Nerve-gas man ‘still in Chch’

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 1

Nerve-gas man ‘still in Chch’

The Oakley Hospital escaper and nerve gas extortionist, Bruce Douglas Cameron, is still on the run, defying a big police effort in Christchurch to recapture him. “We believe that he is still in Christchurch, but there are no grounds for believing there is any danger to anyone in Christchurch,” said Chief Superintendent J. A. Jamieson yesterday. Cameron, aged 32, has eluded a national police effort to recapture him since he escaped from the security ward at Oakley Hospital on February 22. Recognised as chemically minded, Cameron has threatened to set off a canister of deadly nerve gas in Auckland unless drug charges against him are dropped. Virtually all the staff at the Christchurch Central Police Station were involved in the search for Cameron, Mr Jamieson said. Some members of the Auckland C. 1.8. had flown down to help. The Port of Lyttelton and Christchurch Airport were being watched as possible escape routes. "The police effort has been maintained to locate him and neutralise the threats that have been made to Auckland,” said Mr Jamieson. The Christchurch police had been on Cameron’s trail for “several days” after receiving reports of “scattered” sightings of him in the city. One possible sighting of Cameron was at the University of Canterbury’s main library, photocopying chemistry books. Meanwhile, a special base has been set up at the Christchurch Central Police Station to handle the inquiry. It received about 40 telephone calls yesterday from members of the public who believed they had sighted Cameron or had information about him.

No pharmaceutical or electrical outlets have told the police that they have had unusual requests for chemicals or components recently, according to Mr Jamieson. He said that Cameron pfbbably had the technical ability to make the gas, Sarin-GB, “if everything went right for him.”

However, Cameron needed a laboratory and the right chemicals. The police had been in touch with laboratories in Christchurch about the situation and, in any case, most of them would not be suitable for Cameron, said Mr Jamieson. “None of them would have the ingredients,” he said. Consquently, the police believed that there was no danger to anyone in Christchurch. The police had a. meeting with Christchurch’s emergency services, including Civil Defence, St John Ambulance, and Government scientists, yesterday afternoon. Mr Jamieson said the meeting was to bring them up to date on the situation and that at this stage circumstances did not warrant having further meetings. The police believe that Cameron came to Christchurch because he had a limited number of associates and was not well known here. They are still not sure how or when he travelled to Christchurch, although it is known that he is carrying a lot of money. Asked whether Cameron might have a woman companion with him, Mr Jamieson said that this was “possible,” although it had not been confirmed. The police have asked that the public be on the look-out for Cameron, who is known to have markedly changed his appearance since escaping. He has shaved his beard, cut his hair much shorter, and was last known to. have dyed it a rustv colour. He is described as 188 cm (6ft 3in) tall, has blue eyes, and a lean appearance. He is usually scuffily dressed and often goes barefooted. Cameron has gaunt

features and the condition, psoriasis, down the sides of his face, just below the lower cheeks and the upper jawline area. It gives a reddish, pock-marked appearance. Cameron had been permitted to have electronic components sent to him in Oakley Hospital, an Auckland Hospital Board spokesman confirmed yesterday, according to the Press Association. Dr Frank Rutter, chairman of the board, said that Cameron wanted to make an amplifier for occupational therapy. Dr Rutter said that the hospital could not provide the parts, and so Cameron’s de facto wife was allowed to bring them to him. A reliable source revealed on Tuesday that after Cameron escaped from hospital on February 22 evidence that he was making a radio-controlled triggering device was discovered in his quarters. It is believed that the police seized a number of radio components he left behind. Technical experts are believed to have found that the components could be used in devices such as those Cameron has reportedly described in his threats. Cameron is believed to have claimed earlier that he would set off nerve gas canisters by using a triggering device and timing mechanism. Dr Rutter said the hospital authorities were satisfied that the electronic parts were brought into the hospital for a legitimate purpose. He was sure Cameron had some electronic expertise. That was why his occupational therapy was directed that way. “I think it is a mistake to read too much into this,” said Dr Rutter.

Dr Rutter said that if Cameron had taken equipment to “further his designs” then, clearly, he had hoodwinked the hospital authorities. “I think we have a delicate line to walk between security and compassion,” said Dr Rutter. “That is one of the things we have to talk about.” The Minister of Justice, Mr McLay, the Minister of Health, Mr Malcolm, and Dr Rutter will meet tomorrow to discuss the psychiatric treatment of dangerous patients. Inquiries at all universities in New Zealand have shown no record of Cameron’s ever having been awarded a degree. Cameron’s parents in Masterton said earlier this week that he had degrees in chemistry and electronics. His mother, Mrs Vera Cameron, sid that as far as she was aware, he had obtained the degrees at Auckland University. The University of Auckland said it had no record of a Bruce Douglas Cameron ever having enrolled for a degree course.

It is highly unlikely that Cameron will be able to get the chemicals needed to make nerve gas, according to the scientific director of the National Poisons Information Centre, Dr Wayne Temple.

He said in Dunedin that about five chemicals were needed to make the nerve gas, and two of these were rarely stocked in New Zealand.

“The only places likely to stock the chemicals are some university chemistry departments and possibly some Government laboratories, but not in the quantities that this man would need,” Dr Temple said. “The only other way of getting the chemicals would be by placing an order with an overseas drug company, in which case the police would be able to intercept it”

Dr Temple said that if Cameron was still researching the formula — as suggested by a report that he had been seen in the library at Canterbury University on Friday, photocopying — it was highly unlikely he would be able to carry out his threat. If Cameron wanted to drop the nerve gas on a city the size of Auckland, he would need several truckloads of the chemicals, Dr Temple said. The nerve gas, Sarin-GB, is an organo-phosphate, a concentrated version of malathion which gardeners spray on their roses, and has the same antidote.