Basil Honeytrap

In the spring, I think it was June, he asked for a telephone. One day Richard came with a phone, and I connected it. The cable was on the phone he brought and I put it on my line.

 

What could go wrong in a police cell

How did Richard Bros, 25 year-old Canadian from Montreal, born in the village of Sommières in the French Midi, end up hanging from his shirt, in a police cell in the London borough of Islington, on the 22nd of November, 1970, dead? What could go wrong in a police cell? London Metropolitan Police declared it a case of suicide. Media in both London and Montreal repeated the claim. But there was a problem, or rather there were two problems. The first being that there was no evidence, apart from the corpse of the deceased, and the fact that he died in a locked police cell. When I interviewed his widow, Françoise Peeters, in Sommières  and in Lille, said that he had been visited by a solicitor the day of his arrest. 

The Solicitor

I had a lawyer who called me. He had contacted a lawyer and the lawyer went to see him. The lawyer called me after and to say if I wished I will defend you, I defend you because Richard called me to ask me to defend him. He went to see him in jail and said he was perfectly totally all right. He was in very good spirits. He was feeling very well and he was totally sure he was going to get out of that. (Interview Françoise Peeters, Sommières, 2001)

Fortunately, the inquest records included police statements about hourly visits to his cell to check his well-being. Statements that included observations of his mood or state of mind. To whit:

Statement of P.C. David Lee

On Saturday November 21 1970, at 9.45 p.m., I took over as Station Officer from P.S. 64 ‘N’ Rush. P.S. 64 Rush told me of the prisoners in the cells and mentioned that a male prisoner in the Female Cell required special attention as a doctor had visited him earlier and prescribed a course of tablets.; P.S. 64 ‘N’ handed to me an envelope containing a number of tablets, I cannot remember the number of tablets, but I do remember that they were Royal Blue in colour. I was told by P.S. 64 ‘N’ that the prisoner had been given tablets and that he would be due for some others at about 29m. I visited the prisoner every hour throughout the night with the exception of 12 midnight when he was visited by the (word?) At 2a.m. I woke the prisoner and asked him “Do you want some tablets? and he said “Yes”. The prisoner seemed normal and was polite. I then gave him the prescribed dose and a cup of water. The prisoner gave me the cup back, said “Thank you” and returned to his bunk. I visited the prisoner every hour up until 5.15 a.m. and on each occasion  he was asleep and breathing. At 5.15am I handed the duty of Station Officer to P.S.25 ‘N’ Lockwood and told him of the prisoner and his pill requirements, and I then pointed out the pills to P.S. 25 ‘N’. (Statement David Lee, P.C. 474 ‘N’ , file 01-226/1116)

Statement of P.C. Damarell

On Saturday 21 November 1970 I was posted Late Turn Van Driver. At 2.pm I was instructed to collect a Main Meal from Olive House, Section House, by the Station Officer, P.S. 64 ‘N’ Rush. I returned to the station about 2.15 pm with a hot meal and took it to a Mr. Richard Bros, who was a prisoner in the Female Cell. The prisoner seemed to be in a cheerful mood and on my return; shortly afterwards the meal was hardly touched and he said said he did not feel like eating. At about 5.30pm I was instructed by P.S. 64 Rush to make arrangements for the prisoners’ Light Meals. I went to see the prisoner prior to getting a Light Meal Voucher and he stated he didn’t want anything to eat or drink. I pointed out that this would be the last chance of food until breakfast and he again refused. I then informed P.S. Rush. On Sunday 22 November I was posted Early Turn Van Driver. At about 8.30 am I was instructed to arrange for three prisoners to be washed and fed, by the Station Officer P.S. Lockwood. Prior to collecting the meals from Olive House, I allowed Bros out of his cell in order to wash, he again appeared to be cheerful and stated he was hungry. As he washed I asked him if he wanted to take some fresh air which he declined.  I later took him to his breakfast of which he ate about half. At about 1.pm I was again instructed by P.S. 25 ‘N’ to se to the prisoners meals and collected a Main Meal from Olive house and took to Bros in his cell. On my return he had ate about half of his food and again appeared to be cheerful. (Statement Peter Damarell, P.C. 159 ‘N’/154792)

