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COP Ellington
13.9.
The former Commissioner’s evidence was:
“About midday on 24
th
, Intelligence was saying that Coke
was still in Tivoli Gardens and for the rest of Monday. So
according to the Intelligence, Coke was in there for the
whole of Monday afternoon. When I was briefed by
members of the Intelligence community on Tuesday
afternoon (25
th
), they were saying that they strongly
suspected that he had escaped the dragnet. Officers on the
ground at the time of the operation may have formed their
own view of whether he was in there or not.”
13.10.
CoP Ellington reiterated the Intelligence later in his evidence -
“There was Intelligence that he was there on 25 May until
we were finally able to debrief the operation and get to
almost a precise timeline of his escape. But up to the
evening of 25
th
, we were operating on the basis that he was
still there. My Intelligence up to the afternoon of 25
th
, he
was there. But the theory is that he, in fact, left in the heat
of the gunfire on 24
th
.”
DCP Hinds
13.11.
DCP Hinds was the ACP in charge of the NIB in May 2010. Coke
and his organisation were the subjects of NIB’s investigation. DCP Hinds told the
Enquiry that, on 23 May, Coke “was in a building in Java”. He said also, that on
24 May, Intelligence suggested that Coke was in Tivoli Gardens and escaped
“during the internal security operation”. He said: “I was aware that Coke left
the area in the afternoon of 24 May”.
13.12.
Specifically in answer to Mrs. DaCosta, DCP Hinds stated:
“I got information on 24
th
that Coke was in the community.
He left in the afternoon of 24
th
and I got that information. I
heard it a few hours after…”
The Intelligence was that he left via the waterways. A gap in the cordon after a
soldier was shot may have facilitated his escape.