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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Stuart Macdonald

Family of woman brutally murdered by evil Scots pensioner win £750k payout from his estate

The family of a woman who was brutally murdered by a Scots pensioner in Canada have won a £750,000 payout from his estate.

Andrew Watson bludgeoned Lise Fredette to death with a shovel before putting her corpse in his car and dumping it at an unknown location.

The 74-year-old's body has never been found and Watson refused to reveal her whereabouts.

Watson, originally from Glasgow, was found guilty of murder by a jury in Ontario in April 2017 and was given a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years. He died in prison aged 84 in July.

Miss Fredette's children St phane and Nathalie Leclerc had launched a lawsuit against him for damages for loss of care, guidance and companionship and for nervous shock and mental stress.

Andrew Watson, 84, died in prison in July (Pressteam)

Miss Fredette's son and daughter also sued for loss of income, the cost of their mother's funeral and legal fees. Watson was served with legal papers about the case in prison before his death but filed no defence.

A judge at the Peterborough Superior Court has now awarded Mrs Fredette's family £752,000 in damages and costs.
Watson's bank accounts will be seized and his assets will be sold off to pay the family.

The killer, who emigrated to Canada several years ago and worked as a government office clerk, owned a detached property in Peterborough, Ontario, which has no mortgage on it.

The family's lawyer Jeffrey Ayotte said: "We believe this judgement to be the highest awarded in Canadian history in the circumstances where adult children have lost a parent.

"The magnitude of this decision clearly reflects the court's views on all that Lise Fredette's family has endured as a result of the reprehensible conduct which led to her passing."

At Watson's trial, prosecutors told jurors that he was a "jilted and controlling" ex-boyfriend and he had killed Miss Fredette as the "final act of harassing her".

He was arrested ten days after the grandmother was last seen leaving her job at Walmart on November 12, 2014. Her glasses and keys were found next to her car at home and there was blood in her driveway.

At the sentencing hearing, Miss Fredette's children appealed directly to Watson to tell them where he had buried their mother but he refused.

Watson and Miss Fredette met at a dance in Peterborough, where they both lived, in 2011 and dated on and off for a few years before their relationship ended for good in April 2014.

Miss Fredette started dating another man a few months later but Watson wouldn't leave her alone and would sit outside her home and bombard her with letters.

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