Toronto police officer leaked information to son knowing he would use for crime, lawsuit alleges
CBC
A Toronto detective constable knew his son was involved in criminal activity when he gave him confidential police information that was later used to commit a murder and home invasion, a lawsuit alleges.
The allegation is found in a statement of claim filed by the family of Bill Horrace, who was killed in London, Ont. in June 2020. Horrace was accused before his death of committing atrocities during Liberia's civil war.
The wrongful death suit, dated October 2020, also alleges the Toronto Police Services Board and former Chief Mark Saunders failed to ensure police databases were used only for legitimate purposes.
CBC News was sent a copy of the claim by the family's lawyer, Phil Tunley, after reporting last month that Toronto Police Det.-Const. Trevor Gregory, 47, allegedly tricked a colleague into conducting an unauthorized license plate search in a police database to obtain an address for Horrace. (Horrace is also identified by another spelling, Horace, in previous reporting by both CBC News and other media outlets.)
According to police disciplinary tribunal documents, the detective constable's son — identified in the documents only by his initials — told him "he had been defrauded out of a large sum of money," but that he had the suspected fraudster's license plate information.
The lawsuit claims the detective constable then passed the address of the home where Horrace was visiting family to his son, Keiron Gregory.
The younger Gregory is accused of breaking into the home and killing Horrace the next day. The 23-year-old was charged with second-degree murder.
Det. Const. Gregory was meanwhile charged with breach of trust last year and is currently suspended with pay while also facing Police Services Act charges.
The allegations in the suit have not been tested in court.
The suit seeks more than $525,000 in damages for Horrace's large family from the Toronto Police Services Board, former chief Mark Saunders, Trevor Gregory, Keiron Gregory and three unnamed males alleged to have participated in the home invasion.
It also seeks additional amounts from the Gregorys as well as the three unnamed males.
The Toronto Police Services Board, former chief Saunders, and the elder Gregory have filed a notice of intent to defend. Their lawyer declined to comment on the allegations.
"The usual legal protections around the presumption of innocence and the unproven nature of allegations in documents remain in place," David Butt, a lawyer for the detective constable, said in an email.
A lawyer for Keiron Gregory declined to comment.
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