52.
102
to
At 11.23 a.m., DC 16190 came up with an odd job worker from the Ho Man Tin Service Flats. He force open the door with hammer, screw driver and chisel but failed. With the same tools, Inspector Tin and Det. Stn. Sgt. Leung ripped open the middle portion of the main door. When the middle portion was torn out, it was found that there were four locks which were in position, as will be seen from Plate 7. These four locks were: (1) a tower bolt at the bottom; (2) a yale lock above that; (3) a mortice type lock above that and (4) a chain lock in the top position. After the main door with its locks were photographed, entry into the premises began. The time was 11.48 a.m. Plate 7 shows the main door locks and bolts after the forced entry.
At this point, it was clear that no one could have left the flat from the main door, nor could anyone have entered and left through the two kitchen windows and the two bathroom windows.
53.
H. EVENTS FROM 11.48 A.M. TO 12.48 P.M.
(a)
54.
55.
Gaining entry into the flat
Quinn entered the flat first, followed by Trotman.
Probably Stevens was the third person who entered, because both Trotman and Quinn recalled that Stevens was the first other than themselves to have seen the so-called suicide note found on the desk in MacLennan's living room. Between 11.48 a.m. and 12.18 p.m., the following persons, apart from Trotman, Quinn and Stevens, entered the flat, in the order shown:-
56.
(i) Mrs. Gafoor, who only stayed in the living room;
(ii) The photographer Poon Ngok-ming, who was ordered by Trotman and Quinn to take various photographs
of the flat;
(iii) Li, who returned with the crow-bar with PC 10396, Wan For-hing;
(iv) PC 10396 who used the crow-bar to prise open the bedroom door;
(v) Loughrin, ordered by Quinn to count the number of shots on MacLennan's body; and
(vi) Drs. Wong Kin-ming and Yip Chi-pang, Forensic Pathologists, and their Assistant, Szeto Mei-sheung, who
arrived between 12.17 and 12.35 p.m.
It would be helpful to refer to the general layout of Flat 410B (see Plate 8). As will be seen from this sketch, the flat comprises a kitchenette on the left upon entering the flat, the living room on the same side of the kitchen, the bathroom on the right as one enters the flat and the bedroom with its door facing that of the bathroom on the right hand side of the flat.
57. When Quinn entered the flat, it was in darkness. He turned on the light by a switch on the left hand side of the door as he entered. He saw that the curtains of the living room were drawn. Trotman was immediately behind. Everything appeared normal; there was no sign of struggle. He could not see MacLennan, so he turned immediately to the right. Quinn was ahead of him. Quinn opened the bathroom door and turned on the light. Trotman went in, looked behind the shower curtains, which were at that time drawn over. He looked at the bathroom windows and saw that they had been secured from the inside, i.e., the latches at the top of the windows were secured (see Plate 9).
58.
Quinn then knocked on the bedroom door. He tried to open it and found that it was locked. The bedroom door had only one lock, but it was of the type which could only be locked or unlocked from the inside. Trotman also tried the door and saw that there was no key insert. There were no signs of struggle in the living room, kitchen or bathroom.
(b) Discovery of the Alleged Suicide Note (Exhibit No. B1)
59.
Trotman looked round the living room and his attention was drawn to a brown paper envelope on the lower right hand corner of the desk. This brown paper envelope had a hand written note on it. It had been written with a blue ballpoint pen. The note reads:-----
"Please, please tell my family it was an accident and that I was a good Police Officer.
JM 0610 hours 15.1.80"
60.
The note is known as Exhibit No. B1 (Plate 10) in this Commission. As Trotman had seen MacLennan's writing on many occasions on files and mess chits, he recognized that the handwriting was MacLennan's.