Excerpt from Dark Ambition: The Twisted Pact of Serial Killers Dellen Millard and Mark Smich

Featured ~ annbrocklehurst ~ Leave a comment

As the Laura Babcock pre-trial proceedings and the trial itself progressed, a strange, almost paternalistic, dynamic developed between Dellen Millard and the judge, Michael Code, who has a reputation for being a stern taskmaster who does not tolerate fools gladly. This excerpt from the newly released paperback version of Dark Ambition looks at the relationship

Watching the interactions between the judge and Dellen Millard, who was defending himself, it was hard not to wonder if this was the first time Millard had ever had boundaries imposed by a parental figure. Code not only had to rule on the many legal matters raised by Millard, he also had to deal with the defendant’s various problems at the jail. Early on, Millard asked the judge to intervene to ensure that he had access to disclosure of the evidence against him and could prepare properly for motions and trial. Later, he complained that corrections officials wouldn’t allow him to transport hair gel and a comb to the courthouse. As the trial itself got underway, Millard reported that the prison transport van was often late, impeding his trial preparation. On one occasion, he claimed that a lockdown at the jail had left him unable to shower.

Code responded that he showered and shaved in five minutes so he was sure Millard could accomplish that too. He also warned Millard about exaggerating the delays in wagon waits, telling him he had heard from court security that Millard had finished court at 5 p.m. and been in a transport van at 5:40. Later, when officials decided it would make their lives easier to transport Millard in a squad car for the duration of the trial, Code drily congratulated him on acquiring chauffeur service.

Regarding legal matters, the judge urged Millard to focus on his cross-examinations, to get to the point with witnesses, and to stop wasting time on useless motions. When Millard tried to re-open the cross-examination of Shawn Lerner during the first week of trial, Code told him sharply, “Your application’s dismissed, Mr. Millard. It’s got no merit. You’re making very bad decisions about where your priorities are lying.” Not long after, however, he complimented Millard on his cross-examinations, describing some of them as “quite able.”

Millard’s technique did indeed improve after his shocking opening cross-examination of Clayton Babcock, who was clearly uncomfortable being questioned by Jill Cameron about his daughter’s mental health. Clayton said he knew Laura had been seeing a psychiatrist and behaving erratically, but that he also believed she might have been dramatizing the severity of her situation. He was far more at ease in the witness box while talking about happier times, such as when Laura beat the entire family at video games, when father and daughter listened to the Sex Pistols and David Bowie together, and when Laura talked him into watching “Say Yes to the Dress” on TV. “Even to the end, when she wasn’t quite herself, we would talk. She would never be gone any length of time,” he said, explaining that panic didn’t set in until after Laura had been gone for a week.

It took only a few minutes, however, before one of Millard’s questions landed him in trouble with Justice Code. When he asked Clayton Babcock why he was in the witness box and not Laura’s mother, Linda—hinting that it was likely related to Linda’s decision to change the locks at their house and limit Laura’s access to her home—Code reminded Millard brusquely that the Crown gets to choose its witnesses. Millard then proceeded to ramble from topic to topic, asking about the nature of the relationship between Clayton and his daughter, how many times she had been hospitalized for mental-health issues, and whether her personality changed during 2012.

His questions seemed intent on demonstrating that Babcock was not an attentive father, which caused the atmosphere in the courtroom to become increasingly tense. But Millard, apparently oblivious to the negative effect he was having, didn’t let up. He asked if Clayton had ever hit or abused Laura, to which the witness replied no, that he rarely raised his voice. Millard wondered aloud whether Laura had ever told her father that she had started using the surname Ryan instead of Babcock, because of her difficult relationship with him. No, untrue, he answered. “She wanted to get into the movie business. She thought Ryan, which was her mother’s maiden name, sounded prettier.”

It was unclear whether Millard was trying to humiliate Babcock or thought, mistakenly, that he was doing what tough defence lawyers do. Near the end of his testimony, when Babcock failed to recall certain dates, Millard patronizingly told him, “You’ve actually done very well.” It was a comment that caused spectators in the courtroom to look at each other in disbelief. Opening day of Dellen Millard’s murder trial was proving the adage that a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.

