A criminal case accusing Donald McPherson of murdering his wife was thrown out in 2021 but he has a lengthy criminal history. Photo / Supplied
A criminal case accusing Donald McPherson of murdering his wife was thrown out in 2021 but he has a lengthy criminal history. Photo / Supplied
Kiwi fraudster Donald McPherson has been jailed for two years for contempt of court.
In a UK civil case, the Takapuna-born man was found to have unlawfully killed his wife in Denmark in 2017.
In the most recent ruling, McPherson failed to disclose assets during the case.
Kiwi fraudster Donald McPherson, who was found to have killed his ex-wife, has been jailed for two years for contempt of court.
Paula Leeson, 47, from Sale near Manchester, died in a swimming pool while on holiday with Takapuna-born McPherson, born Alexander James Lang, in Denmark in 2017.
Leeson’s family alleged he killed her as part of a life insurance plot in which McPherson stood to gain £3.5 million ($7m).
However, in a later finding, a High Court judge in the UK ruled Leeson was unlawfully killed by her husband so he could gain access to her $9.4m estate.
The civil action blocked him from inheriting any money.
Earlier this year, McPherson was found in contempt of court due to failing to disclose assets.
Once they were husband and wife, and without Leeson’s knowledge, he started paying £460 a month ($1041) in life insurance premiums, despite his huge debts, the Daily Mail reported.
Paula Leeson, former wife of Donald McPherson, who was born Alex Lang. Her death during a weekend break in Demark led to McPherson being charged with murder. Photo / Supplied
Months after their wedding, he forged new will and trust documents that would give him control of Leeson’s finances if she died.
In the judgment published today, Judge Mark Cawson, KC, suggested the seriousness of the contempt meant “only a custodial sentence will suffice”.
“McPherson has committed some 32 criminal offences of dishonesty and fraud in various jurisdictions throughout the world,” the judgment read.
“In these circumstances, there is simply no basis for any discount being given on the basis of the defendant being of good character. He is plainly a man of bad character.”
Leeson’s brother Neville said their family had always thought McPherson was “very strange”.
“It was like he had dropped from space when he met Paula … he had no friends … he said he was from a foster home and he never had any parents and all this.”
Neville said that after his sister’s death, they found McPherson wasn’t the orphaned foster child from New Zealand he had claimed to be.
Instead, he was Alex Lang, born in Takapuna in 1973, then growing up in Auckland’s North Shore with his parents and two sisters.
Since then, he has adopted at least five other identities, had 27 convictions for dishonesty in New Zealand and a jail term in Germany for embezzlement of about $35m.
