Wrongfully convicted N.B. man hopes promised police review comes in time for birthday

Robert Mailman, left, and Walter Gillespie, speak to media shortly after their hearing at Saint John Law Courts in Saint John, N.B., January 4, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Hawkins

Robert Mailman turns 77 later this month, and as a birthday gift there is nothing he would like more than answers about what led to him spending 18 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

The New Brunswick man is hoping to get his hands on a copy of the external review commissioned by the Saint John, N.B., police chief into the force’s handling of his case. Mailman and his friend Walter Gillespie served lengthy prison sentences after being convicted of a 1983 murder, and it was only in January 2024 that a court ruled they had been victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Saint John’s board of police commissioners said the review is complete and undergoing a privacy check, but no date has been given for its release.

“I’d like to see the (review), have some answers,” Mailman said in a phone interview last week. “A copy that has no answers, you may as well just throw in the garbage.”

Mailman and Gillespie had their names cleared after federal Justice Minister Arif Virani reviewed their case and ordered a new trial, citing evidence that called into question “the overall fairness” of their prosecution.

But after the Crown announced on Jan. 4, 2024, that it would present no evidence and the men were formally acquitted, questions remained about how the men had been convicted in 1984. Innocence Canada, which led the fight to exonerate the men, alleged in a court document that the convictions had been the result of “police tunnel vision, non-disclosure of important evidence, recantations by the two key Crown witnesses,” as well as a disregard for the men’s strong alibis.

Gillespie, who spent 21 years in prison, had alleged several times before his death last April that he was told he could avoid prison by signing a false confession pinning the blame for the killing on Mailman. He said Saint John police told him if he refused to sign the confession he would be sent to jail for life.

Mailman said that if there’s anybody still alive from the police force who had anything to do with influencing witnesses or falsifying information, he would like to see them face justice.

“They shouldn’t be a judge-executioner or anything sitting up in the police station,” he said. “And if they’ve done something wrong, then they should be held accountable. If they’re not held accountable ... you know that the next miscarriage of justice is just around the corner.”

Saint John police Chief Robert Bruce ordered a “comprehensive review” of the case in January 2024 to be undertaken by retired RCMP officer Allen Farrah after the court exonerated the men. Last week, Tamara Kelly, chairwoman of the city’s board of police commissioners, said the chief is reviewing the report to ensure protected information is not divulged.

“A version of the report will be available,” Kelly said in an email Wednesday when asked if the review will be made public.

Mailman questioned what privacy concerns were being addressed and whether the police were reluctant to identify officers who were at fault.

“Why should they not be identified? I mean, what privacy are they going on about?” he asked. “They didn’t mind pinpointing me and Wally (Gillespie) and dragging our names through the mud. If somebody’s out there and they’re alive and if they have any involvement in this, then they should be charged. Period.”

Ron Dalton, co-president of Innocence Canada, said the federal Justice Department and New Brunswick Crown prosecutors went over the evidence and convictions with a “fine-tooth comb” as they reviewed the case.

“All these facts have been there in front of everybody for quite some time,” he said. “The police don’t need more time. They just need the intestinal fortitude to stand up and do the right thing.”

While an apology would be “nice,” Mailman said, what he wants most is for those who did wrong to be held accountable. He has terminal liver cancer and said he is getting weaker all the time.

“I’m just taking it one day at a time,” said Mailman, whose birthday is March 14. “I sure would like to see a copy of that review.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2025.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press