A coroner has ruled that Donald McPherson, a convicted fraudster previously acquitted of murdering his wife, did in fact kill heiress Paula Leeson. The decision was delivered at an inquest held in Stockport this week, nearly five years after McPherson was directed to be found not guilty by a judge during his 2021 trial at Manchester Crown Court due to insufficient evidence.

Paula Leeson, 47, died in June 2017 from drowning in a swimming pool at a holiday cottage in Denmark. Initially treated as an accidental drowning by Danish authorities, her death was later the subject of civil and criminal proceedings. McPherson, 53, had taken out a £3.5 million life insurance policy on Leeson shortly before her death and was later found to have transferred thousands of pounds from her accounts within hours of the drowning to pay off his debts.

At the inquest, senior coroner Alison Mutch stated that McPherson, who was heavily in debt, was the sole beneficiary of his wife’s death. She concluded that he caused her death by compressing her neck to render her unconscious before drowning her in the pool. Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Clegg of Greater Manchester Police told the court there was no doubt Leeson’s death was a homicide and McPherson was responsible. DCI Clegg expressed the view that a miscarriage of justice had occurred in the earlier criminal trial and that McPherson, who currently resides in New Zealand, should be serving a life sentence.

In 2024, a civil court judge ruled that McPherson had unlawfully killed Leeson to gain financially from her estate, which was valued at £4.4 million. Following that ruling, the Leeson family took legal steps to prevent McPherson from inheriting her assets. Despite the family submitting what they described as new and compelling evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue a retrial, the Director of Public Prosecutions declined to bring criminal charges again, stating that the evidence was already available during the original trial.

McPherson has consistently denied any involvement in his wife’s death, describing the incident as a tragic accident. His past includes a history of fraud convictions across three countries, including a prison sentence in Germany for an £11 million bank fraud under his birth name, Alexander Lang. He also reportedly used multiple aliases and sought to conceal his criminal history. Additionally, McPherson’s previous wife and their young daughter died in a house fire while he was incarcerated, with investigators concluding the fire was deliberately started by his wife.

The Leeson family, who run a plant hire company in South Manchester, have expressed ongoing frustration with the criminal justice system’s handling of the case and stated their intent to continue seeking justice. Prosecutors and police remain hopeful that further examination of McPherson’s confiscated laptop could yield new evidence necessary to reopen the case and secure a retrial. However, as things stand, without this compelling new evidence, a criminal retrial is not possible under current law.