Operation Ransac - Conspiracy

By Eric Biddle

Operation Ransac - Conspiracy is the true account of what happened to Eric R. Biddle, the same author of this book, at the hands of the Toronto Police starting in late October 1986. The book retraces the horrendous conditions he was exposed to in a year and a half of wrongful custody before sentencing. Also covered are the attempts on his life orchestrated by the police during the eight years and a half of custody. But the most interesting coverage is the actual criminal conspiracy to convict and silence him about the shocking investigation of the African National Congress or ANC in Canada. The other amazing aspect of the Eric R. Biddle story is that there was, and continues to be, a total media blackout on him. Biddle was falsely accused of attacking women and later decided to flee from Canada to Spain first and then to Finland, a true democracy. Biddle was finally cleared of criminal charges in July 2018.

Eric R. Biddle was born on February 28,1950 in Vancouver, Canada. As a young man near Montreal he was very good at sports, but had to work hard at studies. After high school his parents encouraged him to distance himself from the bad influence of one friend. So, he accepted the offer of UBC in Vancouver and enrolled at age 17. After a year he returned east to study at Queens in Kingston, Ontario. During his four years at Queens he lived with his family for economic reasons. His summer jobs paid for tuition. 
After seven years working in the textile field for DuPont he resigned and moved to British Columbia. There he worked as a teacher. Seeking a better life he moved to Zimbabwe for some time. The poor conditions and bleak future of Africa decided him to return to Canada. This is the time when he got involved in intelligence work. After being wrongly imprisoned for eight and a half years, he fled Canada first to Spain and then to Finland, a true democracy. Teaching gave him an income in both countries. Now he enjoys writing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Europa Edizioni
• Release date: Jun 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9791220139922

Book preview

Summary

Long ago in late 1986 an apparently establishment man Eric R Biddle was falsely arrested along with his dog, and psychologically tortured by the Toronto Police. Mr. Biddle was a graduate of Queen's University and gainfully employed to the tune of 50,000 dollars annually. He had given over 3,000 dollars to charity. The Police claimed that he had violently assaulted a young woman some distance from where he was enjoying himself in the Unicorn Pub. Biddle was very happy about his engagement to Ann Nelson of Keremeos, British Columbia from whence he had come recently.

The writer goes into some detail of the false arrest by Toronto Constable Cathy McCormack. He claims that the conspiracy to imprison him began with PC McCormack, daughter of the Chief of the Toronto Police. It was due to his dangerous investigation of the African National Congress in Canada.

There is a description of the grossest of violations of Human Rights for all prisoners of 4 A North and in the extreme for Mr. Biddle who risked losing his sanity. He continues with coverage of the various stages of the Court Procedures and explanation of the unconstitutional Jury Selection Procedures. Of special interest is the imposition of an all-female jury when Biddle was accused of physical assault on a female. Then Biddle is saddled with two additional charges of physical assault on women.

The reader will surely share Biddle's terror of being locked up indefinitely. There is some coverage of the efforts of the Toronto Police attempting to seriously harm Biddle and the suggestion that this malicious harm was continuous during the entire 8.5 years of wrongful imprisonment. Finally, there is some relief when the Supreme Court of Canada basically clears Biddle of 2 of the 3 assaults that occurred in 1995.

Thanks to the outstanding Christianity of Rev. Mary Ranger, Biddle is released on bail with good prospects for greater freedom. But the horrendous harassment that drove Biddle out of Toronto, and then out of Canada was far from over. Biddle makes significant suggestions for reform of the backward and unjust Canadian legal system and the legal process for getting compensation for wrongful imprisonment. Biddle deserves to be recognized for his reform suggestions.

Part 1. The Toronto Police Criminal Conspiracy

Before I describe the hellish 4 A North section of the old Don Jail it is important to recount the events that led up to me being there against my will.

