80.

106

At 12.30 p.m. Senior Supt. Emmett of CID/Kowloon, Supt. Brooke of CID/Kowloon, and Donal Detective Inspector of Kowloon City, Mr. Lo Chu-hung, arrived. They were briefed by Kong. Emmett, Brooke and Lo then conducted their examinations of the scene and concluded that it was not a matter for the CID, there being no suspicious circumstances to warrant a criminal investigation. Emmett and Brooke stayed for about 15 minutes.

81.

After Kong had briefed Emmett, Brooke and Lo, he instructed PC 6924, Wan For-hing, who was the Station's Death Enquiry Constable, to search MacLennan's body. Wan did so and found nothing. He also examined the flat and found nothing unusual. Having checked the windows, he found them all to be closed.

82. At about 12.30 p.m., Pelly arrived. He had been called out on a number of crimes in the Kowloon City Division that morning. He was not given a briefing on arrival, as other officers were busy. He therefore took a general look at the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the corridor and the living room. He checked all the windows except the bathroom window and found them to be secured from the inside. He also noticed that black paper had been pasted over the bedroom windows. Because of the cases that he had been involved with in the morning, he was constantly called to Shaw's flat next door to attend to these cases during the first half hour of his arrival at the scene.

83. Meanwhile, at Police Headquarters, Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Mr. P. T. Moor, had been briefed separately by telephone by Clancy and Johnston. On the basis of these briefings, Moor decided that although it was a straight forward case of suicide, the circumstances of this case merited the appointment of a more senior officer than the usual level of officer (i.e. Sub-Divisional Inspector or Assistant Sub-Divisional Inspector level) to be engaged in such death enquiries. He decided that the Assistant Divisional Superintendent (who happened to be Supt. Mark Pelly) be appointed the Investigating Officer. Moor then telephoned Johnston and told him of this decision. The decision was then conveyed by Johnston to Trotman at the scene. According to Trotman, it was nearly 1 p.m., but according to Kong's note, it was about 12.35 p.m. when Trotman told him to hand over to Pelly.

84. When Pelly was appointed Investigating Officer, no one knew of his long conversation with MacLennan the previous night. Moor said if he had known, he would have appointed someone who had had no connection with MacLennan. In the event, Pelly performed his duties with commendable thoroughness and competence (see below).

J. EVENTS BETWEEN 1 P.M. AND END OF 15 JANUARY 1980

85.

Kong briefed Pelly on what he had done up to this time. Although relieved of his duties as Investigating Officer, Kong stayed behind to assist. At this point, another photographer, Mr. Lau Moon-chi, arrived with the Fingerprint Officer, Mr. Cheng Lai-leung. Kong instructed Lau to photograph the locks of the main door, the revolver, the body, MacLennan's note and the general scene of the premises. These photographs were taken, in the order shown in the B series of photographs (see Commission File E). According to Kong, he had told Cheng to try and lift any fingerprints on the main door, the locks in the main door, the revolver, the bedroom door and its locks. However, Cheng said in his statement that Kong only gave him instructions to dust for fingerprints at "the main outside door" and the Police revolver. Whatever it was that Kong told Cheng, only one print was lifted from the frame of the revolver and three impressions in the middle of the main door. All these were later found to be of no assistance: none was clear enough to be identified.

86.

At about 1.20 p.m., a police van arrived to remove the body to the mortuary. The body was accompanied to the mortuary by PC 6924.

87. As soon as the body was removed, Cimino and Nicoll re-entered the bedroom and located the third bullet which had lodged itself in the bottom drawer of a chest of drawers which stood against the left wall (see photographs at Plates 23 and 24).

88. After the Ballistic Officers had left, Kong, Peters and Pelly began to collect the articles in the room and inspected all the furniture including the wardrobe in the bedroom. Peters took an inventory of the items including the furniture in the flat. These were all removed to Kowloon City Police Station on that day and the following morning. In fact, two inventory lists were made (one by Peters at page 43 Commission File D1, and another by Pelly of the more valuable items, at page 92 Commission File D1- -see Appendices 23 and 24). This took the whole afternoon. Trotman returned to the office at 4.15 p.m., leaving Pelly, Kong and Peters behind to complete the work.

K.

THE POST-MORTEM AND CREMATION

89. Sometime in the afternoon of 15 January 1980, the Staff Officer (Inspectorate) at Police Headquarters, Mr. K. Ratcliffe, placed a long distance call to Scotland. Mr. Ratcliffe had to telephone Mr. Angus MacDonald, owner of Torgorn Farm, as MacLennan's parents lived on the farm and had no telephone themselves. He told MacDonald that MacLennan had been found dead in his flat with five bullet wounds in his chest. Ratcliffe also said that foul play was unlikely and suicide had not been ruled out (—he was being deliberately vague as to the cause of death in order to lessen

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