A coroner has ruled that convicted fraudster Donald McPherson murdered his wife, wealthy heiress Paula Leeson, five years after a judge directed a jury to find him not guilty of the crime. McPherson, 53, was cleared in 2021 halfway through his trial at Manchester Crown Court.
Leeson, 47, died in June 2017 after drowning in a swimming pool at a holiday villa in Denmark. The Danish authorities initially treated her death as a tragic accident, despite her sustaining 13 separate external injuries. Within hours of her death, McPherson began transferring thousands of pounds from her accounts to pay off his debts.
He had taken out £3.5 million in life insurance policies on Leeson shortly before her death. In 2017, a judge in civil proceedings brought by the Leeson family ruled that McPherson had unlawfully killed his wife for financial gain by rendering her unconscious and then drowning her in the pool.
At an inquest into Leeson's death, which had been delayed by the murder trial and subsequent civil hearings, Senior Coroner for Manchester South Alison Mutch stated that McPherson was heavily in debt and was the sole beneficiary of his wife's death. "I am therefore satisfied he did murder his wife," Mutch told Stockport Coroner's Court. "Her death occurred because her husband compressed her neck to render her unconscious, causing her body to enter the pool, causing her to drown, to financially benefit from her death. Her death was as a result of an unlawful killing."
Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Clegg of Greater Manchester Police told the hearing that he believed the death was a homicide. "There’s no doubt this was a homicide. She died at his hands. I have not looked for anyone else," he stated. He agreed with the Leeson family's view that the initial outcome was a miscarriage of justice and that McPherson, who is currently living in New Zealand, should be serving a life sentence.
Leeson's family, who run a successful plant hire business, had blocked McPherson from inheriting his late wife's £4.4 million estate in 2024. The coroner's inquest heard that a retrial for murder cannot take place unless compelling new evidence is found. Leeson's family expressed hope that ongoing police investigations, which in the past year gained access to McPherson's old laptop, would uncover such evidence to enable a retrial.
Leeson's brother Neville told the hearing that his sister's life was taken by McPherson's "greed" and that the family would continue fighting for justice. Leeson, who could swim, drowned in a pool that was only 4 feet deep. McPherson's defense at the murder trial was that she had fallen or jumped into the pool.