I recall all too well having been in the act of taking a photo of my Fox Terrier Spike who was standing in the driver's seat with his paws on the steering wheel of my car as though he was driving. My car was parked at the edge of the underground parking lot at Yonge and Eglington in Toronto. The date was the 30th of October 1986, very early in the morning.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind and very quickly I was wearing handcuffs on my wrists behind my back. Spike, always protective, was furiously trying to get out of the car to save me from the villain who had taken away my freedom unjustly. The criminal who had handcuffed me was PC Kathy McCormack of the Toronto Police. She was the daughter of the Chief of Police, William McCormack. Kathy McCormack's partner was PC Dennis Dupuis, who seemed to not want anything to do with my illegal arrest in that he was standing distant from me and his partner.

I had very recently returned from spending time with my lover Ann Nelson in the Interior of British Columbia where we were trying to get her pregnant. I had been swimming in the very cold waters of Kootenay Lake and was suffering from bronchitis. When PC McCormack illegally arrested me, my intention was to fetch Spike and take a taxi home because I was over the 0.08 blood alcohol level and exhausted.

To my further surprise, there were in no time about eight police officers on the scene and I was transported to the local Police Division. Over a year later PC McCormick testified under oath that she thought I fit the radio broadcast description of an assailant who had attacked Mary Sue Fitzhenry at an underground parking lot somewhere on Balliol Street. This huge lie and perjury by PC McCormack were to make possible my being wrongly imprisoned 8.5 years. Of the 8.5 years 9 months was to be endured in 4 A North of the infamous Don Jail.

The description given by Ms. Fitzhenry of her attacker was detailed and as follows. She stated that he had a pockmarked face, was about 5' 8'' or 9'' in height and was dressed in very dark or black clothes. She was dead certain that he wore black soled hard shoes because he had stomped on her face when she fell to the floor. Her purse with 30 dollars was missing, presumed stolen. As for six foot me with clear complexion, I was dressed in all white Alex Tilley trousers and a light beige outdoor jacket with an Alex Tilley floppy hat. Of vital importance were the all-white Adidas tennis shoes I was wearing. In other words, I did not fit one iota the description given by Ms. Fitzhenry. Assuming that PC Kathy McCormack was not stupid, what possessed her to arrest an innocent man and lie about it in Court? Obviously, PC McCormack was working under orders or promise of reward from some higher Police or elected government official.

At the Police division I was soon stripped of all my clothes except for underwear and handcuffed to a cold hot water radiator on the very cold cement floor. I was increasingly suffering from bronchitis and totally exhausted. At some point, I was allowed to speak to my sister Lorna Biddle, who rescued Spike from his detention center but ignored me. Shaking and shivering, I shouted out:

-Why don't you go out and solve a real crime like that of Allison Parrot?

Staff Sergeant Howie Aikens, a friend from my Dale Carnegie course, had some weeks before asked me to help solve this horrible murder and I had provided one lead. In a few minutes I had two Toronto Police officers screaming in my face, trying to make me confess to this crime. Some officer had tried to reach Howie Aikens but apparently, he had gone to Florida. Eventually they gave up and left me for parts unknown.

Then arrived arch villain Sergeant John Cullen and his partner Steve Majoran, who gave me some blue clothes to wear. They took me to an unmarked police car and headed uptown. They told me repeatedly that my life was in danger and drove like maniacs. I recall that they said the nonsense that the boyfriend of the young woman I had supposedly attacked was KGB and out to get me.

They drove very fast in the very early morning trying to frighten me and eventually arrived at the entrance to my apartment building at 50 Graydon Hall Dr. There they demanded my keys and they illegally entered my residence apartment 302. I was forced to sit on my sofa while Cullen ransacked my bedroom looking for God knows what. Perhaps it was the covert tape recordings of ANC officials which I had secured in a lawyer's vault two days earlier. When Cullen stated that the Prime Minister (Brian Mulroney) could still use me, I replied that I did not work for crooked lawyers. It was then clear who had ordered my arrest and silencing.

Then with them both in the living room in front of me, Cullen opened a black box, withdrew a large syringe and told