Peter Beckett and his wife Laura Letts-Beckett. Photo / Supplied
Peter Beckett and his wife Laura Letts-Beckett. Photo / Supplied
A three-part documentary series on the murder trial of New Zealand man Peter Beckett accused of murdering his wife in Canada is set to air on TV here.
In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, will be broadcast in New Zealand on Sky Open.
Beckett, a former Napiercity councillor, was accused of killing his wife Laura Letts-Beckett after she died during a fishing trip in Canada in 2010.
What ensued was an intense police investigation, scrutiny of a strained relationship, an alleged plot to kill witnesses, and nine years behind bars before an eventual acquittal – all of which are explored in the true crime series directed by Trish Neufeld.
Its New Zealand release dates are expected to be announced soon.
Letts-Beckett, a 50-year-old Canadian school teacher, drowned in remote Shelter Bay on Upper Arrow Lake, inland northeast of Vancouver on August 18, 2010.
While initially thought to be a tragic accident, her husband – who was the sole witness to her death – was arrested for her murder a year later in a case that shocked both Canada and New Zealand, sparking discussions about whether a former Kiwi local body politician could be capable of killing.
Prosecutors painted a picture of Beckett, who was 57 years old at the time of arrest, as being a greedy, menacing man, who not only allegedly killed his wife for financial gain but also hatched a plot to kill witnesses while in jail.
Upper Arrow Lake, where Laura Letts-Beckett was thought to have drowned. Photo / Supplied
During Becket’s first trial in 2016, a cellmate, whose identity was suppressed, claimed Beckett gave him a list of names of people to kill including the police investigator, Letts-Beckett’s parents, a cousin and a lawyer, reported Hawkes Bay Today.
“It developed to where I was to take out witnesses for him upon my release – and by take out, I mean kill witnesses,” the informant told jurors.
The trial resulted in a hung jury and was declared a mistrial before Beckett stood trial again a year later at the British Columbia Supreme Court in Kelowna.
He was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
The new documentary series will look at unanswered questions about the case.
In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery is a Canadian docuseries by AJP Productions, produced by Pablo Salzman, Thomas Robins and Suze Hannagan, and directed by Trish Neufeld.
