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A former Ontario police officer who was sent to prison for refusing to co-operate with a public inquiry will return home to Duncan this week, his wife said yesterday.

Perry Dunlop was released from an Ottawa jail Saturday, after spending more than seven months behind bars for contempt of court.

"We're planning a big reunion with our girls," Helen Dunlop said.

Although Dunlop is physically fine, his time in jail has been "an emotional nightmare" for his family, including three teenage daughters, she said. © The Daily News (Nanaimo) 2008 

Seven-month term given for refusal to testify at inquiry

Published: Monday, October 06, 2008

A former Ontario police officer who was sent to prison for refusing to co-operate with a public inquiry will return home to Duncan this week, his wife said yesterday.

Perry Dunlop was released from an Ottawa jail Saturday, after spending more than seven months behind bars for contempt of court.   

"We're planning a big reunion with our girls," Helen Dunlop said.   

Although Dunlop is physically fine, his time in jail has been "an emotional nightmare" for his family, including three teenage daughters, she said.   

Dunlop was arrested at his Duncan home Feb. 17 amid a cheering crowd of around 75 supporters.   

He had defied orders to testify at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, which was looking into sex-abuse allegations Dunlop first uncovered while serving as a Cornwall, Ont., police officer in the mid-1990s.    

Dunlop had alleged a widespread pedophile ring in the community at the time, but he said he received little support from police and government, and was eventually ostracized from the force when he leaked case details to the media and the Children's Aid Society. He suffered an emotional breakdown, quit the force and moved his family to Duncan.

A subsequent Ontario Provincial Police investigation in 1998 led to 15 men -- among them a priest, lawyer and crown attorney -- being charged with sexual crimes against youngsters. Only three cases were taken to court. One man pleaded guilty to 12 attacks on 10 young men. Two of the accused committed suicide.

The inquiry was called to investigate how police and government handled the allegations at the time, and Dunlop's testimony was seen as key to the process. But the former cop refused to participate because he said he'd lost faith in the judicial process and felt lawyers would attack him and twist his words.

Ottawa Citizen

Published: Monday, October 06, 2008

Silent witness in Ont. child sex abuse inquiry out of jail  

MyTelus Regional B.C.Monday, October 6, 2008  

(CBC) - A former police officer jailed for refusing to testify at a public inquiry into child sex abuse allegations in eastern Ontario has been released from an Ottawa jail. A website dedicated to the inquiry says Perry Dunlop was greeted by family and friends when he left jail on Sunday. He spent seven months in custody on civil and criminal contempt charges. Dunlop was instrumental in sparking the judicial inquiry that examined how allegations of sexual abuse in the Cornwall-area were handled in the 1990s. But he defied court orders to testify, claiming he'd lost faith in the justice system. He was arrested at his home in Duncan, B.C., last February.Dunlop began looking into an alleged pedophile ring that supposedly involved senior civic officials, clergymen and police officers on his own time in 1993. A provincial police investigation led to 114 charges against 15 men, but it resulted in only one conviction.