A recent ruling by a coroner has determined that a man, previously acquitted of the murder of his affluent wife, is now found to have committed the crime. Donald McPherson, 53, who had been exonerated during his trial at Manchester Crown Court in 2021, was discovered to have taken out a £3.5 million life insurance policy on his wife, Paula Leeson, shortly before her supposed accidental drowning in Denmark in 2017.
Following his wife’s demise, McPherson swiftly drained her accounts of substantial sums to settle his debts. The Leeson family, proprietors of a plant hire business in south Manchester, intervened two years ago to prevent McPherson from inheriting his late wife’s £4.4 million estate.
McPherson, with a criminal record spanning 15 years and multiple convictions across three countries, had concealed his past from his wife by assuming various identities and fabricating a false background. Subsequent civil proceedings at the High Court established that McPherson had unlawfully killed his wife for financial gain by strangling her unconscious and submerging her in a pool. The coroner, concurring with the unlawful killing verdict, emphasized McPherson’s financial desperation as the motive behind the murder.
Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Clegg of Greater Manchester Police affirmed that the incident was a homicide, unequivocally attributing Ms. Leeson’s death to McPherson. The Leeson family’s legal representative expressed confidence in McPherson’s guilt and highlighted ongoing efforts to obtain new evidence for a potential retrial.
The inquest revealed damning details of McPherson’s actions post the incident, including his immediate financial transactions and disposal of his late wife’s belongings. Despite McPherson’s claims of innocence and the initial classification of Ms. Leeson’s death as accidental by Danish authorities, the evidence points to a premeditated crime orchestrated by McPherson to profit from his wife’s demise.
Ms. Leeson’s family continues to seek justice for her untimely death, denouncing the miscarriage of justice that allowed McPherson to evade conviction. The investigation remains active, with the hope that new evidence will eventually lead to a retrial and proper accountability for the heinous act committed by McPherson.