Bail for Kiwi in Canadian cold case

Former Napier city councillor Peter Beckett pictured in 1998. Photo / Supplied

A former Napier city councillor accused of murdering his wife in Canada has been bailed.

Peter Beckett, 54, was arrested by Canadian police on August 12 after a year-long investigation into the death of his wife, Laura Letts-Beckett, who drowned on August 18 last year.

The death, described at the time as a tragedy, was originally thought to have happened because she was not wearing a life jacket and could not swim.

However, police announced in June that they were treating it as a homicide, and Beckett was charged with first-degree murder.

He was granted bail when he appeared in the British Colombia Supreme Court in Kamloops this week, the Dominion Post reported.

The bail requires posting CAD$150,000 ($NZ190,316).

Beckett was a Napier city councillor for one term, from 1998 to 2001, and ran a tourism business taking Unimog tours to Cape Kidnappers.