R2OK!

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

A pig farmer accused of being Canada's worst serial killer will go on trial today over allegations expected to be "as bad as a horror movie".

Robert "Willie" Pickton, 56, is charged with murdering 26 women, most of them prostitutes and drug addicts from Vancouver's red-light district.

He will face two trials, the first of which is over six of the deaths and is expected to last a year.

Pickton, who denies murder, was arrested in February 2002 by police investigating the disappearances of sex workers from the Downtown Eastside area. At least 36 more women are still missing.

Jurors have been warned to brace themselves for evidence that will be "graphic and distressing".

Much of the testimony in the gruesome case will centre around DNA said to be from some of Pickton's alleged victims found on his farm in Port Coquitlam, about 20 miles outside the city.

Health officials warned neighbours who might have eaten pork products from the farm that it was possible the meat contained human remains.

Prostitutes from the Downtown Eastside, once described as a "terrible human zoo", are said to have gone to Pickton's farm for wild parties held in a barn he called "Piggy Palace".

They were reportedly drunken, drug-fuelled affairs, where guests dined on roasted pig.

When jurors were being selected last month, the judge, Justice James Williams, told them: "I think this trial might expose the juror to something that might be as bad as a horror movie and you don't have the option of turning off the TV."

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Ella Sailyour · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 579 Location: Marbella, Spain