190
(a) Chief Inspector Rich's investigations could have been more thorough but the criticism is more in there of
a counsel of perfection.
(b)
Mr. Illingworth's minute exhibited a strong view and prejudice which could not be justified.
(c)
Mr. Henry's decision to terminate MacLennan's contract was an error of judgment.
31.
1980.
D.
There was no improper motivation and the investigations had no bearing on Inspector MacLennan's death in
THE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION UNIT
32. In August 1978 a unit was formed to deal with one specific case, namely, the Duffy case involving homosexual offences. Because of information supplied by Duffy concerning the procurement of youths, the Unit (later came to be known as the SIU) started to gather intelligence on the homosexual scene in Hong Kong with special interest in the procurement and abuse of youths. The SIU operated under the code name of Rockcorry.
From January/February 1979 the Unit underwent a period of "winding down", with little done on homosexuality. By April, the SIU was able to submit five prosecution files to the Legal Department. By June, the Unit was down to Chief Inspector Quinn and a few rank and file.
33.
34. On 29 June 1979 the Attorney General received a draft petition of Duffy. The Governor, when informed of the contents of the draft petition, decided that the SIU investigation of one Molo Tsui mentioned in Duffy's draft petition should be pursued to the stage of prosecution if possible. What eventually followed was that the strength of the SIU was restored to its original level plus a Chief Inspector, and Molo Tsui was investigated as a matter of priority.
35.
On the 28 August 1979, a meeting was held at Government House. Those attending included the Governor, the Chief Secretary, the Attorney General, the Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr. Moor and the Director of Criminal Investigation Mr. Clancy.
36.
As a result of the meeting the Governor laid down certain policy guidelines relating to homosexual offences. These took the form of a letter dated 31 August, signed by the Attorney General and addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Henry. Those guidelines came to be known as The Charter. By the Charter, the primary target is those who profit from procurement. Secondly, those who abuse young boys as opposed to those who engage in homosexual acts between consenting adults. Thirdly, those against whom credible evidence emerges during other investigations. Fourthly, where specific complaints of homosexual practices are made to the Police. As an exception to the guideline in relation to consenting adults, credible leads should be followed up in the case of police officers, judicial officers and lawyers, because homosexual practices of those whose duty it is to enforce the law cannot be tolerated.
37.
38.
Senior members of the SIU were orally briefed of the contents of the Charter.
Also as a result of the Government House meeting Deputy Commissioner Moor took a personal interest in the work of the SIU, and it was he who directed the targetting and priorities of the SIU. Moor would consult the Attorney General on the work done by the SIU and the direction of SIU work.
39.
The SIU has been accused of being selective in their investigations.
40. It can be seen from the foregoing paragraphs that the activities of the SIU at its early stage were confined to procurers and intelligence gathering. There were no in-depth enquiries into the majority of the names which had come to light unless these names were actively linked with known procurers. In the first six months between September 1978 and February 1979, the SIU obtained a substantial amount of information on the homosexual scene and five investigation files were opened. Of these five persons one was a leading procurer (Molo Tsui) and the rest were regular customers using young boys procured by Molo Tsui or by themselves. These five files were submitted to the Legal Department in April 1979 for advice as to prosecution.
41.
It is important to note that from February to July 1979, the SIU was "wound-down" to what Quinn described as “a man and a dog." During that period, the SIU had no outstanding cases (as all the prosecution files were with the Legal Department) and the Unit was virtually non-functional except for very minor intelligence gathering work.
42. It was not until July 1979 that the SIU activities were "rekindled" but additional staff (up to the original strength, plus one Chief Inspector) was not made avialable to the Unit until August/September 1979 after the Govendment House meeting of the 28 August 1979. It is clear from the evidence that since July 1979 the Unit was very busy in re-interviewing all the witnesses involved in the five cases. It was during the course of interviewing one of these witnesses known as "Mars" that the SIU obtained direct evidence implicating Howard Lindsay. The Unit followed up