Statement of  P.S. Trevor Lockwood

On Sunday, 22 November 1970, I was posted Station Officer at Islington Police Station from 6a.m. to 2.p.m. I was informed by the officer I relieved that there were prisoners in the cells, one of  these was Richard Bros. I knew that he was at the station having been Late Turn (2p.m. – 10p.m.) the day before (21 No9vember 1970) being posted on section. I visited the prisoners including Bros at frequent intervals throughout my tour of duty. I instructed P.C. 159 ‘N’   to arrange for their breakfast and exercise and at 8.30a.m. Bros was given a breakfast by P.C. Damarell. I understood that he did not wish to leave his cell for exercise, but came out of the cell for a wash at the basin outside. H was always very rational and composed at each visit and at no time did he show any sign of emotional stress. The Divisional Surgeon had been called to him on Saturday 21st November 1970 at request of Bros. He had left some pills to be given to Bros. I gave one of these to Bros at about 9a.m. on 22 November 1970. At 2p.m. I told Late Turn Station Officer P.S. 38 ‘N’  that Bros was in the cell and that I had just left him. This was about 1.40p.m. I told P.S. 38 ‘N’ that Bros had one pill left that could be given to him about tea time and that he was of a nervous disposition. I went off duty at 2p.m. (Statement Witness Trevor Lockwood, P.S. 25 ‘N’ /153486 10 December 1970)

Notes of Police Surgeon Mendoza

21 November 16:45 Fit for detention No complaints No complaint of illness (Not known  of drugs) History No relevant P.H. (personal history) In fact agrav – Show slight diagnos of agitation Prescribing  Phenergan – mild sedative. Possibly been taking. Sedative properties 4 staying in custody – perhaps need something Beyond this No sign of depression Intent to take own life – No Following day On floor face upward. Marks around neck from ligature hanging

Statement of P.S. William Farquhar

On Sunday, 22 November, 1970, at 2pm, I commenced; a tour of duty at Islington Police Station as Station Officer. I was informed  that there were four prisoners in custody by P.S. 25’N’ Lockwood whom I was relieving shortly after 2p.m. with P.C. 348’N’ Robertson I visited these prisoners. The prisoner  Richard Bros was in the Female Cell. P.C. Robertson opened the wicket gate in the cell door and I saw Bros sitting on the cell bench, he looked up but did not say anything.  At 3.15 P.M. I went to visit another prisoner and again checked the other prisoners. Bros was awake and lying on the cell bench. I  asked him if he wanted anything and he said “No”. He appeared perfectly normal. At about 4.10P.M. I again visited the prisoners this time Bros was in the same position as before he did not speak when I opened the wicket gate. At 4.50p.m. I went to the prisoner’s property cupboard which is situated just off the charge room and about 4 yards from the Female Cell door. While there Bros knocked  on his cell door and I went to see what he wanted. He asked me if he could have a cigarette. I gave him one of my cigarette’s lit it for him, asked if he was alright and he he said “Yes”. He appeared normal. At 5.15p.m. I went for refreshments. S.P.S. Mockette taking over as Station Officer. (Statement P.S. William Farquhar)

Statement of Lewis Edward Moquette

On Sunday, 22nd November 1970, I was Duty Officer at Islington Police Station from 2.p.m. until 10.p.m. At about 5.15p.m. I took over duty in the Station Office whilst the Station Officer, P.S. Farquhar, left to have his tea. At 5.55p.m. I went with P.C. 348 ‘N’ Robertson, who was a Reserve man, to the cells in order to give the prisoners their tea. I carried the cell key and we went to the ‘Female Cell’.  I opened the small  ‘wicket gate’ in the cell door and called to the occupant Richard Bros. There was no reply and so I opened the cell door and entered the cell closely followed by P.C. Robertson. Bros was not in the cell and when I looked in the cell toilet I saw him hanging by the neck from the end of the top runner of the dividing door between the toilet and the cell. A piece of pink material was tied around his neck and was attached to the runner. PC Robertson produced a knife from his pocket and together we cut him down and laid him on the floor. He was obviously dead. I cut the remaining pink material from his neck and I saw that it was in fact his shirt. The shirt had been rolled and twisted into a length, one end had been tied around the end of the  top door runner and the other end was tied around Bros’ neck. The body had been facing away from the water closet and it was apparent that Bros had stood on the W.C. which is 18 inches from the ground and tied the shirt as stated. The door runner is 6’9″ from the ground. It also appeared that Bros would have leaned forward and not dropped. When suspended his toes were just above floor level and his legs were slightly bent at the knees. I arranged for the Divisional Surgeon, Doctor Mendoza, to attend. I was present at 6.40p.m. when the doctor examined the body and pronounced life extinct. (Statement Lewis Mockett, S.P.S. 5’N’.)

