"The Chilling Video, With Its Muddy Sound": The Pickton Jail-Cell Tapes Made Public, 2010

Name: "The Chilling Video, With Its Muddy Sound": The Pickton Jail-Cell Tapes Made Public, 2010
Uploaded: 2010-08-07T00:00:00Z
Duration: 2 min 8 s
Description: When the publication ban lifted in August 2010, a Victoria newscast showed for the first time the RCMP video of Robert Pickton in a jail cell with an undercover officer, and a victim's relative called for a public inquiry.

When the publication ban lifted in August 2010, a Victoria newscast showed for the first time the RCMP video of Robert Pickton in a jail cell with an undercover officer, and a victim's relative called for a public inquiry.

Subject: Robert William Pickton
Recorded: about 2010
Runtime: 2:08

Content warning: Concerns the murders of women at the Pickton farm; no graphic detail.

The Interview

This is a 2-minute-8-second report from A News, the newscast of the Victoria, British Columbia, station then called A Vancouver Island, broadcast in August 2010 and posted on the newscast's channel on August 7, 2010. Reporter Shachi Kurl describes, over the pictures, newly released RCMP video of Robert Pickton in a jail cell with an undercover officer posing as a cellmate, recorded after his arrest in February 2002. Pickton's voice is not heard; the reporter speaks throughout the footage. A relative of one of the victims, who is not named, is interviewed.

Historical Context

Robert Pickton was arrested in February 2002 after police searched his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, where the remains or DNA of dozens of missing women were later found. Many of the women came from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. In December 2007 a jury in the Supreme Court of British Columbia convicted him of the second-degree murders of six women, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole eligibility for 25 years. Evidence from the trial, including the cell video, remained under a publication ban while 20 further murder charges were pending.

Circumstances

On August 4, 2010, the Crown stayed the remaining 20 charges, and the publication ban was lifted. The court then released trial exhibits, including the jail-cell video, which the report says had been played to the jury. The anchor's introduction says the public is hearing the details "straight from the killer's mouth"; in this report, however, the cell audio itself is not heard.

What the Interview Covers

The anchor introduces the release of "hours and hours of tapes" in which, the report says, Pickton describes how he killed women at his farm. The reporter explains that the footage shows him "cooling his heels in a jail cell, talking to undercover police" hours after his arrest, and that the tapes and documents could not be reported until the charges were stayed and the ban lifted. She notes that the victims' families had already seen the video at the trial. A relative says the families have "known most of it." The reporter says the families still want a public inquiry even though police have apologized, and the relative says an apology "over the TV and in the newspaper" "just doesn't cut it" and that "we definitely need a public inquiry." The report ends by saying more tapes are expected the following week.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It records the moment, eight years after the arrest, when the cell video first became public in Canada, and a family's call for the public inquiry that the province later held.

Archival Importance

Contemporary regional coverage of the August 2010 release.

Important Caveats

Pickton is not heard, although the anchor's introduction and the YouTube description speak of his words "straight from his mouth." The video shows the 2002 jail-cell recording with an undercover officer, not a police interrogation. The undercover officer must not be named. The relative is not named in the audio and is not identified here. The broadcast date is inferred. The reporter's surname is written as she appears to say it; its spelling has not been confirmed against the broadcast's on-screen caption.

Anchor: For the first time, the public is getting the gruesome details of how Canada's most prolific serial killer murdered his victims, and the words are coming straight from the killer's mouth. The courts have now released hours and hours of tapes in which Robert Pickton describes, in his own words, how he killed dozens of women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam. A News reporter Shachi Kurl has the latest. [00:21 to 00:25: music; no speech (second machine pass).]

Shachi Kurl: These are the pictures and words a jury used to find Robert Pickton guilty of killing six women. [00:31 to 00:33: jail-cell video; no words recovered (the captions show only "SC"; second machine pass).]

Shachi Kurl: This is newly released footage of the now-convicted murderer, cooling his heels in a jail cell, talking to undercover police as a recently captured suspect. The Port Coquitlam pig farmer was arrested in February 2002. Hours later, he was here, confessing his crimes to an undercover police officer. The hours and hours of tapes and thousands of documents make up a staggering amount of evidence that until now could not be reported. Pickton's victims were sex trade workers connected to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. This week, charges against Pickton related to the murders of 20 other women were stayed. As a result, the publication ban is now lifted, and the chilling video, with its muddy sound, can now be made public. For the victims' families, the images are nothing new. They saw this for the first time in court during Pickton's trial.

Family Member Of A Victim: We've, we've known most of it. Some things we, we, uh, are, are getting to know, but most of what we do know.

Shachi Kurl: It took police years to gather enough evidence just to get Pickton to this jail cell. And even though an undercover Mountie is seen on tape, his face blurred, as he secures a confession and helps secure a conviction, the family still say a public inquiry is needed, even though police have apologized for their mistakes.

Family Member Of A Victim: Saying it over the TV and in the newspaper, it just doesn't cut it.

Interviewer: You were impressed with...?

Family Member Of A Victim: No, I wasn't impressed at all. [unclear: "What are they covering now?" (captions, second machine pass) / "But are they covering now?" (Whisper)] Like, we definitely need a public inquiry.

Shachi Kurl: More tapes are expected to be released next week. In Victoria, Shachi Kurl, A News. [02:07 to 02:08: end of the report.] ---