Where is Donald McPherson now? Paula Leeson's fraudster husband who disappeared after she drowned

Interest in Paula Leeson's case has surged following the re-showing of Channel 5's documentary The Drowning of Paula Leeson. The programme revisits the 2017 death of a wealthy businesswoman who drowned while a holiday in Denmark, and the murder trial that subsequently collapsed in 2021.

Three years later, a civil court ruled that Paula's husband, Donald McPherson, had unlawfully killed her – but by this point, he'd fled the country.

These are the details of the case, what happened to Paula Leeson and where Donald McPherson is now after going on the run...

Paula Leeson was a 47-year-old businesswoman hailing from Greater Manchester, who was a key part of her family's successful civil engineering and skip hire business. She was also a mother to one son, Ben.

In 2014, Paula married Donald McPherson, a seemingly charming man from New Zealand – who would ultimately be found liable for killing Paula in a civil court of law, after a judge ruled that Donald had trapped Paula in an armlock in a swimming pool while on holiday in Denmark.

Donald McPherson is a convicted fraudster originally from New Zealand who has also used several different identities during his lifetime.

The High Court heard he was born Alexander Lang before later changing his name multiple times, including legally becoming Donald Anderson before eventually using the name Donald McPherson. Judges described the repeated name changes as part of his attempts to "re-invent himself".

Before meeting Paula, he had already been convicted over a multimillion-pound Commerzbank fraud in Germany and served a prison sentence. During later court proceedings, judges described him as a habitual liar whose life was characterised by extensive deception.

In June 2017, Paula and Donald travelled to Denmark for a remote cottage holiday that Donald had booked for his wife; she was later found dead in the property's swimming pool, face down in the water.

Initially, police viewed her death as a tragic accident, but suspicions later arose when it was found that Paula had multiple injuries and that despite being a capable swimmer, she drowned in a four feet-deep pool.

No – Donald McPherson was charged with Paula's murder, but in 2021 the trial ended before it reached the jury, after a judged ruled that there was insufficient evidence for a jury to safely convict him beyond reasonable doubt. The judge then directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict.

Donald has always denied killing his wife and maintained her death was a tragic accident.

However, Paula's family later brought a civil case, which has a lower standard of proof than a criminal trial and in September 2024, Mr Justice Richard Smith ruled on the balance of probabilities that Donald had unlawfully killed Paula by rendering her unconscious before she drowned.

The judge concluded his motive was financial, given he had taken out life insurance premiums against his wife totalling millions, and ruled that Donald should not inherit her estate.

In a summary of the civil case, the judge said, "Beyond the pathology evidence, it is no exaggeration to say that lies and dishonesty pervade every aspect of Don's life. Don lies to anyone if it might serve his interests, including to the authorities to get off more lightly for his role in a fraud against Commerzbank."

It adds that Donald also lied to Danish police, by claiming his wife could not swim, and that data from Paula's Fitbit tracker watch shows her heart rate spiked between 1:11pm and 1:14pm, before dropping rapidly – a share decline that is consistent with losing consciousness and drowning.

According to the judgement, Donald also delayed telling Paula's family what had happened and when he eventually did, "he gave three different accounts of what had occurred, none consistent with what he had told the Danish police".

Donald McPherson's exact whereabouts are not publicly known. He did not attend the 2024 civil proceedings and was not legally represented. During those proceedings, the court heard he was believed to be living somewhere in the South Pacific.

More recent reporting connected to The Drowning of Paula Leeson says McPherson is believed to have previously moved to New Zealand with a new partner following the collapse of his criminal trial, before apparently disappearing from public view. Those reports also state that Paula's family hope renewed publicity surrounding the documentary will make it harder for him to remain anonymous.

Unless authorities publicly confirm his location, it remains unknown where he is currently living.

It's possible, but far from guaranteed. Following the 2024 High Court ruling, Paula Leeson's family called for Greater Manchester Police and the Crown Prosecution Service to reopen the criminal case, with her brother telling the BBC, "We've got to try and live with the fact that we have evidence [referring to the Fitbit data] which proves that Paula's been murdered, but nothing's been done about it.

"It's like her life means less than anybody else's life."

The Crown Prosecution Service has denied that the evidence Paula's family are pushing to be considered is strong enough, and says the threshold for a new legal trial has not been met. "The Director of Public Prosecutions recognises how deeply disappointing this is for Mrs Leeson's family, and he wrote to them to explain his reasoning in detail," a CPS spokesperson said.