago is hopeful that her murderer will finally reveal where her body is after ministers agreed to support Suzanne's law.
Carol Gillies and her elderly parents have never been able to give the mother of two Arlene Fraser a good funeral, because her murderer refuses to tell them what he was doing with her body.
But she feels that there is a chance of closure after the SNP this week has supported a Scottish conservative amendment at a new court law for 'Suzanne's Law', which would mean that murderers are forced to reveal the location of their victim's remains or to spend the rest of their lives in prison.
The disappearance of Mrs. Fraser in 1998 led to one of the biggest investigation in Scotland and her husband Nat Fraser is currently a lifelong prison sentence for her murder after being convicted twice for killing her, in 2003 and again in 2012.
He must have conditional release in 2029, but has never revealed what he did with her body.
Mrs. Gillies says she feels a 'responsibility' to find her sister and 'bringing her home' and feels progress in Suzanne's law, named after the bookkeeper Suzanne Pilley of Edinburgh, whose body was not found after she was murdered by her former loved one, David Gilroy, in 2010, gave them a 'opening for us to go'.
The 62-year-old said: 'This will influence us for the rest of our lives. It is not good that if his behavior in prison is very good, he can get out and lead through his life – where does that Arlene leave?
'Although she is dead, she still has her own human right to be found.
Arlene Fraser was murdered by her husband, wet, wet almost 30 years ago
Wet Fraser was imprisoned for life for killing his wife in 1998
'She should not be poured and buried aside and bury the truth with her. There is more than one crime – there is the murder and hiding a body and withholding information.
And when he gets out [without saying where she is] He still continues to commit a crime by withholding information and hiding a body. '
She added: “Substance boards must get us on board, they must be involved and know what non-public making means for families.”
Mrs. Gillies, Van Erskine, Renfrewshire, said it was time for politicians to realize that families played a role in the process.
The grandmother of two said that in the 1980s her parents deserve to know what happened to their daughter.
She added: 'I don't see why we can't see a change in legislation.
'We may never know if it [the law] remains the same; It is very unlikely that we will ever discover it, and that is difficult to accept.
“But the new change in the law is like an opening for us to move forward, because now we are stuck.”
Arlene's sister Carol Gillies hopes that her family will finally reveal where her body is after ministers agreed to support a new law
Former detective head inspector Alan Smith, who said the deputy senior research officer in the case that he did not believe that Fraser would ever tell where his wife's body is because it is now the last 'piece of control' that he has about her.
But after the decision of the Scottish government to support the new law, suggested by MSP Jamie Greene, Mrs. Gillies said: 'It gives us hope. It means that we are not only fighting that the law is on our side, or at least helps us.
“If he gets out of good behavior, I would feel that the law abandoned us.”
Fraser was imprisoned for killing his wife, who had made plans to separate from him, in 2003 after his friend, farmer Hector Dick, had received him in court to escape charges.
That conviction was later destroyed, but Fraser was moved in 2012 and was found guilty of paying a Hitman £ 15,000 to kill Mrs. Fraser.
He wanted to avoid a divorce that would have cost him £ 250,000 and custody of their children.
To this day, he refused to close her family by revealing where her remains are.
Mrs. Gillies said: 'I thought about going into the forest and searching for her in the early days, I was so desperate, it's just of course.
'I just feel this responsibility to bring her home, but also to blame in not knowing how to do it.
“I'm just happy that the law helps us, because as a family we don't know where to start.”
She praised the family of Suzanne Pilley for persisting their calls for a change in the law, which follows the introduction of Helen's Law in England and Wales in 2021.
Under the reforms supported by Justice Secretary Angela Constance on Thursday, the Parole Board for Scotland, which considered, will have the powers of criminals who have explained the criminal part of their sentence to take into account the absenteeism to take the location of the remains of a victim in the event of a release.
This means that prisoners who do not announce where they can be hidden a body behind bars until they do.
Mrs. Gillies now hopes that the law will come into force before Fraser will be suspended release in four years.
