By Canadian Press

Advocates, victims’ families oppose destroying Robert Pickton evidence

Dec 11, 2023 | 3:03 AM

VANCOUVER — Advocates and families of victims who were murdered by serial killer Robert Pickton say they are opposed to recent applications filed by the B.C. RCMP to destroy or return thousands of pieces of evidence seized during the police investigation.

Pickton, who was a pig farmer, was found guilty in 2007 on six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of women who disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. 

He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

In 2010, after the Supreme Court upheld his sentence, 20 other first-degree murder charges were stayed because Pickton was already serving the maximum sentence.

The group opposing the move to destroy evidence — which includes lawyers, victims’ families and missing and murdered women’s advocates — are hosting a news conference this morning.

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The group says a letter — which has been endorsed by more than 40 organizations and advocates across Canada — has been sent to the federal public safety minister, the commissioner of the RCMP, as well as British Columbia’s attorney general and the solicitor general, to call on “each to take immediate steps to preserve Pickton evidence.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2023.

The Canadian Press