WESTLOCK – It appears that Peter Ernest Edward Beckett, the man who’s stood trial twice and was convicted once of murdering his wife, Dapp-native Laura Letts-Beckett in 2010, will not be tried a third time.
The website Casanet Kamloops reports that on Monday, June 21 the first-degree murder charge against Beckett was stayed at the direction of Crown prosecutor Neil Wiberg during a brief hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops — the Westlock News reached out to Wilberg for comment, but did not receive a reply by deadline. A Crown stay means the case has been put on hold, but the charges can be brought back before the court within one year — once 12 months have passed, the charges are dropped.
Beckett, who according to some published reports is living in the Lower Mainland, but was spotted in the Westlock area earlier this summer according to one eyewitness who contacted the News, was not present, or represented by counsel in court June 21 when the charge was stayed.
Ultimately, the staying of the charge all but ends a decade of court cases and appeals that culminated April 29 when the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal from prosecutors who were seeking to have the B.C. Court of Appeal’s Sept. 29, 2020 dismissal of Beckett’s 2017 first-degree murder conviction overturned — the case was officially closed by the Supreme Court May 4.
Beckett, who’s now in his mid-60s and was granted bail Dec. 18, 2020, had been barred from having any contact with Crown witnesses from either of his trials and also banned from travelling anywhere outside of B.C. or Alberta — those conditions have been dropped now that the charge has been stayed.
Beckett’s 2017 first-degree murder conviction was overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal last fall on a number of grounds including that the trial judge erred in instructing jurors and that prosecutors made improper submissions to the jury — the three-judge panel called the Crown’s case weak and suggested that prosecutors avoid a third trial, although they did say the jury’s decision to convict was not “unreasonable” and acquittal was not warranted.
"The case against Mr. Beckett was entirely circumstantial; there was no forensic evidence that a crime had occurred. The central issue was whether Ms. Letts-Beckett's death was the result of a tragic accident or murder," the justices wrote.
And while convictions based solely on circumstantial evidence are allowable, the errors made by the judge and Crown were serious enough to warrant the quashing, the justices ruled.
“In these circumstances, a very real question arises as to whether it is in the interests of justice to proceed with yet a third trial,” B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Laurie Ann Fenlon wrote on behalf of the panel. “That decision, however, ultimately lies with the Crown.”
Case background
Beckett, who hails from New Zealand, stood trial twice for murder in connection with the death of Letts-Beckett, who drowned Aug. 18, 2010, in Upper Arrow Lake, B.C.
He was arrested and charged with murder in August 2011 and was in jail until the December 2020 bail hearing.
The first trial in Kamloops in 2016 ended with a hung jury after jurors remained deadlocked following more than a week of deliberation.
The second trial in Kelowna, which ran from August to September 2017, resulted in a first-degree murder conviction by a B.C. Supreme Court jury and he was sentenced to 25 years behind bars without a chance of parole.
Beckett, who had previously served as a Napier city councillor for three years, met Letts-Beckett, a teacher at Dapp School, on a guided tour of New Zealand in 1995. He moved to Westlock around 2002 and the couple were married the following year.
On the evening of her death, she and Beckett were riding in their Zodiac raft on Upper Arrow Lake. Letts-Beckett, who was not a strong swimmer, drowned in the lake and no one witnessed the incident.
Through both trials, prosecutors said Beckett killed his wife out of greed, hoping to cash in on life-insurance payouts and her pension. Witnesses in the 2016 trial also described a rocky relationship between the pair, who split in 2007 before reconciling months later.
Beckett has steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout, claiming Letts-Beckett fell, or jumped off the boat and drowned.
