J
101
F
45.
ENTS BETWEEN 9 A.M. AND 11 A.M. ON 15 JANUARY 1980
At 9 a.m., Inspectors Loughrin and Tin of the SIU were instructed to attend Brooks' office for a briefing. Quinn was also present. Brooks told the assembled party that they were going to arrest MacLennan at Trotman's office. It had already been decided the night before that despite the fact that Trotman had informed MacLennan of the SIU's forthcoming interview, the time of arrest (which was 10.30 a.m.) was not to be changed. Loughrin was told to oversee the search at MacLennan's flat. Quinn instructed Sgt. Leung to arrange for an Exhibits Officer and a Photographer. At 10 a.m., the arrest party, consisting of Quinn, Loughrin, Tin, Sgt. Leung, DC 16190 Cheung Fat-yeung (Exhibits Officer), Poon Ngok-ming (Photographer) and Detective Constables 9782 and 3362, proceeded in two cars to Ho Man Tin Police Station.
46.
At 10.10 a.m., the solicitor Stevens arrived at Trotman's office. Stevens had wanted to see MacLennan before the interview. So Trotman arranged for Stevens to wait in MacLennan's office.
47. At 10.20 a.m., Brooks telephoned Trotman to tell him that Quinn was coming but he would be lightly delayed, because one of the vehicles of the arrest party was not functioning properly. The arrest party arrived at Ho Man Tin at 10.40 a.m. Quinn and Tin met Trotman at the latter's office.
48.
Quinn showed Trotman the Search Warrant and told him that he had come to arrest MacLennan. MacLennan had not arrived by then, so Trotman telephoned various officers in the Station, the canteen and the mess. Trotman also telephoned MacLennan's quarters but received an engaged tone. Trotman then went down to MacLennan's office and saw Stevens with Inspector Hancock. Hancock told Trotman that he had been telephoning MacLennan's flat at Stevens' request but no one answered. In the circumstances, the two must have telephoned MacLennan simultaneously. Therefore, I exclude the possibility of another person using the telephone at MacLennan's flat at the time Trotman was telephoning.
49.
At about 10.50 a.m., Trotman suggested to Quinn that the arrest party might go to MacLennan's quarters. Quinn agreed and invited Trotman along. Trotman then sent for Stevens who was shown the Search Warrant by Loughrin. The party then proceeded in three vehicles to No. 19 Ho Man Tin Hill Road..
G. EVENTS BETWEEN 11 A.M. TO 11.50 A.M.
50. The arrest party in the company of Mr. Trotman, Mr. Lee Siu-leung, (the Divisional Staff Relations Officer), and Mr. Stevens arrived at No. 19 Ho Man Tin Hill Road. Quinn and Trotman went to the Manageress' (Mrs. Gafoor's) office. She was shown the Search Warrant and conducted the party to Flat 410B. Quinn and Trotman knocked at the door and rang the door bell one after the other, receiving no response. Mrs. Gafoor then tried to open the door with her master key but found that the door had been locked from the inside. Trotman borrowed Mrs. Gafoor's master key and tried opening the door himself. He, too, found that the door had been locked from the inside. From the corridor, he could see that there were two windows leading to the flat and a cubby-hole. The cubby-hole was of the size of a fulscap sheet of paper and was blocked up. He tried to open the windows facing the corridor but found that they were secured. He looked through the closed window at the end of the corridor and saw that the windows to the bathroom were closed. Both the kitchen and the bathroom windows measured 12×2′ each. (See Plates 2 and 3) There were four such windows. It would have been impossible for either Trotman or Quinn to climb in through those windows even if they were opened. One TVB Reporter, Ian Whiteley, suggested that he could go into the bathroom through one of these windows. On two separate occasions, he tried to demonstrate his point but failed to gain entry. (See Plates 4 and 5) Even if these windows were not secured from the inside, which in fact they were, I would find it practically impossible that anyone would be able to gain ingress. Egress through these windows is not a practical possibility.
51.
Trotman then ordered Li Siu-leung to return to Ho Man Tin Station to fetch a crow-bar. He, Mrs. Gafoor, Quinn and Sgt. Leung then went to Flat 409 and asked the occupant, Inspector Shaw, for his permission to use the telephone and the premises. Permission was readily given. Quinn telephoned Brooks. Brooks then reported the matter upwards. Meanwhile Trotman peered out from Shaw's living room window and saw that it was impossible to gain entry into MacLennan's flat although the two flats were adjoining each other. There was in fact a very narrow and sloping ledge connecting Shaw's flat with MacLennan's. It was impossible for this ledge to support anyone trying to enter MacLennan's flat. I visited MacLennan's flat on two occasions and familiarized myself with the general surroundings of No. 19 Ho Man Tin Hill Road. As would be seen from Plate 6, it will not be possible for anyone to enter and leave MacLennan's flat from Shaw's. The only conceivable way to gain entry would be to use climbing tackle from the flat above (which was empty at the time); even then, it would be extremely dangerous as it was a sheer drop from Flat 410B. There is of course also the possibility of detection. Persons climbing in and out of Flat 410B with the aid of climbing tackle would be easy to detect, as the flat was exposed to the view of many other flats lower down the hill. Sunrise that morning, according to Royal Observatory records, was 7.05 a.m.
24 File D 2, page 12.
24