§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Kevin Hughes.]
11.12 pm§ Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome)I am grateful for this opportunity to raise a tragic matter concerning the circumstances and subsequent investigation of the death of a British citizen, Carole Leach, in the Bahamas nearly two years ago. It is not a matter of general application: it has no great policy ramifications and I hope that it will not affect our generally good relationship with the Bahamas. Indeed, the matter affects few people directly: just one family, the friends of Carole Leach and particularly her mother, Mrs. Eve Gamson, who lives in Coleford in Somerset and is therefore my constituent. I have been in contact with her for the past 18 months.
I say from the outset that I do not criticise the performance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on behalf of Mrs. Gamson and in responding to the points that I have put to it. On the contrary, the British High Commissioner in Nassau, Mr. Peter Young, has been extraordinarily helpful. Mrs. Gamson and I are grateful for his assistance and for that of his staff in the high commission. That co-operation has extended to the Caribbean desk in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Baroness Symons, who has responsibility for this area.
I also thank the Bahamian High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr. Arthur Foulkes, for his significant efforts on our behalf. He has been consistently courteous and helpful to the extent of his powers in London in expediting requests to the Bahamian Government and in assisting Mrs. Gamson and me when we have contacted him.
Mrs. Gamson has, however, faced delay, uncertainty, confusion, lack of communication, considerable personal anguish and expense and continuing disappointment since the tragic loss of her daughter in August 1997, nearly two years ago.
It may be helpful to the House if I set out the sequence of events. Carole was a teacher, aged 37. She lived and worked in Rock Sound, in Eleuthera in the Bahamas. She was a popular member of the local community. She taught at the Green Castle all-age school. By all accounts, she loved the island and its people and had many friends in the local community. If there was one small upset in her life at that time, it was that for some months in 1997, she was troubled by what she termed strange phone calls. There was heavy breathing, the telephone receiver was replaced and then there was a repeat call. She was sufficiently concerned by that to tell her mother in England about it when she talked to her, as she regularly did, and to say that it was causing her some worry.
On 22 August 1997, Mrs. Gamson, who had recently seen her daughter in America, tried to phone her in the Bahamas but got through only to her answering machine. The following day, she received a call from Mr. Michael Saunders, a friend of the family, to tell her that her daughter had been found dead. Carole Leach had been battered around the head by a blunt instrument. It is believed that it may have been the blunt end of a machete. Her body was clothed only in a blood-soaked tee-shirt. She had been brutally murdered.
347 What followed was, I fear, not a good advertisement for the investigative procedures of the Royal Bahamian police or for the sensitivity or efficiency of the coroner's court in the Bahamas. The initial investigation left much to be desired. It would be inappropriate for me to list here the apparent deficiencies of the police findings, but many of the investigations that we might expect to have been carried out at the time—they would have been part of standard police procedures in this country and many others—were conducted unsatisfactorily, or not at all.
For example, simple checks might have been carried out on the circumstances in which the body was found and to find out what Carole's movements had been on the day and why her car door was open. She kept a spare set of keys in the car port or the car. Who knew that? Who might have been a suspect? What alibis were available? Was her car seen at the house during the day? None of those questions was answered by the police investigation at the time.
The autopsy report was equally unhelpful. First, it was not made available to Mrs. Gamson for some considerable time. Indeed, we had a prolonged correspondence to try to secure the autopsy results. When that report arrived, Mrs. Gamson immediately realised that it was littered with obvious errors and that there were clear doubts about its accuracy. The time of death was not clearly identified. Carole's height was stated as 5 ft 4.5 in; she was 5 ft 2 in tall. Her hair was stated as being light brown; she had dark brown hair. No surgical scars were noted; Carole had a scar on her left ring finger and the removal of a lump from her breast had left a scar. The samples that were taken were not satisfactory for the purposes of forensic investigation.
There were doubts about the investigation and the autopsy.
Mrs. Gamson was then in the difficult position of being obliged to plead for information about the inquest and the coroner's procedure, but found that her way was blocked several times. She was so alarmed by the lack of progress in the police investigation that friends provided her with $10,000, which was available as a reward. That was later doubled by the Royal Bahamian police. Mrs. Gamson herself produced posters, which were placed around the vicinity of the community to publicise that reward. As far as can be determined, neither the local police nor the authorities attempted to offer that reward and publicise its existence.
