Investigator queried in Perrin murder suit

Former detective outlines difficulties in collecting reliable information

A lawyer in a $10-million malicious prosecution lawsuit against the Hamilton Police Service continued his questioning of a retired police detective Tuesday about details in his investigation of the murder of Tapleytown school teacher Beverley Perrin.

Plaintiff lawyer Neil Jones queried former staff sergeant Gary Clue about various statements he had accumulated in his efforts to sort out who was involved in the 1989 murder and his sense of the reliability of the witnesses.

Clue testified he was dealing with clever, streetwise people with a “PhD” level of knowledge about the ways of the street who were clearly telling lies at various times. But he felt there was a degree of truth in what he was hearing.

Another difficulty for investigators, he said, was that witnesses did not know the last names of various people who were alleged to be involved.

There was also a lack of physical and forensic evidence connecting the killers to the crime. Clue said the part of Hamilton where the rape and murder took place was known as an “east-end lovers’ lane” with condoms and other paraphernalia spread around making it difficult to isolate evidence relating to the Perrin case.

One bit of physical evidence, though, did emerge. A witness told police the car was cleaned with old gasoline — used for paint cleanup — to rub off fingerprints. Lab tests verified that was indeed the case. They were able to establish that old gasoline was used by the chemical composition of the residue.

Christopher McCullough and co-accused Nicholas Nossey are suing Hamilton police after spending time behind bars for the crime.

McCullough was convicted in December 1991 of second-degree murder and ended up serving nine years before he was ordered released in 1999 to face a new trial. The Crown did not proceed.

Nossey, who lives in Orillia, was acquitted. But he spent 19 months in pretrial custody. The lawsuit has been subject to delays and postponements over the years.

Two other Perrin co-accused, Steven Clarke and Terry Pearce, served four- and seven-year terms, respectively, for lesser offences in the slaying.

Clue told the court that he disagreed with the Crown’s office decision to lay a range of charges against the four. Clarke, for example, was charged with forcible confinement and being an accessory after the fact of murder.

“They all should have been charged with first-degree murder as far as I was concerned,” Clue said.

Perrin, a mother of five, was a Grade 1 and 2 teacher at Tapleytown Elementary School. The lawsuit, being heard before Ontario Superior Court Justice James Ramsay, continues Wednesday when Clue will return to the stand for further questioning.