THE TIMES.
29th JULY , 1982.
Murder trial is halted as sixth witness vanishes
A murder trial in which five prosecution witnesses have died was halted yesterday because of the disappearance of the main Crown witness, who was being guarded by detectives.
The case concerns the shooting of Mr. John Docherty, 38, a Glaswegian who was said to be operating vice rackets in north London. Mr. Docherty was killed "by contract" at King's Cross, London, where there have been two other murders in the past two years, the Central Criminal Court was told.
Detectives are "astounded" by the number of witnesses they have "lost" since the shooting on November 18, 1980.
One man was shot, another stabbed and a woman hacked to death. Another woman is said to have taken a heroin overdose and a man "drank himself to death".
Yesterday the prosecution failed to produce its star witness, "Big" James Gibson, who had claimed at an earlier trial, which collapsed because of legal technicalities, that he had been offered a "contract" to kill Mr. Docherty.
Last Thursday Mr. Gibson failed to appear to give evidence at the third trial of Alan McCandless, aged 26, unemployed, of Hilldrop Road, Holloway, north London, who denied killing Mr. Docherty.
Mr Justice Kenneth Jones issued a warrant for Mr. Gibson's arrest, but police failed to find him and yesterday the judge said he had no alternative but to stop the trial for lack of evidence. He directed the jury to return a "not guilty" verdict and Mr. McCandless was discharged.
The court heard that a provincial detective superintendent had been Mr. Gibson's "minder and mentor" for the past 10 years, but he went on holiday abroad last week leaving two detective sergeants to "look after" Mr. Gibson and escort him to court. Mr. Gibson was left at a girlfriend's home in the Midlands at 1 am last Thursday but when the two detectives arrived at 6 am to take him to court he had vanished. His car, clothing and personal belongings were still there. The judge demanded a full investigation by the police into the circumstances surrounding Mr. Gibson's disappearance.
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