Trial of Surrey Six investigators delayed for a year

Four Mounties facing charges for their alleged misconduct while investigating the Surrey Six murders have had their trial postponed for a year.
Neil MacKenzie, who speaks for the criminal justice branch, confirmed Monday that there has been another adjournment in the case of Derek Brassington, Dave Attew, Paul Johnston, and Danny Michaud.
Their trial was set to begin in B.C. Supreme Court Monday.
But last week, a Justice Arne Silverman granted the adjournment until Sept. 13, 2016.
MacKenzie said “there remain pre-trial proceedings that need to be dealt with before the trial takes place.‎”
Those pretrial matters continued at the Vancouver Law Courts Monday, but are covered by a publication ban.
All four Mounties were charged in June 2011 after an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police alleged there had been serious misconduct during the gang murder investigation.
Brassington, then an RCMP sergeant, is facing seven charges, including obstruction of justice, breach of trust, fraud and compromising the safety of a witness.
Attew, who was a staff sergeant and Brassington’s supervisor during the Surrey Six investigation, faces six counts, including breach of trust, fraud and obstruction of justice.
Johnston and Michaud, then corporals, have been charged with breach of trust, obstruction of justice and misleading the OPP investigators who were looking into the allegations against Brassington.
Brassington, Attew and Johnston are no longer with the RCMP.
Michaud is still with the force, though suspended.
It is just the latest delay in a high-profile trial at the Vancouver Law Courts.
In July, accused Surrey Six killer Jamie Bacon had his trial adjourned from this month until Oct. 31, 2016.
Bacon was charged in April 2009 with one count of first-degree murder and one of conspiracy to commit murder for his alleged role in the Oct. 19, 2007 slaughter in a Surrey highrise that left six dead, including two innocent bystanders.
The latest adjournment in his trial was caused by “additional pre-trial applications that will be addressed before the trial begins,” MacKenzie said earlier.
As in the case of the Surrey Six investigators, there is a ban on publication on the pre-trial proceedings that are on-going in Bacon’s case.

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