A prison officer who was implicated in the Coroner’s Court for allegedly supplying contraband items to facilitate the deadly Fox Hill prison break in January has been found dead on Potter’s Cay dock.
Police revealed last night that the dead man was 57-year-old Van Johnson.
Mr Johnson’s body was found sitting upright in his red Nissan truck at the entrance of Potter’s Cay dock on Monday at around 7am.
There were no bruises or marks to the body, and police are awaiting an autopsy report to determine the cause of death.
In April, during the Coroner’s inquest, inmate Barry Parcoi testified that Mr Johnson was the officer who smuggled hacksaw blades into the prison to help him, Neil Brown; Corey Hepburn and Forrester Bowe escape on January 17.
Assistant commissioner in charge of crime Reginald Ferguson maintains that police do not suspect foul play at this time.
“There is no physical evidence of any nature so we have to wait and see what the autopsy report says. We know about the Coroner’s inquest and the officers who were there. But there were other officers in that trial who were put in the same position that he was,” he said. Mr Ferguson said police expect to receive an autopsy report within “a day or two” and admitted that, if any irregularity was found, they would have to change the course of their investigations.
Until then, however, he said there can be many plausible causes of death.
“Definitely if something was discovered then it will become a criminal matter: That, of course. would give rise to other investiations.
“But we don’t start off speculating as to what may have happened. It could have been natural causes, it could have been a heart problem, or it could even have been a seizure of some kind,” he said. Last night, friends of the Johnson family found it hard to believe the death was not suspicious.
One said: “Van was due for retirement. Since the inquest here have been all sorts of threats between various offiers.
“He would be a major link because one of the prisoners revealed in court that he was one of the facilitators for the breakout.
“This man became the subect of a police investigation into vhether he had assisted in the escape of those prisoners.”
Mr Johnson was described by the friend as a principal officer at Fox Hill, the equivalent of a police inspector or chief inspector. “He was a calm, peaceful fellow who for many years was an overseer,” he said.
Mr Johnson was married with children and, according to the source, lived in the eastern area of the island. “The family is very; distraught. Close friends think in view of the controversy, and lawlessness of the prison, that his death is suspicious.”
By PAUL TURNQUEST Tribune Staff Reporter
