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Jury finds Beckett guilty of murdering his wife

More than seven years after drowning his wife Laura Letts at a secluded lake in Upper Arrow Lake, B.C., Peter Beckett has been found guilty of first-degree murder. A Kelowna jury announced their verdict shortly before 5 p.m. Sept.
Peter Beckett, 62, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a Kelowna jury Sept. 16. Beckett, who’s been in custody since his arrest in August 2011, faces a minimum
Peter Beckett, 62, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a Kelowna jury Sept. 16. Beckett, who’s been in custody since his arrest in August 2011, faces a minimum of 25 years in jail.

More than seven years after drowning his wife Laura Letts at a secluded lake in Upper Arrow Lake, B.C., Peter Beckett has been found guilty of first-degree murder.

A Kelowna jury announced their verdict shortly before 5 p.m. Sept. 16 after deliberating for four days. The sentence comes with an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years.

Beckett stood trial last year in a Kamloops courtroom, but that was declared a mistrial as jurors couldn't come to a consensus.

On Aug. 18, 2010, the court heard that the couple were out boating on a Zodiac in Upper Arrow Lake near Revelstoke. Letts-Beckett, who wasn't a strong swimmer, drowned in the lake.

Beckett, originally a city councillor in New Zealand, met Letts-Beckett, a teacher from Dapp, in 1995 on a guided tour in Beckett's home country in 1995. He moved to Westlock 10 years ago where the couple were married.

Throughout two trials Beckett maintained his innocence, claiming Letts-Beckett fell or jumped off the boat and drowned.

The Crown argued Beckett pushed his wife so that he could cash in on a life insurance policy.

During Beckett's first trial, a video of the heavy-set man told police he was too buoyant to save his wife.

During pre-trial hearings, Beckett would submit stacks of handwritten pages with allegations of collusion by the judge, Crown and law enforcement. In those, he also claimed Thomas Beckett, the 12th century Archbishop of Canterbury, as an ancestor and proof of his innocence.

Beckett, who represented himself at the first trial, acted bizarrely in the courtroom, getting into heated verbal arguments with Crown prosecutor Joel Gold and calling B.C. Supreme Court Justice Iain Meiklem an Australian sponge cake.

At one time he performed a Maori war dance in the courtroom while on another occasion, his pants fell down as he stood up when the jury left the room. He also endorsed Donald Trump during his campaign for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency.

This time around, Beckett refrained from testifying.

Beckett was arrested and charged with murder one year after the crime and has been in custody ever since.

The Kelowna trial began Aug. 21 and wrapped up with closing arguments from the Crown Sept. 12.

Twice during the three-week trial, defence lawyer Marilyn Sandford applied for a mistrial.

In the first week, Sandford took issue with the testimony of one of the Crown's witnesses, a former cellmate of Beckett's whose name is protected by a publication ban because he was working as a police informant.

The witness said Beckett offered to pay him to 'take care of witnesses." Then he went on to provide some details about what Beckett wanted him to do, including taking witnesses out 'MVA style" and torching the house of Letts-Beckett's parents.

Justice Alison Beames did not grant the application for a mistrial, but she did order the jury to disregard the comments about the MVA style and the torching of the home.

The following week, after the Crown finished its case, Sandford filed another application for a directed verdict, requesting the case be dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

That application was dismissed and the trial continued.

• With files from Andrea Peacock of the Kelowna Daily Courier and Tim Petruk of Kamloops This Week.

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