In sum, Richard Bros’ state of  mind was ‘normal’, with periods of cheerfulness, sure of being released, from the moment the Police Surgeon, Dr. Mendoza, examined him at 2.45 p.m. on the 21st of November, shortly after his arrest,  to Richard Bros, shortly after his arrest, to 5:15 p.m. on the 22nd of November, 45 minutes before he was “pronounced life extinct”.  The second was like that of the story of the killing of Mario Bachand. A unitary tale, a package that came from a unitary source, propagated through the media by unsigned articles, surfaced from orphan dispatches from news agencies. Who do you call to ask a few questions to flesh out the story, or verify the statements? How curious that the original story, of unknown origin, becomes the dominant discourse, with no one asking the obvious questions.

A difficult research problem, given that there were no known witnesses, or known evidence. And no official accounts.

The first question: How did Richard Bros come to reside at 34 Theberton, in the borough of Islington, three months before his death? Perhaps, I thought, finding out the answer to this question would lead me to answering the principle question, How did he die, and who killed him? 

Goddess Fortuna

It was in the spring of 1968 that, as commanded by  Fortuna, the great gyre of life  began to turn anew, for Richard Bros. In May, 1968, two young men from Montreal, François Simard and Yves Langlois, associates of Jacques Lanctôt and Paul Rose, travelled to Paris together, wishing to part in the turbulent events of the day. Events that would encourage them, in October 1970, to take part in the kidnapping of James Cross, and the kidnapping and murder of Quebec Minister Pierre Laporte, led by Lanctôt and Paul Rose. But France, and the general strike that accompanied those events, had closed down Orly, and they ended up in London. Which led them to pay a visit, or visits, to Richard Bros, friend of Jacques Lanctôt and François Simard.

It was only one of the associations and events that brought Richard Bros attention from the RCMP and certain other special services, in particular, MI5.

Richard Bros and René Lévesque together

In the spring of 1970, according his maternal uncle, Pierre Serrano, and his widow, François Peeters, Bros visited Sommières, in the south of France, the village of his birth, in the company of a very special guest: René Lévesque, founder and leader of the Parti Quebecois (PQ), the party those sole purpose was to remove Quebec from Canada, l’Indépendance, An endeavour that brought close attention from the RCMP Security Service and the government of Pierre Trudeau.  Lévesque had arrived in France on  holiday following the Quebec provincial election of 29 April, in which he lost his own seat in the legislature, the PQ obtaining only 4 seats.  Even if – a strong possibility – Canadian authorities were behind the association between Bros and Lévesque, given that there could hardly be good reason for them to be associated, or spending time travelling through the French Midi. Or perhaps it was Lévesque’s friendship with François Dorlot, a doctoral student in Paris, who had close associations with the FLQ, and with the AGEQEF (Association Générale des étudiants québecois en France), as conférencier, visiting and keeping in touch with AGEQEF members and Quebec students generally across France. An endeavour certain to bring close interest on the part of the RCMP Security Service and the government of Pierre Trudeau. 

FLQ leave Cuba for Europe

The 5th of April, 1970, in Havana harbor, the Matanzas, a small freighter of the Cuban merchant marine, left for the Italian port of Genoa. On board were five young men who were of intense interest for the RCMP, and Canadian authorities, felquists Mario Bachand, Raymond Villeneuve, Pierre Charette, Alain Allard, and André Garand.

After a three-week crossing of the Atlantic, they docked at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Spanish authorities were less than sympathetic to revolutionaries of any variety, and the men were forced to say onboard. A few days later, at dawn, after crossing the Strain of Gibraltar and traversing the Mediterranean Sea, the Matanzas tied up at Genoa. Mario Bachand, Raymond Villeneuve and André Garand hurried down the gangplank with their passports and baggage. Bachand and Villeneuve headed for the airport, and Paris. Garand headed for the train station, and boarded a train for Milan and Paris. Charette and Allard, not having passports and no travel documentation apart from Cuban transit visas, were refused permission to land. They were compelled to stay on board, and return to Havana.

The very presence of Mario Bachand and Raymond Villeneuve in Paris, a short day-trip from London, brought alarm to the RCMP. Who knew what mayhem they might devise?

