Coroner Rules Convicted Fraudster Murdered Heiress Wife Despite Criminal Acquittal

A coroner has concluded that Donald McPherson murdered his wife, Paula Leeson, during a 2017 holiday in Denmark — a finding that follows a High Court civil ruling and contrasts with a later criminal acquittal.

McPherson, 53, was directed by Mr Justice Goose to be found not guilty of murder by a jury at Manchester Crown Court in 2021 after the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence for a safe criminal conviction because accidental death could not be excluded. However, in separate civil proceedings two years earlier the High Court found that he unlawfully killed Ms Leeson to gain financially.

How the Courts Reached Different Conclusions

In the High Court civil case brought by the Leeson family, a judge concluded that McPherson throttled Ms Leeson until she lost consciousness and then drowned her in the private pool at a holiday cottage in Denmark on 6 June 2017. The civil ruling prevented McPherson from inheriting his late wife's £4.4m estate.

At the criminal trial, the judge directed a not-guilty verdict after determining jurors could not safely convict because the possibility of accidental death could not be entirely ruled out. McPherson has always denied involvement, describing his wife's death as a "tragic accident." His lawyers argued that some injuries could have arisen during rescue attempts and that pathologists could not exclude fainting or an accidental fall.

Willy Leeson, Paula's father, arrives at the inquest in Manchester - Peter Byrne/PA

Facts and Evidence

The case against McPherson included several financial and forensic details: he had taken out a £3.5m life insurance policy on Ms Leeson shortly before her death and began transferring thousands of pounds from her accounts within hours of her body being found. Ms Leeson's family, who run a plant-hire business in south Manchester, moved to block his inheritance and succeeded in civil court.

Ms Leeson, 47, was found face down in a roughly 4ft-deep private pool at a remote cottage booked by McPherson. Although she was 5ft 5in and could swim, medical evidence later identified 13 separate external injuries. Danish authorities initially treated the death as an accident.

Coroner's Conclusion

Alison Mutch, senior coroner for Manchester South, told Stockport Coroner's Court she accepted the High Court's finding of unlawful killing and was satisfied McPherson had murdered his wife. The coroner recorded that Ms Leeson's death occurred because her husband compressed her neck to render her unconscious, causing her to enter the pool and drown, and that McPherson stood to benefit financially.

Ms Leeson's father, Willy Leeson, attended the inquest with other family members. The coroner noted McPherson was heavily in debt and the only person to benefit from her death.

Background And Character Evidence

Court records show McPherson has a long criminal history, including serving time for an £11m bank fraud in Germany. He has used multiple name changes and a claimed "cover story" of being an orphan to conceal his past; records list 32 convictions across 15 years in three countries. After his wife's death, McPherson cleared their Sale, Greater Manchester, home of her possessions and joined the bereavement group Widowed And Young, which he reportedly described as "Tinder for widows."

The inquest and the contrasting court decisions illustrate the different standards of proof in criminal and civil law: criminal conviction requires proof beyond reasonable doubt, while civil rulings rest on the balance of probabilities. The coroner's conclusion aligns with the civil finding that Ms Leeson was unlawfully killed.