As the trial progressed, however, Millard’s skills as a lawyer improved. He made Jeff W., the film producer who had invited Laura to stay at his place, look suspicious by suggesting that he was lying when he said he hadn’t had sex with Laura. In questioning the confused and hapless Brad D., who had been the source of the rumour that Laura had been spotted in Yorkville days after her disappearance, Millard effectively tripped him up. And from the bank witness who explained Laura’s various accounts, Millard elicited the information that Babcock had stopped using her credit card several days before she went missing. Not only did he earn occasional praise from the judge, he also received backhanded compliments from the press. “He may not wear the robes—a charcoal jacket and jeans will have to suffice—but he’s certainly assumed all the mannerisms and posturing of a lawyer,” wrote Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno during the second week of trial.

You can buy the paperback edition of Dark Ambition in your local bookstore or at Amazon, which also has the Kindle version

Parallel Universes: Closing arguments at the Wayne Millard murder trial

June 25, 2018 ~ annbrocklehurst ~ 4 Comments

I’ve just read some of the social media commentary on the closing arguments at the trial of Dellen Millard for the murder of his father Wayne, and I can wholeheartedly say it does not, in my opinion, reflect what happened in court today.

Lead Crown Attorney Jill Cameron did a fabulous job. It was a closing that could have been used for a jury trial. It put everything in context and clearly explained how Dellen Millard had the means, motive and opportunity to kill his father.

Throughout the trial, which I did not cover in person, I have seen a lot of misconceptions about the Crown’s case. Many people blame the Crown because the Toronto police and coroner did a terrible job. This is just silly.

The other thing people get wrong is to think that because someone is a Crown witness, they must be a kind of cheerleader for the Crown. Again, no. The Crown must work with the evidence and witnesses it has. Prosecutors can’t invent evidence, redo the police investigation, and only call perfect witnesses. The case is what it is.

There were two main points that seemed to interest Justice Maureen Forestell. The first was the financial status of Millardair and Wayne Millard. She noted that no financial records had been entered into evidence to which Cameron responded that other witnesses had provided testimonial evidence about Wayne’s and the company’s finances.

I must say that I too had wondered why no financial evidence was called but then I remembered how complicated finances can be and how much time white collar crime cases suck up trying to prove what money went where. At the Rowbotham hearing called to answer questions about Dellen Millard’s finances, the Crown in charge said its forensic accountants estimated Dellen’s assets at $2 million to (I believe) $8 million but noted that the money was difficult to trace.

The other subject area that provoked questions from the judge was what exactly she could conclude from Dellen’s lies, as Cameron called them, in his police interview. The judge asked Cameron if legally a false statement was different from silence with regard to Millard’s statement to police. Cameron responded that it was a material omission or, in other words, a lie by omission.

At this point, I was reminded of a scene from the movie Denial, where Rachel Weisz, playing the American historian Deborah Lipstadt who is being sued for libel by David Irving, rants to a friend about the bewigged British judge at her trial:

And everyone kept saying,
this is all great,
everything's gonna be fine.
And then suddenly this judge,
this unbelievable character
from Masterpiece Theatre...
Oh, I like Masterpiece
Theatre- I know.
Anyway, at the last minute,
he looked up and he said,
"Well, you know, maybe
Irving actually believes it.
"He's an anti-Semite
and he believes it.
"You can't accuse
someone of lying
"if they genuinely believe
what they're saying."
That's crazy.
That's insane.
And that's when I thought,
"I've been suckered."
I stared at this judge
for eight weeks
and I thought
I was looking at wisdom,
but maybe I was just
looking at prejudice.

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=denial

Related to the same issue, there was some more legal back and forth between Cameron and the judge later on about whether Millard’s material omissions were independent evidence of his attempt to divert suspicion. Various legal rulings on the difference between inferring guilt based on the absence of an explanation versus inferring guilt from an accused’s decision not to testify were discussed.

The Crown closed as prosecutors inevitably do, by claiming there was no reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt.

Much to my trepidation, Millard’s lawyer Ravin Pillay began his arguments with reference to some, in my opinion, ridiculous law that I’ve written about before — how there’s a distinction between lies and concocted lies. And no I don’t mean falsehoods and lies, but really truly lies and concocted lies, which is as crazy as it sounds.

There have been a multitude of bad decisions as a result of this non-existent difference and I could easily see another one coming down in this case.

