A coroner has ruled that Donald McPherson murdered his wife, Paula Leeson, during a 2017 holiday in Denmark. This finding contradicts a 2021 criminal trial where McPherson was cleared of the crime.
The £3.5 million insurance policy and a financial crisis
Donald McPherson, a convicted fraudster, was driven by extreme debt to orchestrate the death of his wife, Paula Leeson, according to the coroner's report. the report says McPherson took out a £3.5 million life insurance policy on Ms. Leeson shortly before her death on June 6, 2017. Within hours of the incident, McPherson began draining thousands of pounds from her accounts to settle his own debts.
The financial stakes extended beyond the insurance policy. The family of Paula Leeson, who operate a successful plant hire business in south Manchester , eventually blocked Donald McPherson from inheriting her £4.4 million estate in 2024. this suggests a pattern of predatory financial behavior that the coroner believes culminated in murder.
An arm lock and a 4ft pool in Denmark
The physical evidence of the crime contradicts Donald McPherson's claim that he woke up to find Paula Leeson face down in a pool. A High Court judge determined that McPherson used an arm lock to compress Ms. leeson's neck,rendering her unconscious before she fell into the water. This act ensured her drowning in a pool that was only 4ft deep.
The circumstances of the death were particularly suspicious given that Paula Leeson was 5ft 5in and a capable swimmer. as reported by the source, the drowning occurred at a remote holiday cottage in Denmark, a location specifically booked by McPherson for their summer break.
The 2021 Manchester Crown Court acquittal
Despite the coroner's findings, Donald McPherson remains legally innocent of murder due to a 2021 trial at Manchester Crown Court. Halfway through those proceedings, a judge directed the jury to find McPherson not guilty, effectively ending the criminal case. This highlights the stark difference between the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard in criminal law and the "balance of probabilities" used in civil and coroner's courts.
This case echoes a recurring tension in the UK legal system where civil judges can rule that a killing was "unlawful" while criminal courts cannot secure a conviction. In this instance, the High Court ruled in civil proceedings brught by the Leeson family that McPherson had indeed killed his wife for financial gain.
Donald McPherson's current residence in New Zealand
Donald McPherson is currently living in New Zealand, far from the jurisdiction where the crime occurred. Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Clegg of Greater Manchester Police has explicitly called the outcome a miscarriage of justice, stating that McPherson should be serving a life sentence.
The possibility of further legal action is slim, as the inquest heard that no murder retrial can occur without the discovery of compelling new evidence. this leaves the family of Paula Leeson, including her brother Neville, to grapple with the fact that a man found to be a murderer by both a coroner and a civil judge is walking free.
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