The trial of George Proctor, the 86-year-old University of the West Indies consultant botanist who is charged with conspiracy to murder his wife, has been set for December 4 in the Home Circuit Court.

He is charged jointly with his driver, 41-year-old Glenmore Pellington, of Lyn Avenue, Christiana, Manchester.

The Crown is alleging that Proctor paid Pellington $90,000 to murder his 66-year-old wife.

Proctor is a respected botanist who has lived in Jamaica for more than 50 years. Considered an authority on this country's flora, he was also a consultant in the Science Department at the Institute of Jamaica.

Pellington was offered bail yesterday in the sum of $500,000 with two sureties. Justice Marva McIntosh ordered Pellington to surrender his travel documents to the police and to report to the Christiana Police Station four times weekly.

Proctor was offered bail earlier this year in the sum of $500,000 with a surety.