CHAPTER IV: THE INVESTIGATION BY THE YORK REGIONAL POLICE661
Bell Telephone office located on Main Street in Newmarket.
On October 4, 1984, Lois Gibson, a clerk in that office, was contacted by Inspector Wilson to confirm if and when Ms. Jessop attended the office the day before. Ms. Gibson said that Ms. Jessop was there around 4:30 that afternoon. After this conversation, she began to wonder whether she was correct. As she had the impression that this was important, she called the main office in Toronto (which had a record of the date and time of every transaction) to see what time Ms. Jessop had paid her bill. A service representative provided this information to Ms. Gibson, who realized she had been wrong in her 4:30 estimate. Accordingly, on October 5th, she telephoned York Regional Police and asked to speak with the Inspector. As he was not available, Ms. Gibson left the correct time with a secretary at the station. She told the secretary it was very important that this information be given to Inspector Wilson. Her message was misplaced and Inspector Wilson never received it.
Over five years later, in 1990, this came to light. As part of defence counsels investigation into the timing of Ms. Jessops activities, Ms. Gibson was contacted. She described her telephone call to Inspector Wilsons secretary. She had presumed that Wilson had received her message. By this time, the Bell records were no longer available; however, Ms. Gibson provided an Affidavit to the defence in March 1990 stating that, as best as she could remember, the business office had told her that Ms. Jessop had paid her bill on October 3, 1984 between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m. The original records would have been valuable in establishing the precise time that Ms. Jessop attended at Bell Telephone. No written record was ever located of Ms. Gibsons message to Inspector Wilson containing the correct time. Inspector Wilson never recorded his original conversation with Ms. Gibson in a notebook or in a supplementary report. The York Regional police did not inquire whether Bell Telephone records could speak to the issue of timing.
Household Finance
Ms. Jessops narrative also involved a visit to Household Finance. Pamela Watson, who worked there on October 3, 1984, recalled Ms. Jessops attendance. Ms. Watson testified, as a witness for the defence at the pre-trial motions, that Ms. Jessop glanced at the time and commented that she had to pick up her child at the dentists office. Ms. Watson was interviewed by two
662 THE COMMISSION ON PROCEEDINGS INVOLVING GUY PAUL MORIN
York Regional Police officers within a few days of Christines disappearance. Unfortunately, no specific notes or supplementary report were prepared outlining the conversation with Ms. Watson. By the time defence counsels investigator tracked down Ms. Watson in 1990, the records of Ms. Jessops attendance had been destroyed. Ms. Watsons best estimate, some five and a half years after the event, was that Ms. Jessop had attended the office between 3:40 and 4:00 oclock that afternoon. Ms. Watson swore an Affidavit to this effect on March 29, 1990.
This represented a second lost opportunity to precisely ascertain the timing of Ms. Jessops activities on the afternoon of October 4th. By the time these witnesses were examined in May 1990, their recollections were open to challenge as there was no longer any available contemporaneous record of what had transpired over five years earlier. When Ms. Watson testified that Ms. Jessops visit was sometime between 3:40 and 4:00, she was questioned by the Crown as to the veracity of her memory. When asked Is there some reason why it couldnt have been 4:10 or 4:15?, she answered candidly Not really. Had York Regional Police recorded the statements from these witnesses in a timely fashion, this problem might not have arisen.
