Glaisyers ETL welcomes landmark judgment in case of Leeson & Anor v McPherson

by [email protected] | Oct 1, 2024 | Blog, Featured

10 September 2024: Glaisyers ETL, the Manchester headquartered national law firm, has welcomed last Friday’s High Court judgment ruling that the businesswoman Paula Leeson, who died in a swimming pool in Denmark in 2017, was unlawfully killed by her husband Donald McPherson.

Following a trial at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre this April, Mr Justice Richard Smith delivered his judgment in the case of Leeson & Anor v McPherson on 6 September 2024. He found “without hesitation” that Mr McPherson unlawfully killed Ms Paula Leeson, and should not benefit financially from her estate, or the life insurance policies totalling £3.9 million he had taken out on her, most without her knowledge.

Mr McPherson was not present, and elected not to be represented, at the trial this spring. Originally from New Zealand, he is believed currently to be living in the South Pacific region.

Ms Leeson worked for her family’s groundworks and skip hire business, W. Leeson & Son. She drowned on 6 June 2017 while on holiday with Mr McPherson at a remote property in Denmark.

The case was initially treated as accidental death by the Danish authorities. A later criminal trial for murder in the UK collapsed in 2021 after the judge in that case, Mr Justice Goose, directed the jury to return a “not guilty” verdict based on there being insufficient evidence to secure a safe conviction.

Immediately following the collapse of the 2021 trial, Ms Leeson’s son Ben, father William and brother Neville initiated civil proceedings against Mr McPherson, instructing the law firm Glaisyers ETL to act for them. 

The team working on the case at Glaisyers ETL was led by partner David Jones and senior associate Alison Rowley, with support from the wider commercial litigation team, including trainee Niamh Howarth. The Leeson family were represented in court by the barristers Lesley Anderson KC of Kings Chambers and Tom Gosling and Arianna Barnes of 23 Essex Street Chambers.

Lesley Blohm KC of St John’s Chambers, along with Tom Gosling, represented the family at an earlier hearing, in January 2022, at which an application by Mr McPherson to strike out the Leeson family’s claim was dismissed.

Reflecting on Friday’s judgment, David Jones, partner at Glaisyers ETL, said, “After the seven-year battle for justice on behalf of Paula Leeson, this was the result that we, and the family, had been waiting for.

“Glaisyers ETL have worked tirelessly to secure this outcome for the Leeson family, who never wavered in their belief that their beloved mother, daughter, sister and auntie had been murdered. Despite the Danish authorities originally ruling her death an accident and McPherson’s ‘not guilty’ verdict in 2021, we continued to fight for justice alongside them.”

The civil case in April heard a range of significant new evidence that did not form part of the original criminal prosecution in 2021. The family believes that this new evidence, and Friday’s judgment, will enable Greater Manchester Police and the Crown Prosecution Service to re-open the criminal investigation into the case.

Mr Jones continued, “This was a landmark case, and, pending the findings of an inquest into Paula’s death expected later this year, the family believe the compelling new evidence underpinning last week’s judgment makes an overwhelming argument for Greater Manchester Police and the Crown Prosecution Service to reopen their investigation into Paula’s death.

“Civil cases alleging criminal activity – in this case the most serious criminal act of all – are rare and often involve high-profile defendants, with settlement being a likely result. However, that was never a realistic outcome for this case which, beyond making sure that McPherson could not profit from Paula’s death, was never about money.

“If the evidence we were able to unearth and present to the High Court in April were to lead to a reopening of the criminal investigation, and potentially another trial under the terms of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, then we believe it would be the first time in England and Wales that criminal proceedings would have been reopened based on the findings of a civil case.”

Mr McPherson, who was born Alexander James Lang in the Auckland suburb of Takapuna, has gone by several different names during his lifetime and has 36 convictions spanning 15 years across three different countries. During the civil trial in April the Court heard that at the time of Ms Leeson’s death he was already preparing another new identity, under the name “Rob Jones”.

In a statement released following Friday’s judgment, the Leeson family said, “Naturally, we were devastated when the criminal Trial against Donald McPherson for Paula’s murder could not proceed in March 2021. We remain grateful to the Greater Manchester Police for their investigation into Paula’s death to-date and the provision of a large volume of documents which helped ensure the success of this claim.

“We now believe that this large body of evidence and the further new and compelling evidence secured in the course of these civil proceedings will enable GMP and the Crown Prosecution Service to re-open the investigation into Paula’s murder and again pursue criminal charges against Donald McPherson leading to his conviction for Paula’s murder.”

For further information please contact:

Additional Sources:

• Solicitors Journal
• Judiciary.uk
• The Guardian
• BBC
• The Independent
• The MEN