- The Big Yin has showed his support for the family of Claire Morris who was killed by Malcolm Webster
BILLY Connolly is backing relatives of a woman murdered by Malcolm Webster in their campaign to get better support for crime victims.
The Scottish comedian – who is currently on TV travelling the famous Route 66 in the United States – is one of more than 6,000 people who have signed a petition started by Peter Morris, brother of Claire Morris who was killed by Webster.
Mr Morris is calling for more help for victims and their families involved in long court cases.
The 48-year-old has taken his petition to the Scottish Parliament and is today (Tue) appearing before the petitions committee to plead his case.
Mr Morris said: “I was delighted to get so many signatures on the petition. Billy Connolly was one of several high-profile names to sign it.
“The public have backed my campaign and it seems to be resonating with the politicians as well.”
Webster was jailed for a minimum of 30 years in July for killing his wife Claire in 1994.
It was first thought 32-year-old Claire died in a car crash, but Webster had in fact drugged his wife of eight months and staged the accident on a quiet Aberdeenshire road.
Webster was also convicted of attempting to murder his second wife Felicity Drumm, in Auckland.
And he was found guilty of intending to bigamously marry another woman, Simone Banarjee, from Oban, Argyll, to gain access to her estate, while pretending he had leukaemia.
The crimes were committed as part of a plot to claim almost £1m in life assurance money.
Mr Morris, from Gillingham in Kent, handed over the signatures to the Scottish Parliament at the end of a walk across Scotland after Webster was convicted.
He had planned to walk from Claire’s grave in Aberdeenshire to Edinburgh.
But he had to do part of the journey by car after he got an infection in his foot and ended up in hospital for four days.
Mr Morris did manage to walk the final mile, with the help of crutches.
He handed the petition to justice minister Kenny MacAskill and was invited back to Holyrood to address the petitions committee.
He hopes a foundation in his sister’s memory and a £1 million support centre will help to ease the burden of those affected by crime.
