Instructions were given for a demand to be made for a ransom of $7 million for the safe return of elderly Manchester couple, Richard and Julia Lyn, although they were already dead.

One of the two men on trial for the double murder said that he was ordered by some men to make the demand.

The disclosure was made in the caution statement which 26-year-old garbage truck driver, Calvin Powell, of New Green, Manchester, gave to the police on December 31, 2006. The statement was witnessed by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Barrington Daley, and Detective Sergeant Dolphie Graveney.

Powell is charged jointly with 28-year-old farmer and taxi driver Lennox Swaby of Hopeton district, Manchester, for the double murder.

Strangled during robbery

The Lyns were strangled during a robbery at their home at 14 Battersea Avenue, Mandeville, Manchester, between December 9 and 10, 2006. The couple's motor vehicles, appliances and several other items were removed from the house.

Senior Puisne Judge Marva McIntosh is presiding at the trial, which began on October 5 in the Home Circuit Court.

The caution statement, which was written by Detective Sergeant Colin McKenzie on December 31, 2006, was read on Wednesday to the 12-member jury.

Powell had told the police that he wanted to tell them what happened and the statement was given in the presence of attorney-at-law Owen Crosbie.

Powell said in the statement that on the night of December 9, 2006, Swaby called him and said he wanted him to follow him somewhere. He said when he met Swaby, he saw four other men with him. They drove to Ingleside district in Manchester and two of the men asked him to show them the place because he (Powell ) used to work in the area.

Threatened with death

The guys said their boss sent them "on a work" to kill some people and they wanted somewhere to dump the bodies. Powell said two of the men pointed a gun at him and threa-tened to kill him and his family if he did not work with them. He said one of the men slapped him in the head with a gun.

After he was slapped, he told them that he was going to work with them. He said Swaby told him that the men wanted to get rid of the bodies and they drove into the Lyns' yard. They went into the house and Powell said he saw the bodies wrapped in a sheet. The men put the bodies in a van and drove out looking for a place to dump them.

They asked him if he knew of anywhere they could dump the bodies and he said no. The men asked him how he was a rubbish truck driver and did not know anywhere. The men asked about the dump and they drove to the dump and threw out the bodies.

They all went back to the house and Powell said the men forced him to take appliances from the house. The men also removed items from the house and took them to several places. He said although the bodies had already been "dumped off", the men told him to telephone the family and make a deal for $7 million for the Lyns' return.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com