'His motive for killing Paula is clear... Money'

CIVIL JUDGE RULES MAN CLEARED OF MURDER IN CRIMINAL COURT DROWNED MILLIONAIRE HEIRESS ON HOLIDAY

- PAT HURST & NICOLE WOOTTON-CANE

A MAN cleared of murdering his wealthy wife has been blocked from inheriting her £4.4m estate after a judge ruled he drowned her.

‘Serial liar’ Donald McPherson, 51, was ordered to be found not guilty of the murder of his wife Paula Leeson, 47, on a judge’s direction to the jury halfway through his trial in 2021.

Carrying wads of cash rolled up in elastic bands, he liked to give the impression of a man of means, but was in reality a ‘man of straw’, Manchester Crown Court previously heard.

Ms Leeson drowned in the swimming pool at a remote holiday cottage, booked by McPherson for a summer break in Denmark in 2017.