A Scottish judge has sentenced a man to life in prison for the 2024 murder of his Alberta girlfriend in the remote Shetland Islands.

Judge Paul Arthurson says 24-year-old Claire Leveque died a squalid and unimaginable death in an episode of frenzied “feral butchery.”

A jury heard Aren Pearson stabbed the woman from Westlock, north of Edmonton, at least 26 times in a hot tub and held her head under the water.

When police responded, officers found 41-year-old Pearson in the tub with the woman’s body.

The judge says the man sought to belittle his girlfriend’s character and made several abusive and derogatory comments about her.

Scotland Police Insp. Richard Baird says in a statement that Pearson was “cruel and selfish” and hopes the verdict brings closure to Leveque’s family.

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