VANCOUVER -- The trial of Clifford Olson, charged with the murders of 10 children, was unexpectedly adjourned Wednesday afternoon amid indications the trial may he headed for a quick end.
Crown prosecuter John Hall and defense lawyer Robert Shantz met briefly with Mr. Justice Harry McKay in his chambers at Shantz' request almost immediately after the end of a lunch break.
At the end of the meeting, the defense lawyer applied to McKay for an adjournment 'so I can obtain in writing information with respect to a disposition of the case.' McKay adjourned the trial, which began Monday, until Thursday morning.
Hall told reporters after the adjournment the trial could be 'somewhat foreshortened' but refused to elaborate or to divulge the substance of his discussion with McKay and Shantz.
Olson entered the courtroom for the afternoon proceedings whistling and yawning and, instead of taking his usual spot in the prisoner's dock, walked up behind Shantz and tried to get his attention.
Ordered to sit down by the judge, Olson then conducted a whispered 30-second conversation with his lawyer after which Shantz requested the meeting in McKay's chambers.
During the morning session, in the first day of evidence in the case, a police officer testified that Olson told him two weeks before his arrest last summer he might have valuable information concerning the disappearances of more than a dozen children in the province.
Olson, a 42-year-old construction worker charged in August with the murders of seven young girls and three boys, made the suggestion in a conversation with Delta, B.C., detective Dennis Tarr after Olson offered to become a paid police informer, the court was told.
Testifying outside the presence of the 12-member jury, Tarr said he met Olson several times between late June and late July 1981 to discuss possible information on crime in the area. One such tip from Olson on stolen goods had already proven accurate.
Tarr testified he told Olson July 28 that police would 'really be interested in getting some information' about the children who had been slain or reported missing in the area in the preceding months.
The conversation with Olson had specified the need for information 'about possible locations of bodies,' Tarr said.
'Olson advised me that he could give me information that would make me a lieutenant,' the detective said.
Olson told Tarr to pick a number between one and l0. Tarr said he chose nine, and that Olson said he could give Tarr a letter with nine locations 'and what you find there will be your business.'
The questioning of the detective did not indicate whether Tarr ever received such a letter.
Tarr said he visited Olson at the latter's home July 23 to pursue Olson's informant role. At one point in the meeting, Olson picked up a newspaper carrying a detailed report of the disappearance of Simon Partington, at 9 the youngest victim Olson is accused of murdering.
Tarr said Olson inquired about the reliability of a witness who had described a person accompanying young Partington before the boy disappeared.
Olson also offered his own theories about Partington's disappearance, Tarr said -- that the boy had been kidnapped, the victim of a hit-and-run driver or of 'a pervert.'
Tarr introduced two tape recordings at the hearing before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Harry McKay who will rule on the admissibility of evidence at the end of the voir dire proceedings. McKay allowed reporting of the proceedings because the jury will be sequestered through the trial.
One of the tape recordings made by Tarr dealt with his July 28 meeting with Olson who was accompanied by a youth described only as a juvenile. In it, the youth -- not knowing Tarr was a policeman -- bragged of having carried out 42 break-ins.
In a second taped meeting July 30, Tarr and Olson were joined by two members of the RCMP serious crimes division, Corporals Frank Maile and Ed Drozda.
Pressed by Olson on whether police were interested in drug-related crimes, Maile said his interest lay only in the series of murders of the youngsters.
Maile told Olson that police would be willing to pay for information on the killings but that the information would have to have some substance, 'at least it helps if you know where a body is ... or two.
'That's what we're interested in,' Maile said. 'Our only deal is that we're willing to pay (for information) ... on homicides.'
Olson said he didn't know anything and 'I'd have to go out in the street and inquire.'
Olson told the officers he would contact them later, using the name 'Robert Garipy,' the surname being his mother's maiden name.
