Fraudster planned to kill his wealthy future wife 'almost the minute' he met her, court told
manchestereveningnews.co.ukA convicted fraudster planned to kill his wealthy future wife 'almost the minute' after he met her, a barrister told a court.
Donald McPherson, 50, was ordered to be found not guilty of the 2017 murder of his wife Paula Leeson, 47, on a judge's direction to the jury halfway through his trial in 2021.
They lived in Sale, Trafford. Carrying wads of cash rolled up in elastic bands, McPherson liked to give the impression of a man of means, but was in reality a 'man of straw', it was claimed. READ MORE: As a harrowing video was shared among neighbours, they simply said: 'Jesus Christ' But the judge ruled that despite circumstantial evidence, a jury could not be sure to the criminal standard – beyond reasonable doubt – that he had killed her.
Ms Leeson’s family have now brought legal proceedings against McPherson at Manchester Civil Courts of Justice. They want a judge to rule, using the civil standard of a balance of probabilities, that McPherson unlawfully killed her by choking her unconscious and drowning her in a swimming pool while on holiday in Denmark.
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