The Coquitlam RCMP officer whose online fetish photos were made public is suing for breach of privacy and defamation.
Cpl. James Charles Brown is suing Vancouver lawyer Cameron Ward, New Westminster resident Grant Wakefield and two unidentified people listed as John and Jane Doe, who are said to be known to Wakefield.
In the suit, filed in BC Supreme Court last week, Brown is claiming an unspecified amount in general, special, aggravated and punitive damages for "substantial and persisting injury to the plaintiff's reputation, injury to his pride and self-confidence, and severe emotional distress."
The lawsuit alleges Wakefield set up false profiles to gain access to the members-only fetish website Fetlife, where he then copied photos of Brown and transcripts of online conversations. Wakefield sent the material to the media as well as Ward, constituting an unlawful breach of Brown's privacy, according to the suit.
The photos included several of Brown engaged in various "consensual acts" as well as staged images of a woman being abducted, hog-tied and sexually assaulted that were only later found not to include Brown.
What followed were at least 10 instances of defamatory expression published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper, various online blogs and via Twitter, all of which were caused by the defendants, claims Brown.
The lawsuit states that in mid-July, the defendants published, or caused to be published, several Twitter messages stating or implying that Brown is corrupt, was connected to William Pickton and attended the illegal drinking establishment on the Pickton property known as "Piggie's Palace."
At about the same time, the suit alleges, the defendants published comments in an online article that indicate Brown has used blackmail to keep his job as an RCMP officer and has hired lawyers to intimidate witnesses and silence the media.
The lawsuit also claims the defamation continued with a lengthy letter sent to several media outlets in August in which the defendants, claiming to have a background working with the RCMP and CSIS, state that Brown has a violent history that includes the sexual assault of a young woman. It also says Brown has published hundreds of sexually explicit photos online under the name "Kilted Knight," some of which "break obscenity laws."
The letter came shortly after the RCMP executed a search warrant on Wakefield's home, where they took a number of computers, laptops and cell phones.
Ward, who has served as a lawyer for several families of the missing women during the Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry, is named in the suit for three blog posts in which Brown is said to be a sexual sadist with close ties to the Pickton family.
Ward's posts suggest the RCMP had knowledge of Pickton's killing spree but failed to act "for fear of implicating one or more of their members in criminal activity," due to Brown's "lifestyle and predilections."
Information contained in the lawsuit outlines Brown's minor role in the Pickton investigation.
In July 1999, Brown contacted the Vancouver Police Department, which was then investigating the missing sex trade workers, with information that a recently arrested man said a woman told him she saw Pickton disposing of a body on his property. And in August 1999 Brown conducted six to 10 surveillance shifts of the Pickton property.
The civil claim contains allegations that have not been proven in court. No defence statement has yet been filed.
