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Barry Sherman and his wife Honey were found dead in their Toronto mansion on December 15, hanging from belts tied to a railing in a “semi-seated position” on their pool deck. Almost two months later, Barry’s cousin Kerry Winter appeared on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) programme The Fifth Estate (video above), confessing that he had fantasised about killing his cousin, even though he denies being the actual culprit.

The Shermans were worth over $4 billion, and one of Canada’s richest families, thanks to Apotex, a pharmaceutical company that Barry founded. Barry appeared to have gathered a long list of enemies over the years, including Winter and his siblings. The Toronto police believe the couple were the targets of a double homicide, though Winter alleged it was a homicide-suicide.

Winter made many strange claims in his interview. He said that Barry had twice asked him to kill his wife, Honey, two decades ago, but had backed out at the last minute when Winter reminded him there was no turning back.

CBC decided to test Winter’s claim and subjected him to a polygraph test, which he subsequently failed. On realising that he had failed the test, Winter even admitted that he had embellished his story.

The Shermans’ children denounced the allegations by Winter about the conspiracy to kill Honey Sherman. They said in a statement, “We are deeply hurt, shocked and angered that Kerry Winter is using the tragedy of our parents’ homicides to make outrageous and baseless claims about our father. The family accepts the conclusion of the Toronto Police Service, and finds it regrettable that the media would give a platform to these completely absurd allegations.”