The coroner's inquest was delayed for many months. It was eventually convened on 25 May. Mrs. Gamson, who is a pensioner living in my constituency, found the money to travel to the Bahamas to attend the inquest. The inquest convened on 25 May. It was adjourned on 28 May until 9 June. On 9 June, Mrs. Gamson returned for the reconvened inquest, only to see it again adjourned on 12 June until 25 June. She was due to return for a further visit to the Bahamas on 25 June, but the previous day she was informed by the British high commission that the inquest had been adjourned indefinitely.
In August 1998, there were new and tragic developments. On Paradise island in the Bahamas, two young women were found murdered—a Briton, Joanne Clarke, and an American, Lori Fogleman. They were tourists, found murdered on the beach. This time, there was a more immediate response. The Bahamian 348 authorities immediately offered a reward of $100,000. The Prime Minister of the Bahamas became personally involved.
Mrs. Gamson noted how the response to those later murders differed from the response to the murder of her daughter. She had to ask herself why there was such a difference in the speed of response, in the appropriate response by the Prime Minister, and in the amount offered as a reward. She suspected that it had something to do with the £300 million development of tourism facilities on Paradise island, and the effect that that potentially had on the Bahamian tourism industry—a fact that is, of course, strenuously denied by the Bahamian Government and by the high commissioner.
However, those further murders led to a temporary improvement in the circumstances. The Prime Minister's involvement brought in police experts from Scotland Yard and from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I understand that, at the specific request of the British high commissioner, their remit included the previous murders of British subjects in the Bahamas, including that of Carole Leach. Detective Superintendent Morris was sent from Scotland Yard to conduct investigations and to support the Royal Bahamian police. He did an excellent job, carrying out investigations. He kept very much in touch with Mrs. Gamson, whom he interviewed, and has kept in touch with her since. I am grateful to him for that.
In December 1998, the inquest was resumed. Mrs. Gamson was told, at very short notice, by the Bahamian high commission in London; indeed, her ticket to the Bahamas was paid for by the Bahamian Government, so there was a substantial change in attitude, and a very supportive position at that time. That inquest concluded with the arrest of a Mr. Dallas Murray, a Canadian citizen domiciled in the Bahamas, and it concluded with the view that a suspect had been arrested. Subsequently, a further suspect, who was considered to be an accomplice, a Mr. Sydney Pyfrom—a local resident, a Bahamian—was arrested and also held in custody.
At that point, Mrs. Gamson thought that at last her efforts to maintain pressure on the authorities in the Bahamas had borne fruit, and that she was to have an adequate answer to the mystery of her daughter's death. Sadly, a few weeks ago, both men were released without charge; she was advised that that was the result of a lack of evidence.
The question that then arises is, what happens now? What support can be given to Mrs. Gamson in her quest for justice following her daughter's death? She feels very much that she is back to square one—that, after nearly two years, she is no nearer to finding out what happened to her daughter and who is responsible for her death. What more can the British high commission do to put pressure on the authorities in the Bahamas to maintain the speed and effectiveness of their investigation? What more can be done to persuade them to look at the findings of previous investigations, and to explore areas to which they may not have devoted adequate attention?
What has happened to suspects who have now been released? Do they still have their passports? Under Bahamian law, is there any possibility that their passports have been surrendered? If not, is it possible that they have left the Bahamas and, in the event of their remaining suspects and if further evidence comes to light, they will escape being brought to court? What further support can 349 the British police provide? Can Detective Superintendent Morris be brought back into the investigations, and, if so, what role could he play? Have Ministers any ways, either via the Commonwealth or via bilateral links with the Bahamian Government—or by other means—of putting pressure on the authorities to provide some of the answers?
Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the whole sad catalogue of events, as far as Mrs. Gamson is concerned, is this. Although, as I have said, Mrs. Gamson has been well served by the British consular authorities and the Bahamian high commissioner here in London, at no time has she been contacted directly by the Royal Bahamian police, and at no time has the coroner had adequate contact with her. She has undertaken repeated and very expensive journeys to the Bahamas simply to try to maintain some sort of progress—trips that she can ill afford in her present circumstances. Surely the least that she should be able to expect from a friendly Government is a constructive relationship with the police authorities that are carrying out the investigation.
