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113.
In the final analysis, although they could not agree as to the order in which MacLennan had fired those five shots, both Mant and Johnson were left with no doubt that Inspector MacLennan had died by his own hand.
(IV) Professor Usher's Opinion
114.
Professor Alan Usher did not give evidence but Mrs. Elliott when she gave evidence on 8 May 1981 produced a copy of his Opinion dated 12 September 1980 (reproduced in Appendix 31). It was a most lucid and carefully considered Opinion and I am indebted to Mrs. Elliott for producing it to the Commission.
115.
Dr. Usher had only the transcripts of the proceedings of the Coroner's Inquest to form his opinion. He did not have the post-mortem Report, nor the photographs taken at the scene and at the post-mortem, or the statements of the various experts taken by the Police. However, the evidence at the Inquest would have covered most of the statements which Usher did not have. On the basis of the transcripts of the Inquest, Usher came to the same conclusion that all indications point to self-infliction of the five wounds found on MacLennan's body. He referred to the absence of violence on the body apart from the gunshot wounds, the indications that the wounds were inflicted at contact range, their existence in a site of election, the angles at which the five wounds were inflicted being consistent with the deceased's holding the revolver himself, the fact that none of the wounds would have been instantly fatal, and the unlikelihood that an assailant would be able to fire a shot into MacLennan's abdomen (shot No. 5) at contact range unless MacLennan were instantly disabled by the first shot or markedly under the influence of drink or drugs (no evidence of such was found in post-mortem). He discounted the possibility of a murder on the grounds that a murder "rigged" to look like suicide would require an enormous conspiracy comprising a large number of policemen, pathologists and ballistics experts, not to mention the handwriting experts.
116.
Usher recommended five courses of action, namely:—
(1) Determining absolutely that the entrance and exit to MacLennan's bedroom was in the circumstances
impossible.
(2) Investigating MacLennan's homosexuality.
(3) Obtaining an independent opinion as to handwriting of the alleged "suicide note".
(4) Obtaining the opinion of a United Kingdom Ballistics Expert as to the nature of the wounds and subjecting the
clothing, the revolver and the bullets, to ballistics tests.
(5) Investigating MacLennan's state of finance to find out whether or not he would have had difficulty in finding
the money to pay bail.
I will be referring to the five suggestions made by Usher later in this Chapter. At this stage, I would state only that although MacLennan's death by five gunshot wounds from a .38 calibre revolver will be a landmark in the annals of medical history, all the medical evidence points to the conclusion that the wounds found on MacLennan's body were totally consistent with self-infliction, with no evidence at all that they could be otherwise.
In her evidence, Mrs. Elliott repeated an opinion purportedly expressed by Rev. Chad Varra of London, founder of the Samaritan Befrienders, that a person who had shot himself once, would not be able to overcome the psychological barrier of further shooting himself. As this was an opinion, given secondhand to me, I can place very little weight upon it, not knowing whether the Rev. Chad Varra was expressing a general opinion (if so, at what level of generality) or one based on knowledge of particular circumstances.
(c) Ballistics Evidence
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117.
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118.
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119.
I heard evidence from three Ballistics Experts:—
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(1) Mr. A. Cimino, Officer-in-Charge, Ballistics and Firearms Investigation Bureau, Royal Hong Kong Police
Force.
(2) Mr. Peter S. Prescott, Principal Scientific Officer-in-Charge of the Firearms Department of the Home Office
Forensic Science Service, United Kingdom.
(3) Major P. J. F. Mead, Ballistics Expert, Member of the Royal Army Ordinance Corps, United Kingdom. All these are highly competent. Their expertise and honesty are not in doubt. Their reports are in Appendices 32 to 34 respectively. For the purpose of their enquiries, Commission Exhibits No. C 1, 2, 3, 4, namely, Police revolver 4894, the five bullets which were found, five spent cartridges, and one live round, the green shirt and pullover worn by MacLennan were examined. (See Plate Nos. 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32).
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