When I landed in Hong Kong in September 1990 as the newly appointed Director of Public Prosecutions, I walked into a Legal Department racked by scandal, in particular the conviction of Deputy Director Warwick Reid for corruption. So serious was the offence that, despite pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. The effect on the Department was devastating, morale was low and its reputation, especially with the legislative was at rock bottom.
What surprised me, indeed astonished me, was how quickly the Department recovered mainly due to a determination to show everyone that those who remained were honest, efficient and able. It was only some 10 or so years after the events set out in this book had taken place but nobody mentioned them to me, not even former Attorney General John Griffiths QC with whom I had a long and helpful conversation in London. It was as if John MacLennan had never been in Hong Kong let alone an expatriate Inspector of Police who was about to be charged with homosexual offences but who had appeared to have committed suicide hours before he was to be arrested. I used the word “appeared” because there were several who believed him to had been murdered, this despite every indication that he had taken his own life. However there were some aspects that, were suspicious, not least that he had five bullet wounds in his chest and that the Police Investigation of the scene had been so shambolic as to cause anyone with even an modicum of experience of suicides to have their reservations. These suspicions became more cogent because of persistent allegations that MacLennan was being victimised because he knew some very Senior Police Officers were homosexual and were committing criminal offences. It has to be remembered that, at that time homosexuality was a criminal offence. We shall never know exactly what happened but it is totally unsurprising that many were very unhappy, bearing in mind that they had lost confidence in the Police and its Special Investigation Unit.
MacLennan was a Scotsman born in a rural area of that country in October 1950 in a village in Easter Ross. He became a Police Cadet in Stirling and joined the Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire force. He was stationed in Stirling, a small town lacking in excitement and when he learned of vacancies in the Hong Kong Police he left Scotland and arrived in Hong Kong on 2nd October 1973 to join, as Private Eye put it, “the finest police force money can buy”. Corruption was rife as was homosexuality, in due course he was posted to Kwun Tong and there engaged in some homosexual activities. After his first tour he returned to Scotland and applied to join the Metropolitan Police. He was not accepted and returned to Hong Kong to join the Special Branch. However, he was then accepted by the Met and went to Hendon Police College but decided to return to Hong Kong and did so in early 1978. He was posted to Yuen Long, described as a backwater, in the New Territories, very different to what it is today, where corruption, if not the norm, was significant. MacLennan was not corrupt but he had the habit of bringing back young men to his quarters for homosexual activity. He denied the truth of these allegations and there was insufficient proof to prosecute him. But it was recommended that he be dismissed without explanation, something that would have been unheard of in those days.
MacLennan did not take this lying down. He elicited the help of several prominent people and also said that he had seen a list of homosexuals which contains some household names and very Senior Police Officers. Suffice to say, he was reinstalled, but he had so offended his superiors it is alleged that they set out to bring him down. The author describes the police investigation – it does not make attractive reading – and the events leading up to the decision to arrest MacLennan and his death before he could be arrested.
There followed an inquest which to a number of people, including the jury, was far from satisfactory, but the verdict of suicide was justified by the evidence. The story would not go away however and in due course a Commission of Enquiry was set up. Descriptions of what took place at that Enquiry are entertaining, especially the huge antipathy that existed between Counsel taking part and the anxieties of the Hong Kong and British Governments at the direction the enquiry was taking, including a fear that there “may have been a conspiracy among very senior members of Government to select and set up MacLennan for prosecution”. There was a minute to a British Government Minister that “the MacLennan enquiry has clearly misfired”. The side issues have overtaken the Enquiry into MacLennan's death. The risks to the Hong Kong Government should not be exaggerated. It is clear there was very great concern. The Commission report is mild in its criticisms but firmly concluded that MacLennan had committed suicide because of the shame he felt at having to face the impending charges.
Colonel Collet is unsparing in many of his criticisms of the police investigation, the inquest and the report of the Commissioner… “Yang's (the Commissioner) refusal to apply the harsh criticisms deserved by those who had taken a hand in that death was to allow all of them to escape any retribution for what they had done”.
This is a book which makes fascinating reading. It is thoroughly researched and meticulous in its description of the complexities of the case. There were so many participant's that I was constantly having to consult the very helpful resumé of the parts they played. Quite a number of them were still in Hong Kong when I was there, some had advanced in their careers and Sir T.L. Yang was Chief Justice.
Now I must return to that which I said earlier, “nobody ever mentioned MacLennan to me”. I did know about the case from a source which was neither the Police nor the Legal Department but such was the wall of silence that I too refrained from any mention of it. But even the corruption by Chief Superintendent Godber had faded into the background.
It is remarkable how well the Police recovered. Its reputation when I was there was good and I was impressed by the skills and integrity of its Senior Officers. No doubt they learned the somewhat harsh lesson thrown up by this sad incident.
