Legal group calls for review of Jessop investigations

Innocence Canada says police have to be accountable years after wrongful conviction in young girl’s death

TORONTO — A legal advocacy group wants an independent review of police investigations into the 1984 murder of a young girl, whose likely killer was re- cently identified years after a wrongful conviction in the case.

Innocence Canada said Tuesday that Durham Regional Police and the Toronto Police Service have to be held accountable now that Calvin Hoover, who killed himself five years ago, was named as the person who investigators believe killed nine-year-old Christine Jessop.

The group, which advocates ffor the wrongly convicted, said it hoped a thorough review would guide future police probes and underline the importance of sticking to methodical investigative steps.

Christine, of Queensville, Ont., disappeared Oct. 3, 1984, as she headed to a park after school to meet a friend. Her body was found New Year’s Eve that year in a farm field about 55 kilometres away.

Toronto police revealed earlier this month DNA evidence indicated Hoover, then 28, had sexually assaulted Christine in 1984 and would have been charged with her murder if he were alive.

In ’85, police arrested and charged Guy Paul Morin, Chris- tine’s then 24-year-old neighbour. He was acquitted at his first trial, but convicted of firstdegree murder on retrial in 1992 and sentenced to life in prison. DNA evidence exonerated him in 1995, prompting the Ontario government to apologize for his prosecution and pay him $1.25 million in compensation.