RENEE AND ANDREW MACRAE: Jury at High Court in Inverness considering their verdict

A JURY of eight women and seven men at the High Court in Inverness are considering their verdict in the 46 year old mystery around Renee MacRae and her son, Andrew which has been treated by police as murder.

After receiving final instructions in law from Lord Armstrong, the jury retired at 10.11am on the 13th day of the trial of 80-year-old former Inverness man Bill MacDowell.

MacDowell was the secret lover of his boss' estranged wife and the father of the three year old boy. He was sacked as company secretary of MacRae Builders days after the disappearance.

He had been accused of murdering them by means unknown in the Dalmagarry Lay-by, 12 miles from Inverness on the main A9 south to Perth on November 12, 1976. He also denied setting her BMW car on fire to destroy evidence and then disposing of their bodies and belongings. They have never been found.