Murder accused Robert Blair Tucker took the stand yesterday and told how he inadvertently revealed to his US connections that a man who had stolen cocaine from them was in Bermuda.

It was that man, victim Stanley Lee, who had beaten up his supplier inside the US Federal Prison at Fort Dix, New Jersey, a decade before, Tucker said.

Tucker detailed how he was introduced into the drug business, how he forged strong ties to a well connected family by rescuing college friend Neiko Satina.

And he told of Neiko Satina's shock when he telephoned in early July, 2001 with a query about “Sean Russells”.

In another bombshell, Tucker claimed that an experienced officer investigating the murder case was the father of another officer's child and that woman - named previously in the case as “Officer B” - was one of the officers to which he turned to help import drugs.

Tucker suggested he was concerned for his safety while under questioning in the days after Mr. Lee's body was recovered. He said he did not want to give Police full details for the parallel investigations, as they involved many of the same officers.

Resuming after a week's break, the Lagoon Park murder trial pushes into its fifth month with Tucker's testimony.

Tucker, James (Spook) Dill and Terranz (Monster) Smith deny killing American Stanley Lee in Lagoon Park, Ireland Island South, on July 28, 2001.

Mr. Lee's badly decomposed body was shown to Police on August 9, by Smith. Tucker admitted on the stand that he is a skilled drug importer with contacts in Colombia, Baltimore and New York in the US and in England.

A mysterious person even this late in the trial, jurors have heard Crown evidence on the various names and aliases Mr. Lee lived under.

Known to the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) as Edward Stanley Lee, he carried a New York State birth certificate in the name of Sean Russells but had been imprisoned in that state as “Eddie Montalvo”. To the Bermudians he met, he was known as Sha.

Tucker admitted “helping out” Mr. Lee by paying for his hotel room and renting his cycle, but said this was something he often did for couriers as an incidental part of his “business” dealings.

In a hushed courtroom, Tucker said “Sean Russells'” approached him concerning a kilogram of cocaine, but he was generally not interested because of its relatively small amount.

Suspicious, Tucker contacted Russell's partner, Douglas (Fats) Brooks in Baltimore, Maryland and then contacted his old prison buddy.

When his lawyer, Larry Scott asked “and what did you learn about Sean Russells”, Tucker said: “I found out a lot of stuff about him. That he was not really on the up and up.

“Neiko knew Sean Russells prior to his getting involved with me. He knew him as Eddie. Eddie Montalvo. When I called (Neiko) he was basically shocked.

“He thought he was still locked up. He didn't believe me, because the US Marshal Service and the Secret Service were looking for him, I found that out through someone else.

“He'd escaped, he was in a halfway house and the feds were going to take him back to prison to finish his time. I called Fats and he told me that he had some difficulty paying back some money and he told me what Sean Russells had told me.”

“I called Neiko and I asked him about Fats' problem and he told me that Fats had stolen the cocaine from the people to whom he had owed money.

“It put me in a difficult position. Neiko had shown Fats where he kept his stuff. I didn't want to get into the middle of it. And it turned out that he and Sha - well, Eddie - had gotten in that fight.”

Tucker said he sought advice from others, who all gave him the same advice - stay away from Sean Russells.

Tucker said he was stingy about how deeply he had penetrated the Police Service to senior detectives Terry Maxwell and Sylvester Augustine, only giving them “enough to go on for the body”.

He said he was shown a list of Police officers and indicated which ones were involved with him with a mixture of truth and omissions.

“I told him that there were a few names on the list that I knew. I saw a few of them outside (the Police Cycle Crimes Unit offices where he had been isolated).

“I said pull down the shades. I didn't feel safe with them people out in the yard. He was pointing to select officers in the list and basically I gave him a yes or no. Yes, Mr. Scott, they did ask me about Sean Russells, but they were more concerned about police officers. Officers that I knew were conducting the murder investigation were in the ‘police' investigation. So I didn't give them some true answers. Some were flippant, most were true.

“Yes, telling Police (about all of his contacts inside the service) would open a lot of things up. I couldn't say this guy here, he's this or he's this and he's that. That would have been stupid.

“Who was I protecting? Myself, basically. Certain information, certain people and certain things. I just didn't want to say. I gave them enough information for them to act.”

Tucker shyly told the jury about his poor health, beginning with the genetic disorder, sickle cell anaemia - which makes healing difficult. He said he has always suffered from headaches but in the autumn of 2000 began to have severe outbreaks daily until he was sent to Johns Hopkins University Hospital where a tube was inserted into his brain, which now drains fluid into his heart.

He said he had limited movement in May and June of 2001, intimating at Dill's role in helping him around his home. Tucker also rattled off several prescription drugs he has to take. The trial continues this morning before Acting Chief Justice Norma Wade Miller.