POLICE HOPE IMMUNITY DEAL WILL CRACK DOUBLE-MURDER CASE

HAMILTON - Hamilton police have offered blanket immunity to some players in
the shotgun murder of an Ancaster couple in an effort to convict the group
they believe ordered the assassination.

A prominent lawyer, Lynn Gilbank and her husband, Fred Gilbank, both 52,
were gunned down in their Postans Path home at about 5 a.m., Nov. 16, 1998.

Police have said the execution-style murders were a contract hit ordered by
a Hamilton-based organized crime group, but not a traditional organized
crime family such as the Mafia.

They also believe Lynn was the primary target and the killing related to
her work as a lawyer in Halton.

Shortly before the murder, Gilbank had helped a drug courier enter the
witness protection program after he was arrested at Toronto's Pearson
International Airport with a load of drugs he was bringing in for a
Florida-based smuggling ring.

"The investigation is offering to those participants who played a lesser
role or supporting role in the murder, immunity from prosecution for their
roles in the murders in exchange for their complete and total co-operation
in the prosecution of those who initiated, co-ordinated or planned this
murder," the release stated.

There is also a $65,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of
the Gilbanks' killers.

One of Canada's top criminal lawyers said it isn't rare for police and the
Crown to offer immunity to lesser players as a last resort to break a cold
case. But he couldn't remember any other time when the gambit was made in
such a public way.

"It's a pretty last-resort approach," Toronto lawyer and law professor
Brian Greenspan said yesterday. "It suggests it's a pretty cold case and
they need to stimulate some leads.

"I'm not going to criticize it. It's a valid approach in investigations
that haven't produced any results."

Greenspan cautioned, however, that offering criminals immunity from
prosecution in exchange for their testimony has inherent risks when they
take the witness stand in court.

"It's going to be risky evidence subject to a severe caution and warning
from the trial judge because it's tainted evidence by people involved in
the case who have suppressed the knowledge in the past," Greenspan said.

Staff Sergeant Steve Hrab, who has been investigating the murders from the
start, is confident the tactic will enable police to finally crack the case.

"After investigating this case for six years, I fully expect arrests will
be made and this is just something to facilitate it," Hrab said yesterday.

A member of the Hamilton major crime unit, Hrab issued the press release
yesterday describing his immunity offer and who would be eligible for it.

"It is evident to the investigative team that there were a number of people
involved in the crime. Their respective roles are varied, with some having
far more significant parts than others," he wrote in the release.

He stressed, however, there would be no deals for "those who initiated,
co-ordinated or planned this murder."

He declined to answer when asked if the immunity offer would available to
the person or persons who pulled the trigger.

Asked why he had decided to offer immunity at this point, he replied: "It's
an investigative (tool) and we think it's a prudent course of action. It's
the first time I've done it."

"As a result I fully expect people with a lesser role to consider this and
potentially come forward."

Hrab repeated that police believe they've identified most of the lesser and
major players in the murder plot.

Police released a description in December, 2000 of a person seen peering
through the Gilbanks' front window days before the shooting. He was a white
man wearing a balaclava and of medium weight and height. He had red
splotches on his face and may have had severe acne or a skin rash.

It's believed he was trying to get into the house to kill the Gilbanks but
aborted the plan because he had been seen. A man wearing a balaclava was
also seen lurking around the area the morning of the murders.

Before the immunity offer yesterday, the legal community had dangled a
$65,000 reward in an effort to flush out witnesses. Police said the reward
is still available.

The cold-blooded murders shocked the public and sent a chill through the
Hamilton-Halton legal community where Lynn was regarded as passionate
advocate who had represented clients from petty thieves to drug dealers and
killers. She saw her clients as "souls who'd lost their way" rather than
bad people.

Before becoming a lawyer, she'd been a teacher, crisis counsellor and
fundraiser for the cancer society. She and Fred had been living on Postans
Path for about 20 years and had two grown children.