Surrey students lauded S for recycling efforts page 38
Eagles win one sland on the IIsland page 33
Thursday October 13, 2011 Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
RCMP, VPD had many chances to stop serial killer, lawyer charges
‘Botched’ policing let Pickton kill, inquiry told by Jeff Nagel THE MISSING WOMEN INQUIRY opened Tuesday to blunt accusations that both Vancouver Police and the RCMP badly bungled their investigations, letting serial killer Robert Pickton murder several more women after he should have been caught. Cameron Ward, the lawyer representing 18 victims’ families at the inquiry, called the conduct of both forces “inexcusable and egregious.” In an opening statement to the inquiry, Ward said dozens of women vanished “right under the noses” of the VPD in the Downtown Eastside and were murdered right in front of the Coquitlam RCMP on Pickton’s Port Coquitlam pig farm. “The families of the missing women are absolutely outraged by what happened in the handling of this case,” Ward said. “They believe the authorities are culpable in the deaths of over a dozen women because the authorities’ negligence enabled Pickton to literally get away with murder for more than five years.” He said the families believe the VPD, RCMP and B.C.’s Criminal Justice Branch all Cameron Ward have the blood of the victims on their hands, outlining a litany of errors. High on Ward’s “list of wonders” of how police “botched” their jobs is the fact Pickton in 2000 walked into the Coquitlam RCMP detachment and offered to let them search his farm but the Mounties turned him down, even though plenty of evidence by then pointed to him as the prime suspect. “They don’t bother,” Ward said. “We know the remains are there. We know after 2000 many more women are murdered there. It’s literally unbelievable.”
BOAZ JOSEPH / THE LEADER
Off and running
North Delta Longhorns ball carrier Daesaun Johnson (34) pulls away from North Surrey T-Birds defenders Cody Cooper-Copak (16) and Austin Anton on his way to a touchdown during an Atom division football game at Bear Creek Park on Sunday. For reports of last week’s Vancouver Mainland Football League games, see pages 36-37.
See INQUIRY / Page 4
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