Alleged murder plotters face B.C. court, in case stemming from jailbreak probe

Photos of Rabih Alkhalil and John Potvin are wheeled into an RCMP news conference, in Surrey, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VANCOUVER — A man accused of helping gangland killer Rabih Alkhalil break out of a British Columbia jail has made a brief court appearance by video, along with two other men accused of a murder plot that police say they uncovered during the escape investigation.

Ryan Van Gool as well as Scott and Bryce Telford, both of whom also appeared by video in the Vancouver courtroom, are accused of conspiracy to murder in a plot police say was thwarted in Kamloops, B.C.

The men were dressed in red prison clothes as they made brief appearances in B.C. Supreme Court, where another hearing was set for Sept. 17, giving them time to formally retain lawyers, and they consented to stay in custody in the meantime.

Van Gool, who is also facing firearms charges for an incident in Maple Ridge last year, was one of three men identified by police this week as being involved in Alkhalil’s breakout from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam in 2022.

Police say fellow suspect Edward Ayoub is in custody in another province, while the third man, John Potvin, remains at large.

Federal police in B.C. said this week that Alkhalil remained at large, and they wouldn’t confirm recent media reports that he had been arrested in Qatar.

Crown prosecutors Alexander Willms and Kelly Johnston declined to comment outside the courtroom before the hearing on Wednesday.

This report by Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press, was first published Sept. 10, 2025.