97
17.
11
According to the Duty Roster, MacLennan was to be on duty from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on 14 January, followed by a night shift of 12 hours on 15th starting at 8 p.m. So, he was seen that day by junior officers of his team, by Senior Inspector Grant, and by Superintendent Mark Pelly, Assistant Divisional Superintendent Ho Man Tin.
18. None of his junior officers recalled having seen MacLennan in any state of anxiety during the day. Typical of the comments of his junior officers was that made by DC 16313, Leung Kar-wong: "He (MacLennan) seemed to be in a good mood with nothing worrying him.”12 Grant, who telephoned MacLennan to ask him to see Trotman that morning, said in his statement: "During the aforementioned conversation and at other times prior to MacLennan's taking his life, I detected no signs indicating that he was under any type of stress or that any matter was troubling him."13 Grant did however remark on the submission of an unusually large number of files by MacLennan that day.
19. MacLennan's contact with Pelly, however, presented a different picture. Pelly was in the kitchen at the Ho Man Tin Officers' Mess at about 5 p.m. when he noticed MacLennan in the Mess, standing by the window and looking worried. Pelly asked MacLennan what was wrong. MacLennan told him that he had been informed by Trotman that officers from the SIU wished to interview him the following morning, i.e., the 15th. MacLennan said that he knew of the purpose
of the visit and that it was connected with an incident that had happened sometime ago, adding that Pelly would probably know what he was talking about. Pelly replied that he had only heard rumours. MacLennan then said that he had assumed that all was in the past, but obviously that was not to be.
20.
Pelly saw that MacLennan was worried and had obviously wanted to talk to someone, so he brought MacLennan a Vodka tonic and continued with the conversation. MacLennan went on for some time about his being persecuted by the Police Force for something he was not involved in. During the conversation, he told Pelly that whilst he was in Special Branch, he had investigated all sorts of "queer hawks" (meaning homosexuals), including some senior Police Officers, and that it had been assumed by some that he (MacLennan) was one himself. MacLennan insisted that this was not so, but he did appear to Pelly that he knew why he was to be interviewed by the SIU, though he never specifically mentioned to Pelly the actual reason, nor did Pelly specifically ask him.
21.
Inspector MacLennan then asked Pelly for advice as to what he should do. Pelly told MacLennan that he should try to contact a lawyer as soon as possible to seek advice. Pelly suggested someone from a firm of solicitors called Hampton, Winter & Glynn. MacLennan told Pelly that he had tried to contact someone in that firm without success. Pelly suggested that MacLennan should call Mr. Stephen Llewellyn. MacLennan then went away, presumably to telephone, then he returned and requested Pelly to speak to Llewellyn who was then on the line. Pelly did so and had the impression that Llewellyn in fact know MacLennan before. He then suggested that Llewellyn should come over to see MacLennan that evening. Llewellyn agreed.
22. As Llewellyn indicated to Pelly that he could not arrive until 6.30 p.m., and seeing that MacLennan was still distressed and worried, Pelly continued to talk with him. Pelly did not know precisely why MacLennan was to be interviewed by the SIU, but he assumed that it was probably a fairly serious matter in view of what MacLennan had told him and knowing the nature of SIU work. He advised MacLennan to be prepared to put up bail for he might be arrested. This seemed to have worried MacLennan even more, for MacLennan said to Pelly, "I had not got a penny”. Pelly suggested that he might seek his friend's help in raising bail.
23.
24.
25.
14
Llewellyn arrived at about 6.15 p.m. By that time, Pelly had spoken to MacLennan for slightly over an hour.
Pelly recalled that his strongest impressions of his hour long conversation with MacLennan were:—'
(a) MacLennan's frustration at being persecuted for something he thought was finished a long time ago; (6) MacLennan's exclamations on more than one occasion: "Why are the SIU bothered with things like this when there are robberies and major crimes going on!", and particularly, "Why are they investigating allegations that in most countries are not a crime!";
(c) MacLennan appeared particularly distressed at the mention of bail money;
(d) Although obviously worried at times and angry that the SIU was coming to see him the following day, he was rational and controlled. At no time did MacLennan give the impression that he would do anything rash.
Llewellyn saw Pelly and MacLennan. He also saw Trotman when he was about to leave his office. Pelly introduced Llewellyn to Trotman and Llewellyn said that he wanted to contact Superintendent Brooks of the SIU. Trotman telephoned the Mess at Police Headquarters and having established contact with Brooks on the telephone, explained to Brooks that Llewellyn wanted to speak to him. Brooks did not seem too happy and said in a rather sharp
11 File D(i), page 93.
12
See Leung's evidence at Transcript page 10427.
13
See Grant's evidence at Transcript page 10618.
14
See Pelly's evidence at Transcript pages 10464-10466.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.