On a more reasonable legal note, Pillay quoted another case, whose name I did not catch, saying that if a reasonable alternative theory exists that must raise reasonable doubt. He went on to argue that suicide was a reasonable alternative theory, which, of course, is one of the questions the judge will ultimately decide.

Pillay then went on to knock down as mcsh of the Crown’s case as he could and finish with a bang. The simplest explanation is the right one, he said. “It was a suicide then and it’s a suicide now.”

Long a depressed recluse with an alcohol problem, Wayne had made a risky business decision that wasn’t panning out. Destitution loomed, said Pillay. “A life of privilege squandered on this monumental mistake, the MRO,” he continued in full closing mode.

You must acquit, he told the judge, as defence lawyers invariably do.

Justice Forestell said, depending on her workload, it’s possible but unlikely she will have a decision by July 19. At the very least she will have an update. The decision may not come down until September as a result of all the different participants’ summer vacations.

I can easily see the verdict going either way.

“My Sweet Serial Killer,” wrote Dellen Millard’s girlfriend

Featured ~ annbrocklehurst ~ 6 Comments

The terms of Christina Noudga’s bail were relaxed so that by 2015 she was back to partying hard. Remorse is not a concept she understands.

My sweet serial killer.

Those were the words Christina Noudga wrote in the jottings police seized from her bedroom on the day she was arrested in April 2014. Her notes, or whatever they were, were taken along with the letters Millard wrote to her from jail.

Police were gobsmacked. They couldn’t believe what they had found.

“Everything happens for a reason,” said one officer who worked on the case. It took a year to arrest her, he explained, but what a trove of evidence Noudga stashed over that period.

Millard’s letters and Noudga’s notes first came to light at Noudga’s bail hearing in the summer of 2014, after she had spent just over three months in jail charged as an accessory after the fact in the murder of Tim Bosma. Parts of what she wrote were revealed at the Bosma murder trial, but other parts have remained under wraps due to standard publication bans that prevent the early release of evidence discussed at bail hearings, pre-trial motions, and, in the case of jury trials, sessions where the jury is not in the room.

It was not clear whether Noudga’s musings were rough drafts of letters to Millard or actual letters that he had returned to her or simply notes she wrote for herself.

Her lawyer at the time, Paul Mergler, told the court that “Sweet Serial Killer” was a line from a Lana Del Rey song, which it is indeed.

In her notes, Noudga also made a list of what she believed to be the potentially damning evidence against her boyfriend. One of the more gruesome and still inexplicable things she wrote was “limbs cut off without hesitation.”

When that ugly phrase was read out in court at the bail hearing, a pregnant friend of the Bosmas fled the room in tears.

Yet despite this and other evidence that suggested Noudga knew she was helping Millard get away with murder, the judge at her bail hearing appeared quite sympathetic to her. He opined on how she was a smart young woman who could get back to her studies if released. While the terms of her original bail were strict, they were gradually relaxed. By the time she testified at the Bosma trial, she no longer had to wear her ankle monitor.

Many questions have been raised about why Noudga was never called to testify at the Babcock trial. Online rumours abound that she had cut some kind of secret deal.

Nothing could be further from the truth, which was that no one wanted to put her in the witness box. The Crown felt able to make its case without her and who knows what she would have said if called to testify.

Millard wanted the opportunity to cross examine his former lover, but he wasn’t prepared to call her as a witness himself, which would have left him having to play by the strict rules of direct examination while the Crown got to do an aggressive cross

The deal Noudga made just over a year ago to plead guilty to obstruction of justice is not well understood. Her original lawyer was smart to arrange a judge-alone trial. Middle-aged male judges often go soft on pretty young women. A reporter friend of mine calls this well documented phenomenon “the chick discount.” The more vulgar lawyer term is a “pussy pass.”

At Noudga’s conviction and sentencing, I was taken aback when the judge (not the same one from the bail hearing) announced there wouldn’t have been enough evidence to convict her. Assistant Crown Attorney Craig Fraser had just finished saying it was a strong circumstantial case, the judge had not heard the evidence, and, yet, there, he was comfortably asserting it wouldn’t have been enough to convict and telling Noudga to make nicer friends.

