RCMP PICKED UP DRUG-TREATMENT TAB FOR PICKTON WITNESS

Form Of 'Maintenance,' Officer Tells Trial

NEW WESTMINSTER -- The jury at the Robert Pickton trial first heard
the name Andrew Bellwood on the opening day of the sensational
proceedings almost two months ago. Crown prosecutor Derrill Prevett
said Mr. Bellwood would be called as a witness to testify that Mr.
Pickton had told him how he killed prostitutes.

The jury heard the name again yesterday in B.C. Supreme Court. This
time, however, it was the defence who brought Mr. Bellwood's name
into the trial.

During cross-examination by defence lawyer Adrian Brooks, RCMP
Constable Douglas Forsyth confirmed that police covered the cost of a
drug-treatment program for Mr. Bellwood in December, 2004.

The officer, who has been with the RCMP for 16 years, did not offer
an estimate of the cost of the program. The Edgewood Addictions
Treatment Centre in Nanaimo, B.C., billed the Mounties directly,
Constable Forsyth said.

He was not authorized to pay the treatment centre, Constable Forsyth
added. "They do not let me spend that much money," he said.

As Mr. Pickton sat in the prisoner's box, watching the officer
closely, Constable Forsyth also testified that the RCMP paid for Mr.
Bellwood's domestic partner to enroll in a drug-treatment program at
Edgewood, which cost $1,000 for eight days. Police also covered the
cost of Mr. Bellwood's rent of $920 for three months while he was in
the drug-treatment program.

Constable Forsyth's contact with Mr. Bellwood was described by Mr.
Brooks as "witness maintenance." In response to questioning, the
officer confirmed that he met a number of times with Mr. Bellwood,
and, on at least one occasion, he picked up the dinner bill.

He was "trying to keep the lines of communication open with him," the
officer told the court. Knowing Mr. Bellwood was to be called to
testify, Constable Forsyth wanted to keep a good working relationship
with Mr. Bellwood, he said.

Mr. Bellwood has not yet testified in court but the jury has already
heard his voice. The police played a tape recording of Mr. Bellwood,
recounting Mr. Pickton's remarks for Mr. Pickton to hear during a
police interview after he was arrested in February, 2002.

On the tape, Mr. Bellwood says Mr. Pickton told him he strangled
prostitutes, took them into the barn, bled them, gutted them and fed
them to the pigs. Mr. Pickton sounds incredulous when he hears Mr.
Bellwood on tape. "This guy is out to lunch," Mr. Pickton told the
police. "Funny stories in there, aren't they?" Mr. Pickton said later.

Mr. Pickton is on trial for the murder of six drug-addicted
prostitutes, Sereena Abotsway, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Brenda
Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Mona Wilson. A date has not yet been set
for a second trial for Mr. Pickton on the murder of 20 additional women.

Gordon Meisner, a retired RCMP corporal, told the court that a palm
print was discovered on the outside of a freezer that contained human
remains. Mr. Meisner was part of the Pickton investigation at various
times over 15 months beginning in June, 2002.

In response to defence questioning, Mr. Meisner said he checked
whether the print matched Mr. Pickton's palm. He concluded it was not
Mr. Pickton's, but he did not compare the print to anyone else, Mr.
Meisner said. "The only person I compared it to was Mr. Pickton,
Robert Pickton," he said.