Utilizing forensic evidence that was ignored by the police, and
documents that have never before been released to the public, Alan
Strachan has produced the horrific account of a man who was wrongfully
executed for rape and murder -- even though it is quite possible that
there was neither a rape nor a murder.
Both were capital crimes in Canada in 1942 and the accused was British
-- a 21-year-old Royal Air Force sergeant whose wife and one-year-old
daughter remained in Peterborough when he was sent to New Brunswick to
help train Canadians for the war effort.
As soon as the trial ended, records were sealed, and anyone interested
in documenting the proceedings was told that the transcript would not
become available until 2042.
But Strachan pursued the matter in 2015 and became the first in more
than fifty years to be given full access to that transcript. He then
acquired an original copy of the preliminary-hearing transcript,
believed to be the only one in existence.
Because freedom-of-information laws have been revised since 1942, he was
also able to access the original Royal Canadian Mounted Police internal
correspondence as well as the diplomatic communications between Canadian
and English bureaucrats. Those letters and telegrams document the
dereliction of duty by those in power: a Canadian justice minister who
went on to become the nation's prime minister; an ambassador who became
governor-general; a member of the British royal family; and, of course,
high-ranking RCMP officers.
The only truly innocent person in this saga is the one who was executed.