It made the Crown look very smart for making the deal it did. After all who would want to go through weeks of what Fraser called “soul destroying” evidence and testimony for the same result? The Bosma family didn’t.

While Noudga likes to use social media to show herself having a great time, the truth is a little more complex. She cares enough to monitor what people are saying and mock it on her Instagram. There is no indication she feels an ounce of remorse.

She aspires to be a doctor and was admitted to a Polish medical school. At some point, she will probably get married and jump at the chance to change her unusual and distinctive name. Google will not make the connection. She will likely disappear.

Laura Babcock murder trial: What does it mean to have no body?

September 7, 2017 ~ annbrocklehurst ~ 2 Comments

In the run-up to the Laura Babcock murder trial, which is supposed to get underway in October, I wanted to take some time to address some of the questions and issues that crop up regularly.

One of the first things people say about this case is, “But there’s no body” to which I usually respond, “Are you one of those people bothered by the fact there’s no body?” because I’m not.

To my mind, if someone disappears, and it’s completely out of character, they’re almost certainly dead. And please be clear here, I’m not talking about the classic “he went out for milk and never came back” scenario, where someone has reasons to want to start a new life. I’m talking about people who would be extremely unlikely to voluntarily disappear based on past behaviour.

I definitely think this is the case for Laura Babcock, who was close to her friends and family, even if she was having going through a rough stage in her relationship with her parents. She was a prolific texter and used social media daily. Her friends say it was very important to her to stay in touch.

By all accounts, Laura was not the type to decamp to Vegas on her own. And when you consider that, after her disappearance in the summer of 2012, that she never again used her bank and health cards, the inescapable conclusion is that she was dead.

I will admit that I find myself quite impatient with people who can’t accept this. I do understand that that most of the time their hope comes from a good place, namely not wanting to believe the worst or that something evil has happened. But in other cases, the motivation for claims that Laura Babcock is alive is far from benign. For reasons of their own, there are people who make it a habit to be contrarian in the most obtuse possible ways.

All that said, there’s no denying it’s way harder for prosecutors to prove murder without a body since a body can provide all sorts of evidence. A big piece of the puzzle is missing when there’s no body.

The special challenges of “no body” cases are the focus of this website called — what else? — www.nobodycases.com — which is run by a former prosecutor, Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase aka the “No Body” Guy. He took a special interest in the topic when he worked on a no body case. I haven’t read the site, but I’ve heard him interviewed and found his insights very helpful. If you’re curious about how no body cases proceed, you might want to check it out.

Crown asks for review of Justice Antonio Di Zio ruling in Matthew Ward-Jackson case

October 10, 2015 ~ annbrocklehurst ~ Leave a comment

Update July 19, 2016: The discharge is quashed. Ward-Jackson will appear at the Toronto West courthouse on July 28th, where he will be ordered to stand trial.

I’m a little late here, but this is an interesting case that deserves to be followed. The Crown’s move to ~~appeal~~ review came on September 9, almost one month to the day after Justice Di Zio threw out all the charges on August 10. When a case is discharged after a preliminary hearing, it means the judge believes there is no reasonable chance of a conviction at trial.

Those charges were: Possess Prohibited Firearm with Readily Accessible Ammunition, Possess Firearm Without a License and Registration, Possess Firearm Knowing that He Did Not Have a License or Registration, three counts of Possess Prohibited Device, Possess Prohibited Weapon in Breach of Prohibition Order, four counts of Fail to Comply with Recognizance, Possess Cocaine for the Purpose of Trafficking, and Possess Proceeds of Crime.

The firearm in question was a headline-making AK-47.

Unfortunately for Ward-Jackson, despite the discharge from Justice Di Zio, he’s still in the new and newly notorious Toronto South super jail due to another set of charges he faces, allegedly selling guns to Dellen Millard.

There was a prelim for those charges at Old City Hall last month. It was very interesting but remains covered by a publication ban for now. The only thing I’m prepared to tell you is that one of the prosecutors, Jill Cameron, wore red-soled shoes on the first day. Hmm.

If you watch this video closely you’ll see not only the eponymous red shoes but also Joseph Michael Horth aka Spiken Mike taking a ride in a wheel rim. He pleaded guilty to the weapons-related charges back in January, telling the judge at his sentencing that he had found God.