The Foreign Delegation

The Délegation Extérieure du Front de Libération Québec (DEFLQ) is also mysteriously implicated. The DEFLQ, which  first appeared publicly, in a Bulletin published in the Montreal paper La Press, on the first of November  1970. The Bulletin had some unkind words about Mario Bachand, which aligned very well with the story to come several months later, following the killing of Mario Bachand, on the 29th of March, 1971, that the FLQ was not pleased with him. There were, however, aspects of the DEFLQ of which the Bulletin did not speak. The DEFLQ first appeared officially, on the 24th of March, 1970, in an RCMP file recently opened on the DEFLQ.  Was the RCMP Security Service clairvoyant? No, not so much. Rather, the DEFLQ was an RCMP construction, set  up in Algers to gather intelligence on the FLQ, and for other, more specialized, tasks. Its members: Normand Roy, Michel Lambert, Raymond Villeneuve, Gilles Pruneau, Richard Bizier, and a tall blond woman with piercing blue eyes, Denyse Leduc. Their supposed headquarters, the basement of an HLM in the quarter of Hydra, Algers, 20 rue Dirah, 1/2 mile from the Canadian embassy.

The Swiss connection

In 1966, as Canada was hard at work preparing the site for the 1967 World’ s  Fair, the Canadian government was considering how to deal with the anticipated visit of  French president Charles de Gaulle. While not his first visit – he had come to Canada in 1940 and in 1945 – Canadian officials and government were well aware that 1967 would be different. The year before, in a private dinner with Canadian ambassador George Vanier and his wife Pauline as guests, de Gaulle had expressed support for Quebec independence.  Canada immediately looked to Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg , each threatened by de Gaulle`s grandiose claims to incorporation with France. On the 16th of January, 1967, the head of Defence Liaison 2 (DL(2) at Canada`s External Affairs wrote to the head of the RCMP`s Security and Intelligence Division and asked for what intelligence they had on France`s  connections with separatist movements in Belgium and Switzerland.  1967 January 16 J. J. MCCARDLE, head of DL (2), writes to A/Comm. W. H. KELLY about France’s connections with separatist movements in Belgium and Switzerland p. 193.

A call from Switzerland

London, North borough of Islington an afternoon in May, 1970. At 34 Theberton Street, the telephone rang. Urse Niethammer, in the ground-floor room, near the corridor from the entrance, crossed to the small table by the staircase, and picked up the handset.

The house telephone, a standard black British Telecom model, number 359-2899, was in the name of Mathias von Spallart, who had left 34 Theberton to return to Basel, a year before.

Yves Stohar was on the line, from Basel, calling Urse Niethammer.

There is someone in London who needed a place to live. Go to the Hotel Holland Park, between Holland Park and Hyde Park. Someone was waiting there. Bring him to 34 Theberton. Put him in the basement room, which is unoccupied. (Interview Urse Niethammer and Peter Strub, Basel, 7 June 2001)

Six months later, Richard Bros would be dead, hanging by his neck in a cell at Islington Police station, three blocks away, at 320 Upper Street.

The guest at the Holland Park Hotel

”I went with my car. I went to his room”,  said Niethammer, in my interview of him and Peter Strub, in Basel. “It was a really big room beneath the roof. And that the first time I met Richard Bros. It was a very expensive place to live…. I went to the room in the hotel, under the eaves. He put everything together, he made a joint. It was the third time I smoked cannabis, which completely changed my life. I put his things in my car and we went to Islington. He just put in his clothes and everything he had. He told me he had been living in the hotel for a long time. I told him I had a place, a room in a basement, Theberton Street, number 34. (Interview Urse Niethammer and Peter Strub, Basel, 7 June 2001)

Basel Honeytrap

Richard Bros had a girlfriend in Basel. She was the favourite of the owner of Atlantis. The owner had a girlfriend, and Richard Bros was in Basel, but I don’t know when. It was a good music spot. A restaurant with live music. The girlfriend of the owner of Atlantis was also the girlfriend of of Richard Bros. It was very complicated.

Complicated indeed. Nonetheless, I began to  give Basil, and whatever might have taken place there, my full attention.  In Basel, I might find out how Richard Bros had come to reside at 34 Theberton Street, from where three months later, on 21 November 1970, he stepped out, in the company of two Islington police officers, for the last walk of his young life.

