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United They Stand
THURSDAY January 30, 2014 • www.langleytimes.com
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NEWS Home Court Advantage Lost
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BUSINESS Imagine That!
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SPORTS Jr. Thunder Ready to Roll
Double killer’s latest appeal turned down
Court ruling is a ‘big win’ for teachers, students MONIQUE TA MMING A Time s Re po rte r
MAN WHO BLUDGEONED EX-GIRLFRIEND AND HER PARTNER TO DEATH IN 2001 DENIED EARLIER PAROLE ELIGIBILITY MO N I Q U E TA M M I N G A Ti me s Re po r t e r
A Langley man who viciously bludgeoned an ex-girlfriend and her common-law partner to death in front of dozens of people in 2001 has lost another appeal. William James McCotter’s appeal to reduce his parole eligibility period for two counts of second-degree murder from 20 years to something nearer to 15 years was dismissed on Jan. 8 in B.C. Court of Appeal in Vancouver. “Twenty-year parole ineligibility order is consistent with similar cases involving multiple homicides and the murder of a former partner,” wrote Court of Appeal Justice Hall. Two other judges agreed. McCotter was picked up by police almost immediately after he brutally kicked and beat his ex-girlfriend, Linda Lee Anderson, and her common-law partner, John Heasman, to death outside their Langley City
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apartment on Dec. 2, 2001. A restraining order against McCotter had recently run out. Anderson, a nurse at Langley Lodge, had a brief relationship with McCotter a few years prior, before going out with Heasman. During the trial, it was revealed that McCotter couldn’t let go, once kicking down Anderson’s door, causing her to begin the restraining order process. It was learned that Anderson told a co-worker she thought McCotter would kill her. His trial heard that on the day of the murders he stalked the pair and purchased a jock strap and steel-toed boots. He parked outside their apartment, got out and used the boots to kick both his victims in the head repeatedly. Several people tried to intervene but McCotter found a 2x4 and swung it at the men before using it on his near-dead victims. Continued Page 11
D A N FE R GUS ON Langley Time s
One of the many performers who recreated the time of the Voyageurs at the Fort Langley Historic Site French Canadian festival on the weekend. More photos, page 4.
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Monday’s B.C. Supreme Court ruling that rejected the provincial government’s effort to keep class size and special needs support off the bargaining table is a big win for teachers and students, said Langley Teachers’ Association Gail Chaddock-Costello. “We are very supportive of our special needs students, but numbers do matter,” said Chaddock-Costello. The government stripped class size limits and composition from a contract with the B.C. Teachers Federation, including how many special needs students could be in one classroom and the level of supports of Special Education Assistants (SEAs). “Now we have classes in Langley with five or sometimes as many as eight special needs students, all who require individualized lesson plans,” she explained. “The students may have high functioning autism or various degrees of special needs. But it makes for an impossible task for teachers and impacts
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