He also testified at the prelim that a guy called John Low had given him the AK-47 as collateral for a small loan and that he had tried to destroy it with a hammer. When that failed he hid it in the crawl space under the house where he was living in Mississauga. Police raided the house and found the gun in January 2014.

Matthew Ward-Jackson is pleading not guilty to all charges against him.

Background on Tim Bosma murder trial and the accused: Dellen Millard and Mark Smich

September 30, 2015 ~ annbrocklehurst ~ 4 Comments

Update: My book, Dark Ambition, went on sale November 8, 2016. It is temporarily sold out at Amazon.ca, but you can buy it at online at Chapters/Indigo and in person at major bookstores and Costco. Dark Ambition tells the story of the Tim Bosma murder investigation and the trial of Dellen Millard and Mark Smich.

Here are what I consider the best background articles related to the Tim Bosma murder trial (scheduled to begin in January 2016) and the accused, Dellen Millard and Mark Smich, who are both pleading not guilty:

Suspect in Tim Bosma’s death was always ‘a little different’ and did ‘odd stuff’ at private school, classmate says From the National Post, an excellent look at Dellen Millard’s background from very early on in the case, when people were more willing to talk. One of the odd things he did was showily eat dog biscuits straight out of the box.

Tim Bosma: The Painful Search for a Missing Man This Toronto Star article is an insider’s look at how Sharlene Bosma and Tim’s friends tried to find him after he went missing. It’s powerful and heartbreaking.

Whoever killed Bosma is abusive, exploitive and a risk-taker: profiler James Van Allen, former head of the OPP’s criminal profiling unit, tells the Hamilton Spectator that Tim Bosma’s killer is someone who is exploitive, abusive, lacks any empathy and is a risk-taker.

Tim Bosma’s murder may have been “thrill kill”: source This Toronto Sun article, which appeared early on in the investigation, has stood the test of time. It provides details, then unknown, on the death of Wayne Millard and Dellen’s alleged purchase of a portable livestock incinerator.

Dellen Millard’s jailhouse interview with the Toronto Star Millard reveals some of the details of his arrest in this exclusive interview with reporter Robert Cribb. He says he didn’t kill Tim Bosma and “they might as well accuse me of having been to the moon.”

The deaths of Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard The Hamilton Spectator reports that homicide detectives believe Dellen Millard bought a gun illegally and used it to murder his father. And that he also murdered Laura Babcock and incinerated her body — just as he allegedly did with Tim Bosma.

The downward spiral of Laura Babcock A really good investigative piece by two Toronto Star reporters, who reveal what went on in the troubled last months of Laura’s life.

*****************

And now, here are my articles on the murders of Tim Bosma, Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard:

Declining Dynasty: How Dellen Millard dismantled the family aviation business Although Dellen never had much interest in Millardair, his father Wayne was determined to revitalize it — until his sudden death.

Toronto Police investigations into Dellen Millard: What went wrong? A year after Millard was arrested for the murder of Tim Bosma, he was charged with the murders of Laura Babcock and his father, Wayne. It raises the question: If Millard had been in custody sooner, would Bosma still be alive? (Published in the now defunct, Grid)

Dellen Millard case takes a strange turn All about Matthew Ward-Jackson, the aspiring gangsta rapper accused of selling Dellen Millard his alleged murder weapon His active social media adds another layer of mystery to an already bizarre case.

Dellen Millard’s letters from jail The letters reveal a man with a flair for purple prose and expensive taste in clothes — should he wear an Armani or McQueen suit at trial — coping with jailhouse horrors such as a prisoner revolt and fighting to stay optimistic.

********

I’m writing a book for Penguin Random House on the murders of Tim Bosma, Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard. If you want to keep up with news of the upcoming Bosma trial and my book, please subscribe to my newsletter:
Enter your email

Triple threat: Matthew Ward-Jackson, Dellen Millard and Mark Smich at the Jane and Finch courthouse

November 14, 2014 ~ annbrocklehurst ~ 5 Comments

No Moët and hoes for Matthew Ward-Jackson aka Krucifix14. Bail was denied at a surprising hearing. — No Moët and hoes for Matthew Ward-Jackson aka Krucifix14. No Red Shoes for the rest of us. Bail was denied after a surprise development cut the bail hearing short.