To uncover how he died, and who was responsible for his death, how he came to at 34 Theberton was of first importance. I had no idea, however, that the events in Basel, in London, at the Islington police station, in Montreal and Ottawa, and Paris, where the life of Mario Bachand would end the following year, were only fragments of a much larger reality. Islets, shrouded in mist and darkness, emerging from a vast, submerged, archipelago.

As Urse Niethammer said, it is complicated.

The file on the inquest of Richard Bros

I had found Niethammer’s name in the inquest records, which had brought me again to London, armed with a letter from Pierre Serrano, the maternal uncle of Richard Bros, who I had met several times in Sommières, the village in the French Midi where Bros was born. Pierre Serrano, being the closest remaining relative to the deceased, had the authority to approve my access, which enabled my to visit to Her Majesty’s Coroner Court, Milton Court, presided over by Her Majesty’s Coroner, D R Chambers, to consult the inquest records on the death of Richard Bros.

Dr. Chambers who had presided over the inquest, which took place at St Pancras on the 22nd of December, 1970. Which happened to be three days before Christmas, which unfortunately limited the presence of journalists who had been so industrious in writing the tale of suicide. In fact, no journalist attended the inquest proceedings.

Regrettably, Dr. Chambers did not make himself available to me for me to pose a few questions. But the Coroners Officer, Barry Tuckfield, kindly placed the file on a nearby desk and bid me welcome. The Coroners Officer, responsible for the administration of the office, is an officer of the Metropolitan Police, and the Coroner is an employee of the Metropolitan Police. There can be no doubt as to where to power lies.

The inquest file

The file folder was a somewhat larger than its contents, showing that some records had been removed. Nonetheless, it included the post mortem examination, the Coroner’s note of the proceedings, which included testimony of the police surgeon, Dr. Arnold Mendoza, who had arrived to declare the death; statements of Richard Bros upon the his arrest; statement of the arresting officers; of Urse Niethammer, who had laid the original complaint, causing Bros to be charged with assault, which supposedly led to his arrest; and statements of the police who had been on duty at Islington Police Station from the time of his arrest to the discovery of his corpse; and the autopsy report. There were no photographs of the scene. I asked the Coroners Officer why; he said that in the past procedures were no formally followed, as the are today.

For his nervous condition

More important, the notes of the officers who came to see Bros on the hour noted the giving of the medication that the police surgeon, Dr. Arnold Mendoza, had prescribed to Richard Bros, “a mild sedative”, promethazine hydrochloride, commonly known as Phenergan. Two tablets, dark blue, which reveals the quantity in each, 50mg; offered each hour, with record of when the tablets were offered, and when taken, “for his nervous condition”. For which, given what would soon transpire, he had every reason to be nervous. Which will help us determine how much promethazine hydrochloride Richard Bros ingested the day of his death, and its effect, abundantly shown in the literature. Which we will discuss in several future posts.

What happened in Basil

I had a remaining questions about Richard Bros and Basel: Was he ever in Basel and, if so, When and How? How did Richard Bros come to reside in the Hotel Holland Park? and How did he and Yves Stocker meet? Did any of these events have any connection with the DEFLQ or other FLQ?  After sorting these questions, answering them, I would search for the answers as to how he came to be arrested and brought to Islington Police Station, and how and why he came to die.   Which brought me to Basil, and interviews with Inge Seiler in Zurich, and Urse Niethammer, Peter Strub, Patricia Eichenberger, and finally Yves Stockar, in Basel.

 I had taken up residence; I again interviewed Urse Niethammer. He told me of  Yves Stocker having an apartment near Cinema Platz, a movie house on Steinentorstrasse, near “the red-light” district of Basel. A three-storey apartment:

MM Richard has this strange connection to Basel. UN It was a girlfriend connection.
MM Did you ever meet this girl?
UN Only this Marianne, yes. I don’t know how it was telling me, this story with Marianne. Marianne and Yves Stocker have been together in the same house, Cinema Plaza.
MM was that how Stocker knew Richard, because Richard had that girlfriend in Basel?
UN They made a lot of sex games and stuff, this Yves Stockar. But I did not know about that. I was interested in architecture. I made my apprenticeship at that time. I was not very often in Atlantis. I just know from the outside that Marianne is the girlfriend of Seiler.
MM Could you describe his house, his apartment, Stocker? It was art deco; he liked art deco. A lot of small, one-room apartments. (…)
MM Did Richard talk about Basel, about his connection to Basel and this woman Marianne?
UN I knew about that ten years later. I did not know at that time that Richard was in Basel.