My principal reason for calling the debate is to highlight the circumstances of this episode, and to ensure that Mrs. Gamson is aware that some people are concerned about the fate of her daughter and want to ensure that the perpetrators of this ghastly crime are brought to justice. Those people want to ensure that the case is kept in the public eye, and that whatever action we can take as Members of Parliament, Ministers or officials in the responsible Departments is taken to maintain the pressure and the progress. The fear that Mrs. Gamson and I share is that the release of the suspects in the early part of this year represents an end to the investigation, rather than a renewed investigation, of the circumstances of Carole's death. That, I think, would be unacceptable to her, to her immediate family and to her friends, and I think it should be unacceptable to Members of Parliament.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Tony Lloyd): I am grateful to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath), not only for bringing the matter to our attention but for saying what he has said.
We must all agree that even the contemplation of the death of a child is momentous for any parent, and that to experience that is traumatic. If the death is a result of murder—and murder of this kind, such a long way away—that adds to the agony. The House shares the strong sentiments expressed by the hon. Gentleman and his support for his constituent—not as a constituent, but as a mother bereaved. I place on record my respect for his strong commitment to Mrs. Gamson's concerns.
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the tribute that he paid to the work of the Foreign Office and especially of the high commissioner in the Bahamas. The hon. Gentleman was gracious but accurate in his comments about the high commissioner of the Bahamas in Britain, Mr. Foulkes, whom I know well and for whom I have considerable respect.
Let me put matters in context. Since the independence of the Bahamas in 1973, there have been 10 murders of British citizens on the islands. I shall not chronicle details 350 of them all, except to say that, of those 10 murders, seven were successfully investigated, leading to the prosecution and conviction of those responsible. I shall of course comment on the case of Carole Leach. As the hon. Gentleman compared that with the case of Joanne Clarke, it may be helpful if I say something about that murder and the investigation of it.
As the House has heard, Carole Leach, who had been resident in the Bahamas for six years, was murdered at her home on 22 August 1997. She died from a blow to the head. The CID of the Royal Bahamian police force responded immediately. A reward of US$10,000 for information was offered by a friend of the family. That sum was matched by a further $10,000 reward by the local police. Our high commissioner began to push the commissioner of police for an inquest as early as October 1997, as he clearly thought that the process should be speeded up.
The inquest began only on 3 February 1998, six months after the murder. As the hon. Gentleman told the House, the inquest was adjourned several times before its completion in December 1998. I must place on record my enormous sympathy with Mrs. Gamson over the length of time taken by the coroner to complete the inquest, which we are led to believe was delayed pending the results of forensic tests that were conducted in Miami.
That raises the question of why the tests took so long to complete. The length of time is not acceptable, and I can offer Mrs. Gamson no words that would make her feel that that was anything other than a remarkably extended period, which did nothing to assuage her doubts and concerns about the intent of the authorities to bring matters to a conclusion.
On completion of the inquest, two men were charged with the murder. They were subsequently released when the ruling of the coroner was quashed by the Supreme Court judge. I am told that the Bahamian police are continuing their investigations of the two men, but I cannot give the House any information with respect to their passports or their ability to leave the Bahamas, where their prosecution could successfully take place.
On the first anniversary of Carole Leach's murder, the bodies of Joanne Clarke and Lori Fogelman were found in bushes on the edge of a beach on Paradise island. Those deaths received extensive publicity in the United Kingdom and the United States. The Bahamian Prime Minister held a press conference and the police put up a reward of $100,000 for information about the killer. For the first time—I stress this to the House—the Bahamian authorities asked for assistance from New Scotland Yard and the FBI.
One of the victims of the second murders was an American citizen. A specialist forensic pathologist was flown out from the United States to assist with the autopsies. Detective Superintendent Brian Morris from New Scotland Yard flew out to assist the Bahamian police with their investigations. In September 1998, less than one month after the bodies were found, Tennel McIntosh, a Bahamian, was arrested and charged with the murder of the two women. He has since been committed for trial at the supreme court. I understand that the case is likely to be heard in June or July of this year.
I assure the House that our high commission to the Bahamas in Nassau has been closely involved with all the cases. Our high commissioner and his deputy have 351 maintained good working relationships and had good co-operation with the commissioner of police and senior members of his force.