Today I went to the Jane and Finch courthouse for the bail hearing of Matthew Ward-Jackson, charged, among other things, with selling Dellen Millard the gun allegedly used to kill his father, Wayne Millard.

The courthouse is located in the world’s worst strip mall, where the only food source is Swiss Chalet. You can’t get your nails done during the breaks or eat pho for lunch or buy a Somali cell phone, although there is a criminal law office and the court clerk told me about a great Caribbean buffet for $8 at Weston Rd.

Outside the courtroom, I ran into Ward-Jackson’s friend and occasional rapper, Rissy Riss, who asked me how my book was going. “It’s with my lawyer,” I told him. He nodded sympathetically. Lawyers.

A picture's worth a thousand words — A picture’s worth a thousand words

Riss was with a blonde with a long braid, lots of eyeliner and mukluks. It seemed rude to ask if she was a Gotass Girl so I didn’t, but I think maybe she was. When we entered the courtroom, Riss and the blonde sat in the right back row with three other people who knew Ward-Jackson. In the left back row were the cops including Detective Mike Carbone from the infamous Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard press conference.

I have mixed feelings about that press conference. On the one hand, I feel like Carbone was sent on a suicide mission. He had just been assigned to the case and wasn’t responsible for the initial screw-ups. But, on the other hand, it was such a terrible press conference that I can’t really work up much sympathy for anyone involved.

There were two crown attorneys present because this was a joint bail hearing. Ward-Jackson has drugs and weapons charges stemming from a January drug raid in Mississauga and then the Millard-related weapons charges, which were laid in April. Jason Miller from Guns and Gangs was responsible for the January stuff and Laura Bird, who is in charge of the Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard murder cases, handled the April trafficking charges.

This is a good time to say that Ward-Jackson is pleading not guilty to all the charges against him and none of the allegations have been proven in court. His lawyer is Fariborz Davoudi, who had promised to tell me when the bail hearing was taking place, but didn’t. When he walked into the court and saw me, he was at a momentary loss for words. “Heeeeeeeeeeey,” he said, stalling for time. “You made it.” (Our last in-person meeting was back in June when I had showed him his client’s active social media life.)

The Justice of the Peace David Lippingwell imposed the standard publication ban at the request of the defence so I can’t tell you anything much else about what happened after that. I was the only reporter there.

At the break, Laura Bird and Mike Carbone went next door to see Dellen Millard and Mark Smich make their regular monthly video appearances. Smich looked his usual self, a little on the heavier side, but in decent shape with a buzz cut. Millard looked the worst I’ve ever seen him. He’s constantly changing his facial hair and, this time around, perhaps in Movember mode, he had a fu manchu moustache with the ends dangling down off his chin and greasy, chin-length hair. He’s gone native.

Millard also has a new attorney for the Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard murder charges. He is now being represented by Ravin Pillay, who has replaced Deepak Paradkar on those two cases. Pillay and Paradkar have been working together since early on and still are, but I wasn’t aware of this official change until today.

MIllard is pleading not guilty to both murder charges as well as the murder of Tim Bosma. Smich is also pleading not guilty to the murders of Laura Babcock and Tim Bosma. Millard and the Crown have agreed to an in-chambers judicial pre-trial December 19, but it has to be confirmed with one of Smich’s lawyers. Millard and Smich will both be back November 19 to try and firm up that date.

After the video appearances, we returned to the Matthew Ward-Jackson bail hearing, which for reasons I cannot report, was cut suddenly short. Bail was denied.

It was all very surprising, but who doesn’t like to get Friday afternoon off?

Matthew Ward-Jackson aka Big Iish not guilty of coke trafficking, still faces Millard-related weapons charges

November 2, 2014 ~ annbrocklehurst ~ 2 Comments

For those of you following the Matthew Ward-Jackson aka @Krucifix14 aka Big Iisho affair, I owe you an update so here goes.

Last Wednesday (October 29), Mr. Ward-Jackson was found not guilty of cocaine possession and intent to traffic while conceding that he had indeed been in possession of a few grams of marijuana for personal use. This finding opens the door for a bail hearing to get Iish “out of the bin,” as the Gotass girls would say. Or as @Krucifix14 himself puts it on his Instagram account: “!!!COMING HOME SOON!!! Title: New Video ” RED SHOES ” ~Out Soon~14 hoes n moét For Booking: krucifix14@gmail.com.”

