Child killing trial now in jury’s hands

A B.C. Supreme Court judge says jurors will need to use their common sense in assessing the reliability of an alleged confession by a man accused of killing a 12-year-old girl.

In final instructions to the jury, Justice Austin Cullen says an undercover police officer posing as a crime boss provided financial and social inducements to Garry Handlen but the man was never threatened.

Jurors are expected to start deliberations on Monday.

Handlen has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of Monica Jack near her home in Merritt in 1978.

Her remains were found 17 years later, near where Handlen told the supposed crime boss that he sexually assaulted and killed her.

The RCMP began a so-called Mr. Big sting in early 2014, falsely telling Handlen police had DNA linking him to Jack’s murder and witnesses could place him at the crime scene but “things could be done to take care of it” if he told the truth.