# Murder of Patricia Allen

On November 13, 1991, Patricia Allen, a 31-year-old lawyer was murdered by her estranged husband, Colin McGregor, with a crossbow in the downtown of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Colin McGregor, was later found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

## Background
### Patricia Allen

Patricia Allen, the only daughter of George and Maisie Allen, grew up with two brothers. Allen had earned her bachelor's degree in Philosophy at a university in Ottawa. Allen decided to pursue a law degree from McGill University, where she graduated in the top her class in 1988 and winning a prize for the highest achievement in civil law courses. She later moved to Ottawa with her husband, where she worked as a lawyer for Revenue Canada in 1989.

### Colin McGregor

Colin McGregor was the eldest of three boys of a Montreal business man, and grew up in the community of Westmount in Montreal. At the of his high school, McGregor finished as valedictorian and later student body president at his CEGEP. He was described as a champion debater at McGill university, bringing victories to the University at international competitions.

### Allen's relationship with McGregor

The pair met on the campus of McGill University, while Allen was pursuing law and McGregor studying philosophy. After graduating, they got married and moved to Ottawa. Their relationship was described as tremulous by family and friends, as they frequently fought and McGregor was perceived as jealous and possessive of Allen. In 1990, they bought a home together and Allen was working as a lawyer at Revenue Canada.
During this time McGregor had bounced between jobs, working as a reporter in Halifax and Montreal and later as a media spokesperson for the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association and in the federal government. In the fall of 1990, McGregor started a Masters of Public Administration at Carleton University while Allen financially supported him. In the summer of 1991, he was able to secure a highly desired co-op position as a auditor at the Department of National Defence.
In the fall of 1990, when Allen was promoted to senior policy adviser on the Goods and Services Tax, McGregor later told a divorce lawyer that he felt a shift in their relationship at that time. Afterwards, McGregor started acting bizarrely, complaining about various pains in his throat, liver, eyes, pancreas and brain. He was convinced he was dying from a herpes infection, believing that swallowing a cold sore had triggered the dormant virus to spread throughout his body. Nothing physical was discovered after visiting a number of specialists, rather they believed his beliefs were psychological. During this time, the couple were heard by neighbours arguing loudly and continuously.
He was admitted to the psychiatric ward for a week in the spring of 1991, and after his release his condition deteriorated and he stopped working his job at the National Defence. After threatening suicide in August 1991, McGregor was readmitted to the psychiatric ward for a period of three weeks. It was determined by the end of his stay in a report, that his physical symptoms were the result of stress, and were quite probably used to control and manipulate others. It was observed that McGregor was holding onto a lot of anger, resentment and hostility towards people. During his stay in the psychiatric ward, Allen announced to McGregor that she wanted a divorce.
Towards the second week of September, McGregor was discharged from the psychiatric ward, and a close friend picked him up, where he proceeded to live for a short period. He would frequently call his friends, and ramble on a variety of topics such as suicide, his recent separation, his ailments and how this situation was unfair. After his release, up until her murder, McGregor would incessantly harass Allen. He would repeatedly call her, attempt to reenter their former matrimonial home without permission. During this time, Allen kept a "Diary of Threats" and had a friend stay with her.
Leading up to the murder, the former couple had met up a number of times to divide their possessions as the divorce continued to the final steps. That October, McGregor managed to enter the house using a pair of garden shears. On October 23, 1991, McGregor bought a Crossbow and a pack of steel-tipped hunting bolts. In the following weeks, he would use the walls of his room as a target practice, filling them with holes and continuing until the bolts were dull. A few days prior to the murder, he bought a new set of bolts.

## Murder

On the morning of November 13, 1991, Allen drove to her dentist appointment in Downtown Ottawa. Unbeknownst to her, McGregor had been monitoring her movements and followed her covertly to her dentist appointment. After Allen concluded her appointment, McGregor got out of his vehicle and approached Allen while she was unlocking her vehicle, with a crossbow concealed with a garbage bag. Taken by surprised, she questioned him on what he was doing there, and that's Allen was shot in the chest with a steel-tipped hunting bolt, which resulted in her death.
McGregor immediately admitted to his actions, stating he attempted to kill her in an interrogation room, 45 minutes after the attack took place. He went on to make a full confession, stating he deliberately made the decision to kill his wife as she had kicked him out of their home, when he needed her the most. He also stated that he had previously attempted to kill her and himself but did not succeed. He believed that he was going to die at any time due to his systemic herpes. McGregor later confessed that he had originally bought the crossbow to kill himself as it was much more accessible than purchasing a gun. During McGregor's trial, Allen's family and friends discovered that he had previously informed his psychiatrist, weeks before Allen's murder that he had the desire to kill her. After being charged with first degree murder and making an initial appearance in court, McGregor was sent to the Royal Ottawa Hospital for a 30-day psychiatric assessment. He later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In 1993, Justice Louise Charron delivered her 149-page judgement rejecting McGregor's claim of insanity. He was sentenced to life in prison.
McGregor was later released from prison after 29 years.

## Aftermath
### Colin McGregor

McGregor spent 29 years in prison and was eventually released. In prison, he wrote plenty in both English and French, the latter which he learned in prison. Additionally, while incarcerated, he edited and wrote an online blog and magazine named The Social Eyes, cowrote a couple books with Raymond Viger, such as the Quebec Suicide Prevention Handbook. He detailed on The Social Eyes, that he feels that his time elapsed in prison did not make him bitter as he was able to help fellow prisoners by tutoring them, he was able to attend church, and got to read. McGregor has admit that he will never live down what he did resulting in incarceration, although he has never publicly apologized for his actions.

### Patricia Allen

Patricia Allen's murder had an everlasting legacy that lives on today in a variety of different memorials.
In 1992, a fund was created in honour of her named "The Patricia Allen Memorial Fund". It started at first with simple private donations but later made use of other fundraising methods such as bingos and an annual golf tournament. By 1996, it had raised over 220,000 Canadian dollars, to fund scholarships for graduate students that are conducting research in areas related to spousal violence.
Also in 1992, the Faculty of Law at McGill University created a guest lecture event in her honour named: Patricia Allen Memorial Lecture, which consist of a series of lectures to raise awareness to violence-related issues. The first lecture took place on the anniversary of Allen's death and covered the topic of violence against women. In Montreal, over 100 students came together to commemorate Allen's memory, on the 1st anniversary of her death, where they planted a tree and unveiled a plaque in her memory.
In 1994, the Memorial fund helped fund a study with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences to explore when would it be necessary for doctors to report threats made by their patients. The results of the study assisted medical professionals to put forwards a several recommendations, such as compelling doctors to report their patient's serious threats concerning inflicting serious harm onto another individual to the police or risk disciplinary action under professional misconduct regulations. Today, Carleton University continues to fund graduate students with the Patricia Allen Memorial Fund Scholarships.
Allen's name is featured on Enclave, a monument commemorating the lives of Ottawa women who were murdered by men from 1990 to 2000.