A Suspicious Death Changes Gay Hong Kong: Murder or Suicide? - Part 3

[PeterRS]

Suspicion Falls on MacLennan

In possession of so much detailed knowledge that many might wish to suppress, MacLennan became nervous. Within months of his return he was sacked from the RHKP and given one month’s salary in lieu of notice. The reason was an alleged homosexual advance.

In the summer that year, he is alleged to have made a pass at a 17-year old Chinese student who was studying in Glasgow and had returned to be with his family for the summer vacation. The advance was rejected. The student later told a friend about the incident. This friend’s father happened to be a corrupt former police sergeant who had been sacked from the Force. With no love for any police official, the father, Tsang Shing, made a formal complaint. Attempts, ultimately successful, were made to dismiss MacLennan from the Force. It is believed Roy Henry signed the dismissal order.

Soon the Police SIU, known internally as the “bum” squad, was established. Instead of pursuing senior officers suspected of being homosexual, perhaps to ensure their future careers the SIU picked on more junior officers. Following the Duffy allegations, it was surely clear they were following guidance provided by some higher authority. MacLennan was one target. Following his dismissal on November 4 1978, he spoke to Elsie Elliott. A formidable campaigner, a month later she managed to get the dismissal overturned. This angered the heads of the SIU, a pair of bullies, Superintendent Bob Brooks and his second in command Chief Inspector Mick Quinn. They would later seek revenge.

Brooks and Quinn determined to set MacLennan up. In October 1979 Howard Lindsay, the Crown Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers mentioned above, was approached by Inspector Michael Fulton. For about a year Fulton had been providing information to the SIU. He informed Lindsay that he had recently been asked to set up a fellow officer, John MacLennan, but had refused to do so. Allegedly gay, he was worried about his own future in the Force. Lindsay spoke directly to the Attorney General in both November and December about the allegations.

A subsequent Inquiry (see below) found that senior officers in the RHKP then attempted to set up MacLennan by rounding up rent boys and getting them to admit that MacLennan had paid them for sex. It seems that one had almost certainly slept with MacLennan. The others lied.

On January 14 1980 an officer friend warned MacLennan that Brooks was planning to see and arrest him the following morning. He heard that a case had been prepared accusing him of eight counts of indecency with five sex workers. MacLennan then went to the mess bar where, it was alleged, he had several drinks. He then returned to the police station in the early hours of January 15 and withdrew a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver. Back at his flat, five shots were heard in the early morning. 

MacLennan’s Death

Later that morning a team of policemen headed by Brooks and Quinn forced their way into MacLennan’s apartment. The outside door had been bolted inside at the top and bottom. So thick was the door a crowbar had to be used. It still took a full ten minutes to gain entry. 

The police who first entered the apartment noticed a letter and an envelope on the desk. Quinn picked up both and placed them in a plastic bag which he then put in his pocket. One of his colleagues had noted the blue biro ink writing on the envelope and letter. It said, “Please, please tell my family it was an accident and that I was a good Police Officer. JM. 0610 hours 15.1.80.”

The crowbar was also used to gain access to the locked bedroom. On the floor they found the body of MacLennan, the revolver and the cartridges from five bullets. The police alleged that MacLennan had committed suicide by firing five bullets into his abdomen. The first three had resulted in superficial wounds. The fourth had resulted in a more serious wound. The fifth had killed him. MacLennan was 29 years old. 

At first the police refused to provide much information about what they termed a “suicide”. The RHKP claimed that MacLennan’s body had been discovered by his maid. No mention was made of multiple gunshots.

No official RHKP spokesman explained why a man used to firearms would attempt to commit suicide by firing into his abdomen no less than five times rather than once to his brain. A solicitor involved in the subsequent Inquiry into the death and acting for the RHKP, Murray Burton, stated that, “MacLennan was seated on his bed holding his revolver reversed. Some shots were fired into his stomach and abdomen area, as well as his chest. He did not shoot himself in either the head or the heart.” Burton failed to explain how anyone could remain conscious and psychologically alert after firing no less than four bullets into his body and still have the strength to turn the gun around and fire a fifth time.

An autopsy on MacLennan’s body had taken place on January 16 and it was then cremated on January 22. No prior permission for cremation had been sought from his parents in Scotland.

