Peter Beckett, left, and Laura Letts-Beckett (Image Credit: Global BC)
Peter Beckett
Conviction quashed, new trial ordered for man accused of murder after wife’s drowning near Revelstoke
Sep 29, 2020 | 4:26 PM
VANCOUVER — A man convicted of first-degree murder after his wife drowned while boating has been granted a new trial.
Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon of the B.C. Court of Appeal says in a decision released Tuesday (Sept. 29) that the case against Peter Beckett was circumstantial and the trial judge made several errors in relation to the admission of evidence and instructions to the jury.
Court documents show the couple, who were living in Alberta, were boating on a lake near Revelstoke in 2010 when Laura Letts-Beckett, who could not swim and was not wearing a life jacket, entered the water and drowned.
Beckett, a former city councillor from New Zealand, was charged with first-degree murder a year later.