We have been in regular correspondence with the families through our high commission in the Bahamas and the consular division in London. We have been on hand to assist the families with their visits to the islands and helped with the identification and repatriation of the deceased. We have discussed the details of the investigations with the families, keeping them updated, and have provided copies of all police reports that were available to us when requested. More recently, the high commission staff have helped with the visits of the officer from New Scotland Yard. In addition, the high commissioner and his deputy have pressed the local authorities to bring the investigation to a conclusion as rapidly as possible, and, as in the case of Carole Leach, have pressed for an inquest. I give an unconditional guarantee to the hon. Gentleman and to Mrs. Gamson that the pressure from our representatives will continue.
The role of consular officers in cases of violent deaths overseas is to help the next of kin at the time of great distress. They provide advice and sometimes practical help, such as advising on the cost of the practical and necessary but rather tragic details of local burial or cremation and transport of the remains and personal property back to the UK. They can also provide a list of local funeral directors and help transfer money from friends and relatives in the UK to help pay costs. Where there is evidence of suspicious circumstances, they have pressed for investigations by local authorities and for results. We have two UK-based staff. Both they and the work is fully covered.
The criminal investigation is a matter for the Royal Bahamian police force. Like most police forces, it has a heavy work load, with only 2,200 officers at its disposal to cover 29 inhabited islands. We have made offers of assistance to the Bahamian police force in the past, including for the investigation of the murder of Carole Leach. In a meeting with the deputy commissioner of police, the high commissioner made it clear that the assistance of the Dependent Territories Regional Criminal Intelligence Service would be made available for the investigation of the murder of Carole Leach should the Bahamian police wish. The deputy commissioner of police did not take up this offer.
The House will appreciate that we cannot participate in a police investigation in another country unless we are specifically invited to do so. We welcomed the decision to allow a member of New Scotland Yard to join forces with the Bahamian CID, in a purely advisory capacity, in the investigation into the murder of Joanne Clarke. I think that Mrs. Gamson already knows, but it is important to put it on record, that we also requested that our officers be allowed to work on the murder of Carole Leach and the unrelated case of Jonathon Porton. The authorities in the Bahamas agreed to that.
352 Detective Superintendent Brian Morris, the officer from New Scotland Yard, visited the site of Carole Leach's murder. He was also given access to the case files of Carole Leach and Jonathon Porton and discussed both cases with the Royal Bahamian police. He has since been involved in facilitating the Bahamian authorities' request for evidence from the UK and has supplied specialist assistance.
Again, I was grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his tribute to the work of Detective Superintendent Morris. As he recognised, Detective Superintendent Morris has personally tried to keep in touch with Mrs. Gamson to keep her fully informed of not only his role, but the way in which the investigation was being conducted.
Detective Superintendent Morris paid a second visit to the island at the end of March. He and the high commissioner paid a call to the commissioner of police to discuss the case. I understand that, although critical of the coroner in the Carole Leach case, he felt that the investigations were being conducted reasonably well. He took the opportunity of his last meeting to reiterate what was written in the report and to advise on what he considered to be the best way forward. New Scotland Yard remains in contact with the Bahamian police and is ready to respond to any request for further help.
Clearly, the role that we can play is limited. I think that the hon. Gentleman and Mrs. Gamson understand those limitations. I am especially grateful for the moderate way in which she, as a bereaved mother, has handled her dealings with the Foreign Office and its staff. It is clear that we will continue to offer what facilities we can to take the matter forward. Where resources can practically be made available that will be of practical assistance, those will be forthcoming. We will continue to press for assurances not only that there will be continued action, but that there is a desire to reach a satisfactory conclusion, which means the arrest and prosecution of those suspected of the murder.
In my role both as a constituency Member of Parliament and as a Minister, I have had to deal with a number of cases of British families who have suffered such horrendous, tragic loss. I know that part of the necessary process of bereavement is knowledge. Yesterday, in an unrelated case, I met someone whose relation had been murdered. That person made the point that it was important to be able to understand what had happened to the close relative. Such people need to understand as much as possible what took place, to have some certainty about the manner of death and all the events surrounding that, so these are not trivial matters.
§ The motion having been made after Ten o'clock, and the debate having continued for half an hour, MR. DEPUTY SPEAKER adjourned the House without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
§ Adjourned at eighteen minutes to Twelve midnight.