The girlfriend of one of the Seiler brothers, Paul or Kurt, co-founders of the Atlantis, was Patricia Eichenberger, brothers who had founded the Atlantis, and not “Marianne”. Patricia Eichenberger brought me to meet Marianne Corpiteau, who had been Richard Bros’ girlfriend in London for three months, the summer of 1970. During the interview or Eichenberger and Corpiteau, together, Corpiteau said she met Bros in London, when they worked at the same . She did not know that he had been in Basel. When I showed them a photograph of Bros, Eichenberger said she “seen him, in the company of Yves Stockar, at the Atlantis, in November 1969.” She was certain of that. Implicitly, she was claiming not to have known Richard Bros. She also said she had a fight with Seiler at about that time, they had gone to court, and she left for London, using money given to her by Seiler.  There clearly is a contradiction. Either Patricia Eichenberger is not telling the truth about a relationship in Basel with Richard Bros, or Urse Niethammer is incorrect in his recollection or knowledge of the name of the girlfriend of Seiler. As said, it is complicated. What is clear, however, is that Richard Bros and Yves Stockar were in contact in Basil in November 1969. Which coincides with two other events. The first, the visit to Basel of Denyse Leduc on the 9th of November 1970, as discussed in the post Sky with Diamonds. “The first passport had no visas and had three immigration stamps indicating bearer was in Dover, England, 31.10.70-4.11.70, and in Basel, Switzerland, on 9.11.70”

The second interesting aspect was the arrival in Ottawa, on the 7th of November, of a  Mr. Edward Jones, to assist in planning the operation to recover James Cross from his FLQ kidnappers, led by Richard Bros’ friend, Jacques Lanctôt.

In reality, Edward Jones was MI5 Director Furnival-Jones. He was accompanied by Barry Russel Jones, They registered at the Chateau Laurier, Ottawa’s premier hotel, a short walk from the West Block on Parliament Hill, and from the British High Commission, both central points for the fight against the Cross kidnappers.  Furnival-Jones had begun his visit not in Ottawa but in Montreal, where he  attended a meeting of senior police to discuss the search for Cross. Furnival-Jones spent the following day at the home of RCMP S&I Director General John Starnes. They no doubt  discussed every aspect of the operation to recover James Cross from his captors. An operation painstakingly designed to maximize his chances for survival, at a time when the RCMP and MI5 feared that the Liberation Cell might murder Cross when they realized they had been located and that the police were moving in. On Friday 13 November, RCMP Commissioner Higgitt met with Solicitor General Goyer, at which, according to notes made be Higgitt: 1970  November    13    Friday. 0900-1000: RCMP Commissioner HIGGIT with Solicitor General in general discussion.[i]

  1. Mentioned hiding place found in.
  2. 3 signatures – URGENT

That afternoon, the RCMP Security Service Operations Centre sent a message that a “special surveillance detail has been drawn up by Sgt. McCleery”. McCleery being in charge of the lead team searching for James Cross. [ii] That 13 November in London, the weather forecast said:

London: Sun rise, 8.14; sun set, 5.15.; full moon, 8.28 am; a cold West airstream covers Britain. A trough of low pressure is expected to move South-East across South and West during the day.; London: sunny, becoming cloudy, rain at times; wind West, moderate, becoming South West, strong; max. temp. 9 degrees C (48 F).

More important, for the life of Richard Bros: 1300 GMT, Urse Niethammer disconnects the telephone of Richard BROS.[i] [i].    Statement of Urse Niethammer to police, 17 November 1970, Richard BROS inquest records . Friday. 1515: Security Service Operations Centre log.  .[ii] [i].    Higgitt Diary, RG128/33, p. 118.  [ii].   IA 310-5.

All of which, naturally, invites us to consider how Richard Bros came to be arrested on the 21st of November, 1970; the qualities of promethazine hydrochloride, the ‘mild sedative’ that was given to Richard Bros in his jail cell at Islington Police Station, and its effects, at the dose given to him;  the autopsy report, and a small detail that suggests how, precisely, how Richard Bros died. Finally, a post about my interview, in Basel, with Yves Stockar about the death of Richard Bros.