Peter Beckett, left, and Laura Letts-Beckett (Image Credit: Global BC)

By The Canadian Press

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.

His first trial ended in a hung jury and a mistrial before he was convicted at a second trial in 2017.

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The three-justice panel of the Appeal Court was unanimous in overturning the conviction.

At the second trial, Crown counsel alleged that Beckett pushed his wife into the water, killing her so he could cash in on her life insurance policy and pension. The defence said Beckett’s wife accidentally fell in and Beckett tried to save her.