An RCMP interrogator says she posed as a sympathetic rogue officer and met with Robert William Pickton three times before the B.C. pig farmer was arrested on accusations that he had killed women.

Pickton, 57, of suburban Port Coquitlam, is charged with six counts of murder in the deaths of six women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He will face another 20 murder charges in a second trial at a later date. He has pleaded not guilty to all 26 counts of first-degree murder.

RCMP Cpl. Dana Lillies, heading back to B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, B.C., after a break in the trial of Robert William Pickton, testified she met with the farmer and his sister before his arrest in Vancouver's missing women'c case.
(Richard Lam/Canadian Press)

Cpl. Dana Lillies testified in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster on Thursday that she met with Pickton in February 2002 at his place of work and pretended that she would get in trouble for speaking to him.

"You were role playing … a rogue officer not supposed to be talking to him?" defence lawyer Peter Ritchie asked.

"Yes," Lillies replied.

The first meeting lasted over two hours, Lillies said. The second was brief, under 10 minutes, while the third meeting took more than an hour.

Lillies also told the court she met with Pickton's sister, Linda. She said Pickton was dominated by his younger brother, Dave, who even told him when to go to bed.

Lillies was not on the stand a long time, unlike her predecessors, Insp. Don Adam and Staff Sgt. Bill Fordy.

She said she didn't expect to be involved directly in an 11-hour police interview conducted shortly after Pickton's arrest, but was brought in briefly without being given a specific strategy.

Lillies's testimony marked the end of the second week of the trial, which is expected to last a year. The court will convene Friday to discuss procedure without the jury present.

Interrogator admits confusing names

Ritchie spent this week attacking the 11-hour interview, suggesting to the jury that the police took advantage of a man of limited mental capacity.

Earlier Thursday, the jury heard that the accused and Fordy at one point didn't realize they were talking about two different women during the lengthy interrogation.

Fordy testified he pressed Pickton to admit to killing a woman that Fordy believed Pickton referred to as "Roxanne."

Fordy admitted he was thinking of Serena Abbotsway when Pickton was denying taking part in the killing.

In fact, the woman Pickton called Roxanne was Monique Wood, who is alive and is not part of the trial.

"I was the one who was confused," Fordy said. "[Pickton] was crystal clear that he had not killed her and his denials are strong and consistent."

Eventually, fellow officers pointed out the mistake to Fordy and he apologized to Pickton.

Asked to go back to cell several times

Ritchie and Fordy agreed that Pickton asked to go back to his cell about a half-dozen times during the interrogation.

'You used every trick in the book to keep him talking, didn't you.'—Defence lawyer Peter Ritchie

Fordy said he refused to let that happen, telling Pickton he "has the right to remain silent, but he doesn't have the right to go anywhere he wants in the police station."

"You used every trick in the book to keep him talking, didn't you," Ritchie asked.

"I'm not sure I did," said the officer, who spent the most time with Pickton in the interrogation room.

Fordy also clarified his previous testimony that he was told by other investigators that Pickton — who failed Grade 2 and was put into a special class in school — was "slow."

"I wasn't told he was slow, I was told he was very simple," Fordy told the court.