The chair of the Toronto police board is backing a request by a former Ontario Court of Appeal judge that would allow her to scrutinize how police probed the disappearances of the men murdered by serial killer Bruce McArthur.Retired judge Gloria Epstein is six months into her broad, independent review of how Toronto police conduct missing persons cases, an examination commissioned by the police board last year. The review was called in the wake of McArthur’s arrest and mounting public concern about police handling of missing persons investigations, particularly within the city’s Gay Village.McArthur’s criminal court proceedings, however, had prevented Epstein from being able to review the specific disappearances of those now known to be McArthur’s victims — men who were reported missing to police as early as eight years before the killer was apprehended in January 2018.But McArthur’s recent guilty plea — he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years — has made the restrictions placed to protect McArthur’s fair trial rights unnecessary, Epstein wrote in a letter to the board after the killer’s plea, requesting an expanded scope. Citing the expiry of McArthur’s appeal period as well as his plea, Pringle recommended the board lift the restrictions. “I know that there are many in our community who are closely watching this important work, and awaiting any recommendations that arise,” Pringle wrote in a March 14 letter, released this week as part of the board agenda. “With the concerns about Mr. McArthur’s criminal proceeding no longer applicable, it is time to expand the review’s mandate so that it can independently assess and make recommendations about the very cases that motivated its launch in the first place.”Read more:Unlikely to ever be released from prison, Bruce McArthur ineligible for parole until he is 91Eight men, eight stories: ...
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