Man stabbed girlfriend to death in hot tub in Shetland

A man murdered his girlfriend by repeatedly stabbing her in a hot tub at his mum’s remote Scottish island home.

Aren Pearson, 41, stabbed defenceless Claire Leveque, 24, a minimum of 26 times at his mother’s property in Sandness, Shetland, on February 11, 2024.

Jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh heard how 19 of the stab wounds were inflicted on Claire’s face and neck. The attack took place at the end of a campaign of domestic abuse.

Claire, who came to Scotland from her home in Canada, was subjected to physical assaults and verbal abuse.

“I stabbed her about 40 times”
Aren Pearson during 999 call

Claire Leveque and Aren Pearson. Claire Leveque

Following the assault, Pearson, a fellow Canadian, repeatedly confessed to inflicting deadly wounds on Claire to a 999 operator and police officers who attended the crime scene.

He also made a confession to medics who treated him for superficial injuries which he inflicted upon himself at a hospital in Lerwick.

But despite these admissions, Pearson went to trial claiming that he saw Claire repeatedly stab herself and that he wasn’t responsible for murdering her.

His claims caused great emotional pain to members of Claire’s family who travelled from their North American homes to hear harrowing evidence describing the full extent of Claire’s injuries.

On Wednesday, jurors put an end to Pearson’s outrageous claims by finding him guilty of murdering and assaulting Claire in the months before her death.

Judge Lord Arthurson jailed Pearson for life and was told he’d serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

Moments before this, defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson KC told Lord Arthurson that there was nothing he could say by way of mitigation.

He added: “He has said to me during these proceedings that not a day goes by where he does not think about February 11, 2024 without sadness.”

He added: “We’ve had him psychiatrically examined and there’s nothing by way of mental disorder.”
In her closing speech to jurors, prosecutor Margaret Barron said the overwhelming evidence against Pearson was based on his confessions and other sources of evidence.

Murderer’s mother called 999

During proceedings, jurors heard an emergency service phone call made by his mother Hazel from her home in Sandness, Shetland.

Hazel – who died earlier this year – phoned because Aren told her he killed his partner Claire in a hot tub.
They heard Aren take the phone from his mum to tell the operator that he also stabbed himself and that he drove his Porsche into the “ocean”.

He said: “Hello, hi, my name is Aren Pearson. I’ve just killed my girlfriend in the hot tub in the garage.

“I stabbed her about 40 times in the heart, stomach, face, neck and back.

“I stabbed myself in the neck four times.

“I drove my Porsche right into the ocean – it’s gone yeah, she is dead. I definitely killed her – to make sure I drowned her after I stabbed her several times…”

Hazel also told the operator that her son was acting “aggressively” and had turned “extremely violent” in the three weeks leading up to the incident.

She said that her son had lots of “issues” and that he had mental health problems.

She also told the operator that the hot tub was “full of blood”.

She said: “I tried to get her out of the water. He’s done something really terrible.”

Hazel said that Claire’s injuries were so bad she didn’t recognise her.

Hazel added: “She’s bleeding and she’s dying in a hot tub in the shed.”

Dana Jamieson, 37, a former police officer, told the court that she was among the first law enforcement officers to arrive at the scene.

She said that a person in the hot tub was “lifeless” and that Pearson was in the water with her.

Ms Jamieson added: “She was floating on her back.”

She said the water was black. Defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson KC later described the liquid as “blood in the water”.

Hazel later told police Hazel later told police that her son looked like a “zombie” on the night of the murder.

She said: “Aren walked into the kitchen and came back with a small black handled kitchen knife.

“Aren… then started stabbing himself to the front of his neck.

“He was bleeding badly. Aren stated to me he had hurt Claire.

“Claire was within the hot tub – the water was red with blood.

“Claire was covered with blood. She had severe injuries to her face.”

She told officers that after discovering Claire, she telephoned 999.

She added : “Aren did not look like my son. He was just like the way a zombie looks”

The court also heard how following his arrest, Pearson was taken to the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick.

Pearson told staff that he had stabbed himself in the neck, had consumed brake fluid and had driven his car, which the jury has heard was a Porsche, off a pier.

This prompted doctors to administer an antidote for the brake fluid and to order a CT scan to investigate his neck injuries.

A&E consultant Dr Caroline Heggie told prosecutor Margaret Barron that Pearson also made a remark which “stuck with her”.

“He said, ‘I’ve been trying to get rid of her for a while’,” she told the court.

Dr Heggie said Pearson was later assessed by a consultant psychiatrist who found that he wasn’t suffering from any mental illness.

Prosecutors produced a six-minute audio recording of the pair speaking to each other.

Before the recording was played, Judge Lord Arthurson told people who were sitting in the public benches they could leave the court if they were upset upon hearing Claire’s voice.

Jurors then heard Claire tell Pearson that he hit her three times. She said: “You beat the sh*t out of me on my 24th birthday.”

Speaking about the alleged abuse, Pearson told her: “You deserved every bit of it and more. You’re lucky I didn’t bash your head in.”

Jurors also heard Claire tell the accused: “I love you” before she later added: “You are going to kill me.”