Darla Thurott’s 1989 murder: Son of senior police officer suspected

Retired police officer investigating Darla Thurott’s murder tells Ontario Court of Appeal he knew child was raped, but denies withholding interrogation information with a person of interest because the man in question was the son of a police commissioner. Timothy Rees served 19 years in prison for the unpremeditated murder of the 10-year-old girl before being paroled in 2009.

Attention : Information contained in this article may shock some readers.

In these hearings, the defense of Tim Rees claims his client was falsely accused of the murder of Darla Thurott in 1989 in Toronto and that he was imprisoned in place of the real murderer: James Raymer.

The trial showed in 1990 that James Raymernow deceased, lived in the room opposite the little victim’s bedroom and that he was the owner of the house where the Thurott.

The defense of Rees has been hearing the questioning of March 17, 1989 before the Court of Appeal for two days.

We hear Raymer tell the police that he sometimes went to the bedroom Darla to wish him good night, but that he also sometimes caressed his crotch.

The man, who was 52 at the time, told police he had met Darla to the bathroom that night, but after procrastinating on the issue, he says he ultimately didn’t go to see her that night.

He acknowledges that he has a great relationship with Darla whom he invites into his room to watch cartoons.

However, we hear him say that he is too old for the child and that it is Darla who began to seduce him.

The testimony of Raymer is however confused. He repeats that he has nothing to do with the death of Darlaalthough he admits that the police do not believe him.

Evidence of sexual assault

The lawyer of Tim Rees, James Lockyerrevealed that the autopsy showed that Darla had been strangled, but that she also had old anal wounds, a sign that she had been raped in the past.

In the witness box, the agent Clanfield says he no longer remembers the interrogation very well.

However, we can hear him getting impatient in the recording and accusing Raymer to lie.

Me Lockyer requests that the recording be stopped and speaks to the agent Clanfield. Raymer had killed Darla?”,”text”:”Did you know Raymer killed Darla?”}}”>You knew that Raymer had killed Darla?he asks her.

The retired police officer replied that he thought that Raymer was a person of interest and that he wanted to continue questioning him so that he would tell the truth

L’agent Clanfield admits that he tried to make him repeat Raymer what he had said at the start of the interrogation, when he said that he had gone to see Darla the night of the murder to wish him goodnight.

The 67-year-old retiree admits that he has finally accepted the version of Raymer according to which he had ultimately never been in the room of Darla the night of the murder.

Indisputable information

Me Lockyer yet makes him admit that the information from Raymer were very incriminating at the time.

James Raymer, but you kept that information to yourself?”,”text”:”You knew about James Raymer’s sexual inclinations, but you kept that information to yourself?”}}”>You knew the sexual inclinations of James Raymerbut you kept this information to yourself?asks the lawyer.

Irritated, the agent Clanfield affirm that this idea is ridiculous and that he did everything to solve the investigation with his colleagues.

Me Lockyer also told the pensioner that he had also had a conversation with Raymer about his financial situation, but that part of the interrogation was not recorded.

I didn’t know he came from a wealthy family, but, yes, he was indeed the son of an Ontario Provincial Police commissionerhe said.

His colleague, S^gt Rose, had said on Wednesday that Clanfield and led him Raymer at the police station after questioning him in the house of Thurott the morning when Darla was discovered unresponsive in her bed, but that they had stopped at a bank beforehand at the request of the individual.

I don’t remember us stopping at a banksays the retired police officer today.

Me Lockyer notes numerous memory lapses and contradictions in the agent’s interrogation Clanfield as he had done the day before with the testimony of the S^gt Rose.

Police Service Doubts

The lawyer reminded the court that the police officer, like the sergeant, had been interviewed by his department’s Professional Quality Standards Office in 2009. Both men were already retired.

Clanfield claims he remembers a nighttime call in October 2011 while he was in Kenya, but did not know it was the Bureau calling him about an undisclosed investigative tape resolved.

years after I left the service, I told them that I remembered the case but not in great detail and that I was unaware that the interrogation had been recorded”,”text”:”It had already been 7 years that I had left the service, I told them that I remembered the affair but not in great detail and that I was unaware that the interrogation had been recorded”}}”>It had already been 7 years since I left the service, I told them that I remembered the affair but not in great detail and that I did not know that the interrogation had been recordedhe said.

Me Lockyerwho appears to have a copy of the phone conversation, explains that the agent Clanfield told the investigator that he did not think that Raymer would have been the murderer, becauseDarla, being sick”,”text”:”he did not have the physical ability to kill Darla, being sick”}}”>he did not have the physical ability to kill Darla, being sick.

The lawyer then cites the meeting between the agent Clanfield and the Crown in May 2024 regarding the testimony he was to give before the Court of Appeal.

The existence of this tape was completely new to me.he said, adding that he did not even know he had questioned James Raymer in 1989.

Me Lockyer suggests that the agent’s memory lapses Clanfield come at the right time, because he took part in the criminal investigation much more than he claims and because he knew that Raymer was suspect N^o 1 in the murder of Darla.