‘Siren suit unsuited’

Press, 30 April 1981, Page 10

‘Siren suit unsuited’

PA Lancaster A synthetic suit worn in the conditions allegedly suffered by “Mr Asia” trial defendants would at firt be clammy and then, “rather unpleasant,” its maker said yesterday. The garment, known at the trial as a “siren suit,” would not be suitable for use by prisoners, the Lancaster Castle Court heard.

It was not designed to be worn 24 hours a day, nor was it made 1 slept in. Inste uit was basically fo Jon in industry, a ; to Charles Holland, .Aeting manager of Vernon Carus, Ltd, manufacturer of Strentex protective clothing. The suit’s use by Lancashire police for prisoners now on trial in the days after their arrest has been the cause of repeated criticism from the defence. It was described as leaving defendants either hot and sweaty if done up, or feezing cold if left open. Made locally of plasticised paper, fitted with elastic cuffs and a zip front, the boiler suit-style garment was given to defendants when they were brought to Chorely in Lancashire after their' clothes were taken for forensic examination.

The key defendant, Alexander Sinclair, called it a sweat suit. He said it left him “really stinking” after one day and was part of what he called “being treated like an animal” by Lancashire police.

Mr Holland was giving evidence in the defence of a Londoner, Jack Barclay, whose counsel has previously asked whether the object of the garment’s use was to keep a person uncomfortable and degraded. On that occasion, the head of the “Mr Asia” inquiry, Detective Superintendent Ray Rimmer, said that was not so.

Yesterday Barclay’s counsel, Mr Michael Hill, Q.C., asked Mr Holland about the garment’s purpose. “It’s basically for protection against a hostile environment. Where there is lead, asbestos, chrome, anything that might be toxic,” Mr Holland said. He said it was not made to give thermal protection and was not porous. Whether it could be worn without clothing would depend entirely on

the surrounding temperature. “What would it feel like if worn for a long period?” Mr Hill asked. Rather clammy and uncomfortable; over a very long period it might become itchy,” he said. Mr Holland said he thought a long period would be more than an eight hour working day. “What would it be like if worn for two days?” — “I would think it would become rather unpleasant.” He agreed the suits had been supplied to the Lancashire constabulary and that the company had not been asked whether they were suitable for keeping a prisoner in over a matter of days. “If asked whether they were suitable what would you sav?” - "No.” Cross-examined by the prosecution counsel,. Mr Michael Maguire, Q.C., Mr Holland said “a million or so” such garments had been sold in Britain for people to carry out different tasks in different weather. He agreed that use of the zip front could help vary the temperature slightly. The marketing manager was giving evidence during Barclay’s defence case, after the Court had heard from two former employees of a

forklift truck business partrun by the defendant. The men, a works manager and production manager, checked through company invoices with Mr Hill, but. agreed with Mr Maguire that they did not know anything about a company directors’ loan account, statutory books, or the source of incoming money. The invoices were checked after the prosecution refused to abandon an allegation.that the company was used to launder drugs money. Mr Hill said he was putting the invoices before the Court to show that the Crown allegation that ExplbsiveProof Forklift Trucks (EPT) was formed as a front for the drugs operation, was “wildly irresponsible.” Countering in the absence of the jury, Mr Maguire likened EPT to the Singa-pore-based companies run by “Mr Asia”, and the slain drugs buyer, Christopher Martin Johnstone. “What we say is this,” Mr Maguire said, “Cross and Mercer, the Sabap Centre (the Singapore companies) were perfectly legitimate businesses.

“This particular business has .the trappings of a perfectly legitimate business. What is more, it started with 4210,000 ($NZ24,000) of drug syndicate money.”