When Elsie Elliott learned of MacLennan’s death, she was in two minds about the claimed suicide. As she reported on the popular radio phone-in programme hosted by Aileen Bridgewater, “As soon as I heard he was dead, I immediately thought, ‘Oh no, not suicide, he wouldn’t do that,’ and then I heard he had five shots in him. Very strange, five bullet wounds. Policemen are voicing their doubts. I understand people who knew him are scared to speak.” The radio programme had an immediate effect. Amongst many views, an army officer rang in to claim that the recoil from a .38 revolver would have made it impossible for five shots to be fired as the police were suggesting. 

Broadcaster Aileen Bridgewater and her husband Ken also lived in a government apartment very similar to that of John MacLennan. Interestingly, the bedroom doors to both apartments were identical with identical locks. It did not take her long to discover that contrary to what everyone had been told, it was perfectly possible to unlock and relock the bedroom door from the outside by simply unscrewing the lock.

Coroner’s Inquest

As is usual in British territory, an inquest was held because this was a case involving an unusual death. The inquest on MacLennan’s death was scheduled for February 20. It was postponed twice before commencing before a coroner and a jury on February 29. There was then an immediate adjournment. It finally reconvened on March 3. The RHKP witnesses claimed to prove that MacLennan had been homosexual and had taken his own life, fearing he was about to be arrested and exposed that morning. Certainly that prospect must have unnerved him. Coming from a small church-going, conservative farming community in Scotland, he would surely have been afraid of the effect on his family. In addition, his future prospects in any police force would probably vanish.

In MacLennan’s apartment, the action of the police was sloppy and illustrated many failures. Much evidence seems to have been tainted. It was revealed that at no time did the officers who entered MacLennan’s apartment bag his hands as a way of proving he had actually fired any shots from the gun. With 29 people roaming around the apartment, the “crime” scene was thoroughly compromised. The explanation given by the police was that as it was obviously a case of suicide, there was no requirement to control access to the bedroom.

A second issue raised at the Inquest concerned the photographs of the scene. Two official police photographers were amongst those present. Yet it was obvious from their photographs that in some the furniture had actually been rearranged; in others there were no members of the police or other persons visible. The latter had to have been taken after the police had left the apartment, at least two hours after discovery of the body. The most obvious omission was the lack of forensic examination. This was explained as there being no regulations concerning treatment of an apparent suicide involving multiple wounds as a case of suspicious death.

A third was that, as an investigative journalist later discovered, it was not impossible to enter and exit MacLennan’s apartment through the small bathroom window, the one apartment window that had not been locked. 

There were other serious lapses. No fingerprints were taken from the suicide note, the inside door and window locks or the cartridge cases. Prints were taken only from the gun and the back of the main entrance door. The police were therefore unable to prove conclusively that MacLennan had actually pulled the trigger. It was later revealed that the windows were not actually locked, merely closed.

The autopsy provided evidence of the consumption of only a small quantity of alcohol in the blood samples. Several police witnesses all identified the handwriting on the suicide note as MacLennan’s despite other experts commenting on the extraordinary wording of the note which, it was stated, did not conform to that of a native English speaker. Three pens were found in the room, but none containing any blue ink with which the suicide note was allegedly written.

There was then the issue of MacLennan’s official warrant card. He had used this to withdraw the gun at the police station. Yet it was never found. As a proud Scot, he had brought his kilt to Hong Kong. That, too, was never found. Other personal items including an expensive watch and a pair of gold cuff links were amongst several personal items that were missing.

About an hour after the break-in, control of the investigation was handed to Superintendent Marc Pelly. Elsie Elliott wrote to the Governor objecting to Pelly being handed the case. She reminded the Governor that Pelly had himself been accused of corruption in a famous conspiracy trial two years earlier, even though he had not been convicted. The Attorney General later agreed that the selection of Pelly to head the investigation was “unfortunate”.

The coroner informed the jury of his view that the verdict should be suicide. The jury came to a different conclusion. The members recommended an Open verdict, meaning no cause of death had been determined. Even worse for the government, the jury requested the addition of two riders to their verdict – that the law on homosexuality should be reformed and that it include severe criticism of the police handling of the case.