Shannon Murrin at the home he shares in Portugal Cove, N.L., with Kathy MacDonald in this 2007 photo. The Canadian PressA man who was acquitted in the death of an eight-year-old Kelowna, B.C., girl 15 years ago is suing a former RCMP sergeant who he claims got three men to beat a confession out of him.

Shannon Murrin was charged three years after Mindy Tran disappeared in August 1994 while looking for a playmate in the Okanagan city. Her body was found in a shallow grave two months later.

Murrin has filed suit against retired RCMP Sgt. Gary Tidsbury, alleging the former Mountie orchestrated the January 1995 attack.

The civil lawsuit also includes the three men who were charged with beating him and the federal attorney general's office, which is responsible for the RCMP.

The allegations contained in Murrin's statement of claim are unproven and have not been dealt with by the courts. A three-week civil trial is to start in New Westminster, B.C., next Jan. 4.

A Vancouver jury acquitted Murrin, now 58, of first-degree murder in 2000. He had been threatening to file a lawsuit against Tidsbury, Patrick Dunn, Robert Holmes and Ken MacDonald since 1997.

Dunn, Holmes and Macdonald were charged with aggravated assault and unlawful confinement in the January 1995 attack in a park.

Guilty plea

Dunn pleaded guilty in 1997 to aggravated assault and was sentenced to six months in jail. A stay of proceedings was entered on the charges against Holmes and MacDonald because their trial was delayed too long.

Murrin was hospitalized for 11 days under police guard. He then pleaded guilty to two weapons-related charges and was sentenced to two years in jail.

Murrin, then 44, had already spent 15 years behind bars for bank robberies and assaults. He now works as an auto body repairman in Portugal Cove on the outskirts of St. John's, N.L.

In his statement of claim, Murrin's lawyer, Paul McMurray, alleges Tidsbury interviewed Holmes, a friend of Murrin's, days before the beating and told him Murrin was a suspect in Tran's murder.

In the documents, McMurray claims Tidsbury took Holmes and Holmes's wife to the spot in the park where Tran's body was discovered. The statement alleges Tidsbury asked Holmes to take Murrin to Tran's gravesite to extract a confession.

On the day of the beating, the statement says, Holmes brought Dunn and MacDonald to a meeting with Tidsbury, who repeated the evidence pointing to Murrin as the killer.

Statement of claim

In his statement of defence, Tidsbury denied he tried to improperly influence the investigation. He said the three men weren't working as his agents and that Murrin was "wholly" responsible for the alleged attack, which he said resulted from his pointing a gun at Dunn.

Murrin's statement of claim said the assault injured his brain, harmed his hearing and led to memory loss. It also said he lost potential income and continues to "experience pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life." Murrin is claiming unspecified damages and special costs.

Tidsbury said in his statement of defence that Murrin received compensation for his injuries from funds administered by a federal agency. He said Murrin failed to "mitigate his damages" by "failing to return to work, or to look for work … when he was medically capable," or to follow the advice of his doctors.

Tidsbury resigned from the RCMP about seven years ago.