A Day in Court with Matthew Ward-Jackson and his lawyer, Deepak Paradkar

What else? A while back on Websleuths.com, an eagle-eyed sleuther identified the fellow with his eye blacked out, who is tattooed on the side of Iish’s head. It is none other than Sir Robert Laird Borden, the eighth Prime Minister of Canada, of interest to the Krucifix14 crowd not so much for the Conscription Crisis or any other historical stuff, but rather for being the face on the $100 bill.

As it turns out, it is quite popular in certain circles to have famous people from money — Jacksons, anyone? — tattooed on your body. Not only does Iish have a Borden tatt, so does Dubs Banger, one of his two co-accused in the Millard-related weapons trafficking case, which is how I came to discover Iish and Dubs in the first place.

Robert Borden $100 bill tattoo — Iish’s Robert Borden tattoo (left) is like a bad courtroom sketch. But Dubs Banger’s Borden (right) is a much better likeness to the $100 bill (middle).

The Websleuths’ identification of Borden led to an aha! moment of my own. I realized, upon close examination of the evidentiary photos, that the person on Borden’s left (above) and right (below), who I had earlier thought was an androgynous pixie, was in fact Queen Elizabeth II. Given that she also has a money connection, it all started to make sense.

Queen Elizabeth II tattoo — Looking at things from a different angle, it’s possible to recognize Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

What still hasn’t been explained, however, is why Sir Robert Borden should have a big black eye and why Big Iisho has such an ongoing fascination with people being shot in the eye. For example, in this “creep ass ontario south toronto” recording circa 2007, he sings the lyrics are “shoot a man in his eye socket twice, he be quick to start jerking, twittering, twitching and moving.” This has been a disturbing obsession of Big Iisho’s for quite some time. And it’s all the more peculiar, given that Matthew Ward-Jackson is accused of selling Dellen Millard the illegal gun he allegedly used to kill his father, Wayne MIllard, who is reported to have been shot in the eye.

Matthew Ward-Jackson has a disturbing fascination with people being shot in the eye. This photo appeared on Twitter some two weeks after Wayne Millard’s murder.

But here’s the thing, despite the Millard-related weapons charges, and the fact that Iish is also facing a different set of charges for owning an AK-47 and a whole lot of other drugs, no one (excluding the cops and various Crown attorneys) has a bad thing to say about him, including some people who should be very, very angry at Big Iisho.

At this point, I am going to interrupt this blog post to stress that Ward-Jackson is pleading not guilty to all the charges against him and none of the allegations have been proven in court. Also, the Crown is going to have to do a whole lot better job than it did with the recent drug case, for which MJ was found not guilty, if they want to make any of these other charges stick. Interruption now over.

So, as I was saying, Matthew Ward-Jackson is a pretty popular guy, described variously as polite, educated and sweet. Now, I know, you’re probably thinking that, based on all those tattoos and the social media and the creep ass ontario song, that none of this makes sense, and you would be right. But the facts are the facts. While none of Iish’s friends, acquaintances and colleagues were fond of the facial tattoos, they all liked Iish.

Based on this diverse but unanimous chorus of character references, I have concluded that Matthew Ward-Jackson, more than anything else, resembles a character in an Elmore Leonard novel, one of those aspiring small-time hoods and con artists who — thanks to dumb mistakes and bad judgment — unwittingly get caught up in far more dangerous and deadly capers. Where the Elmore Leonard comparison falls short, however, is that Leonard doesn’t let innocent people get killed. (Again, Ward-Jackson is pleading not guilty to all he charges against him.)

And finally, one last piece of information about how Matthew Ward-Jackson is connected to Dellen Millard. Friends of Iish and Mark Smich tell me that Iish often hung at Smich’s place. They were on good enough terms that Iish would even comment on one of Smich’s sister’s Instagram accounts and interacted on Facebook with Smich’s BFF, Cora. Iish also knew Dellen Millard, who hung out Chez Smich from time to time as well. So, that’s the connection.

And for the record, Millard and Smich are pleading not guilty to all the charges against them including the murders of Tim Bosma, Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard (Smich not charged with this one). None of the allegations have been proven in court.