Canadian national Aren Pearson brutally attacked his partner – 24-year-old Claire Leveque - stabbing her multiple times, choking her and submerging her in water in a hot-tub.
Pearson, 41, told a 999 operator exactly what he had done. He also told police officers and paramedics who attended the scene that he had killed Claire.
The young woman had met Pearson in their native Canada and travelled to Shetland with him in October 2023 to spend time with his elderly mother.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Pearson then subjected Claire to a prolonged period of domestic abuse and controlling behaviour, physically assaulting her on a number of occasions.
On 11 February 2024, he murdered her in a hot-tub in an annexe of his mother’s home on mainland Shetland. He then drove his Porsche sports car into the sea and inflicted knife injuries on himself.
Today he was found guilty of murder and given a life sentence, with an order to serve a minimum of 25 years in custody. He was also found guilty on a separate charge of assaulting Claire.
Procurator Fiscal Moira Orr, who leads on homicide investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said:
“There are few words which can describe the ordeal suffered by Claire Leveque at the hands of someone who was supposed to love her.
“Aren Pearson’s brutal treatment of this young woman robbed her of her future and has left her family utterly bereft.
“Prosecutors exposed Pearson’s lies and self-serving attempts to evade justice. They were able to show how he isolated Claire from her loved ones, abused her and murdered her.
“I hope there is some small comfort for her family in Pearson being publicly held accountable for his contemptible actions.
“The thoughts of all at COPFS are with them now.”