Murder-accused Napier man 'just too big'

A NEW Zealand man awaiting trial for murder says the whole thing is an "amazing romance" gone wrong.

AT more than two metres tall and weighing 180kg, a former Napier councillor charged with murder was just too big to save his drowning wife, he says.

PETER Beckett, a Hastings-born 59-year-old is awaiting trial in Canada, accused of not only killing his wife, but also with trying to arrange the murder of five witnesses, including his wife's parents, a policeman who investigated his case and a lawyer.