Scot, 78, accused of murdering ex was ‘controlling and possessive’
A SCOTS pensioner has gone on trial in Canada accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend and hiding her body.
Andrew Watson, 78, was arrested by detectives probing the disappearance of Lise Fredette, whose body has never been found.
Prosecutors at Peterborough Superior Court of Justice in Ontario said Watson was a “jilted and controlling” ex-boyfriend who had killed 74-year-old Lise as the “final act of harassing her”.
Watson, originally from Edinburgh, was arrested 10 days after Lise 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 on her driveway.
Detectives have found no trace of the pensioner, who was declared dead days after she went missing.
The court heard Watson and Lise met at a dance in 2011 and dated on and off for a few years before their relationship ended for good in April 2014.
Lise started dating another man a few months later but prosecutors allege Watson wouldn’t leave her alone and would sit outside her home and bombard her with letters.
In one letter read to jurors, Watson wrote: “I’m very worried about you going to bed at 1am.
“I keep wondering how you can have sex with someone you don’t love. Perhaps you should sit down and consider how you’re going to pay for this lifestyle.”
Lise contacted police about Watson’s behaviour in September 2014 and again in November that year just days before she went missing.
Her daughter Natalie Leclerc said she was aware that Watson was harassing her mother and watching her.
She told the court that her mother had gone to Watson’s house to ask him again to leave her alone and saw a piece of paper where Watson had been recording her whereabouts.
She said: “My mum told me she could see him from her place.
“We want to find my mum and put her to rest – we know she’s dead.”
Giving evidence, Lise’s friend Catherine Lockwood said she was afraid of Watson’s behaviour leading up to her death.
She said: “He was controlling and possessive. I told her he was stalking her and that she should tell her kids. He wasn’t stopping.”
The court also heard DNA testing revealed the two pools of blood in the driveway belonged to Lise and one on the pavement was Watson’s.
The jury were also told when police searched Watson’s home and vehicle they found more blood and also seized rope, tarpaulin and a shovel.
They also heard a shovel was sitting in a bucket filled with liquid believed to be bleach and blood was found on the handle and the metal end.
Lise and Watson’s blood was on the handle and Lise’s blood was on the metal.
Watson denies first-degree murder. The trial continues.