Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 17, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press 2001 Azine Carolin Vesely 6977076 d 1 ustice on trial it they determined to put Thomas soph now behind bars for murder no matter How Many Corners had to be Cut it was a late afternoon in August 1981 when Tom soph now pulled into the parking lot of ryans restaurant in a 20hour drive through the staggering heat and Monotony of the Prairies had left soph now and his equally ragged 1971 Monte Carlo showing the soph now was returning to Vancouver from one of his trips to Winnipeg to visit his three year old daughter from his first his legs were cramped and he wanted Noth ing More than to get but the Chicken pot pie at ryans had always been a highlight of the frequent trips he had made Between Vancouver and win with lunch in his soph now was on his Way to the bathroom when he saw an ramp poster about the disappearance of a she bore a striking resemblance to a girlfriends Babysitter in win soph now figured a Call to police was the right thing to Little did he know that Call would later tie him to a murder that had not yet a few months after making that soph now was in shackles and charged with the murder of Winnipeg teenager Barbara the first of Sopho nows three trials ended in a Hung he was convicted at his second but won a third trial on again he was convicted and again he appealed and was finally the supreme court of Canada then barred the province from seeking a fourth soph now spent three years and nine months behind bars where he suffered abuse from other prisoners who assigned killers of Young girls to the lowest caste within the prison last the Manitoba government and Winnipeg police exonerated soph now of stoppers police also announced they were pursuing a new for the last eight a judicial inquiry headed by retired supreme court of Canada Justice Peter Cory has a solemn soph now emerges a convicted murderer from his second trial in March bled together a family life examined the role of police and prosecutors in Sopho nows ordeal and whether he is entitled to testimony at the inquiry has painted a disturbing picture of How Public pressure to solve Stoppels murder led police and prosecutors to Bend or break Many of the Justice sys tems swamped with police mishandled key Evi discarded viable suspects and ignored the inquiry heard from eyewitnesses who claimed they were threatened and manipulated by Crown attorneys admit Ted they withheld key evidence and witnesses from defence the Crown also used questionable Jailhouse informants and an unsupported sex Ual assault theory in a desperate bid to convict the judicial inquiry has focused not Only on Sopho nows Legal but also on the Burden he has carried for the last 20 the supreme court May have ended his court Battles with an acquittal in but that did nothing to Clear his soph now cob eventually marrying and Rais ing three children in lower Mainland but doubt and suspicion followed him Neighbours and coworkers gave a wide berth to the Man they believed got away with children were forbid Den to play with the soph now soph now suffered psychotic deep depression and in his Home was firebombed while he and his pregnant wife were sleeping but he never gave up fighting his often Hope less Battle to establish his during the More than 60 witnesses examined How Manitoba Justice system could have fought so for so to put an innocent Man behind these Are questions soph now himself continues to i thought i was making a Good Samaritan soph now said about the fateful tip he provided to the ramp nearly 20 years five months before Stoppels and it turned into a jul the free press were there Lor you ;