Have you seen Alex Lang? Or Donald McPherson, as he was known when he stood trial in an English courtroom for the murder of his wife, Paula Leeson.

• Published date: 15 September 2024
• Publication title: Herald on Sunday

Paula’s brother Neville Leeson wants to know if the man he knew as McPherson really is in New Zealand

The last heard of McPherson was just before Christmas 2021 at a hearing leading up to the inquest into Paula’s death. He didn’t turn up to court. Instead, he said through his lawyer he had returned to New Zealand and would testify at the inquest hearings by video link.

For Neville, it’s a promise from a man who has lied so often. If he keeps that promise, perhaps Paula’s family will finally get answers about the events leading up to her death.

“I don’t know where he is,” he tells the Herald from Greater Manchester. “I have no idea at all.” He claims you “can’t believe a word,” McPherson says.

Paula died in June 2017 during a weekend break with McPherson from Manchester to Denmark.

Danish police wrote it off as a tragic holiday accident but Neville Leeson suspected something was awry.

Those suspicions led to the discovery that messages and photographs from the holiday had been deleted from Paula’s phone and detectives from Greater Manchester digging into McPherson’s life.

They found he wasn’t the orphaned foster child from New Zealand he had claimed. He was Alex Lang, born in Takapuna in 1973, growing up on 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 worth around $35m.

They also discovered that ahead of the trip to Denmark with Paula Leeson, his wife of three years, he took out more than a dozen insurance policies — some with forged signatures — putting him in line for a $7m payout from the death of his wife.

“We can’t ever get over what has happened,” Neville says. “You can’t live with it, can you? But we have to try and live with it. I don’t understand how people like him are allowed to walk around free.”

McPherson was charged with murder in April 2020 and went on trial a year later in the Crown Court at Manchester. When the prosecution case closed, the judge aborted the case, saying McPherson had likely murdered Paula but the evidence wouldn’t allow a jury to find beyond reasonable doubt that he was the killer.

“It just doesn’t seem right,” says Neville. “Paula can’t appeal her sentence — she’s dead now. It doesn’t seem fair at all.”

On June 3, 2017, McPherson and Paula travelled to Denmark for an early summer break. Flying from Manchester to Copenhagen, they had a 3 drive across Denmark to the coastal town of Norre Nebel and two nights in a cottage.

It was a location at odds with what Paula’s family knew of her — she could swim but wasn’t keen on water, avoiding the beach and pools. The cottage had an indoor swimming pool, albeit one that was barely four feet (1.2m) deep.

Paula died on June 6, when the couple were due to fly back to Manchester. McPherson’s only formal account of what transpired was given to Danish police.

By his account, he put their packed suitcases in the rental car, then had a swim. Paula had been sick, he told police, using the toilet next to the swimming pool, and had spoken of a stomach ache and toothache. McPherson said he had been tired so returned to the bedroom to sleep, where she joined him.

McPherson said he woke alone and found Paula face down in the swimming pool, fully clothed and not moving. He described jumping into the pool, trying to lift Paula out. She was heavier and taller than he was, he said, and he suffered pain from a shoulder injury.

McPherson described leaving her in the pool to seek help at two neighbouring properties, finding no one home so returning to again try to pull Paula from the pool. This time he was successful. He called emergency services and followed instructions on performing CPR while waiting for paramedics. Attempts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.

McPherson rang Neville to break the news. Danish police closed the case, ruling...