A police consultant was questioned about a series of WhatsApp messages between himself and a former officer accused of a conspiracy to smuggle guns and drugs.

Under cross-examination, Andrew Jones, an intelligence co-ordinator for the Bermuda Police Service, accepted that in at least one portion of the conversation, he had advised defendant Jonathan McAlpine-Talbot to delete sections of their conversation.

He told the court he had done so to help protect the identity of the source should one of them lose their phones or data was otherwise extracted from the devices.

Mr Jones said that he was not concerned about Mr McAlpine-Talbot being too close to his source, stating that he had seen nothing untoward.

“This is a serving police officer,” he said. “A sergeant. Nothing that he passed back to me gave me any concern at all that he was getting too close to this person.

“He knew the source. He knew the source for years.”

Mr McAlpine-Talbot and Ezekiel Swan have denied allegations that they conspired with others to import and supply firearms and ammunition between an unknown date and November 14, 2023.

Both men have also denied allegations of conspiring to import and supply controlled drugs between an unknown date and December 2, 2023.

Mr McAlpine-Talbot, a former sergeant in the BPS, also denied a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by improperly sharing information into the investigation of the murder of Wilfred Outerbridge Jr.

Earlier this week, Mr Jones said he had offered guidance to Mr McAlpine-Talbot, who was working with a confidential source who provided information about criminal activities.

However, he said that he was not told that the source, whom he gave the pseudonym of “Jane Costa”, was involved in dealing cannabis until after they had been arrested on suspicion of murder and Mr McAlpine-Talbot was under police investigation.

He also denied that he had authorised the defendant from posing as a corrupt police officer or becoming involved in offences to gather information.

As the trial continued, the court was read segments of a WhatsApp conversation between Mr McAlpine-Talbot and Mr Jones that spanned more than a year.

Mr Jones accepted that during the conversation he had voiced some frustrations with work and other officers, but also said that not everything he had told Mr McAlpine-Talbot was the truth.

Asked about one comment in which he said the source was the “only source of this level”, he told the court: “Some things I say are tradecraft because I know they will be passed on to the source.”

Mr Jones said that in 2019 he had recommended that the source receive a $500 “incentive payment” for information they had provided in connection with one investigation.

He later recommended a $5,000 incentive payment after the source had provided information about firearms, gang tensions, murder, conspiracy to murder and drugs offences. However, only a $3,000 payment was approved.

Mr Jones said he met with Mr McAlpine-Talbot at a Front Street bar on November 14 and they discussed the defendant’s plans to visit London, but maintained there had been no discussion about any drug-trafficking plot.

In a message sent the next day, however, Mr McAlpine-Talbot wrote that several people were in the Dominican Republic planning a shipment to the island.

The court heard that he wrote, in part: “The person I showed you is down there setting it up with others.”

Mr Jones responded, asking Mr McAlpine-Talbot to remind him who it was that Mr Jones showed him.

While Jerome Lynch KC, for Mr McAlpine-Talbot, suggested the message indicated that the defendant had shown Mr Jones a photograph, the witness said he could not recall that.

Mr Jones said that he was not aware of any investigation into Mr McAlpine-Talbot at the time of the exchange, but that he continued the conversation after learning about the investigation to prevent him being alerted.

He told the court that Mr McAlpine-Talbot first disclosed the identity of the source to him on December 2, the day after the source was arrested on suspicion of murder.

When the source was released from custody, Mr Jones cautioned Mr McAlpine-Talbot to “steer clear” of him given the charge, and when the defendant passed along that he had heard a bounty had been put on the source, Mr Jones urged him to go straight to Detective Superintendent Dennis Astwood.

Mr Lynch, however, said that the messages showed Mr McAlpine-Talbot was already asking for a meeting with Mr Astwood, but nothing had happened.

Under re-examination by Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Jones said he was hesitant in answering some questions in open court because of the importance of ensuring confidentiality.

He said confidential sources were a critical component in police work and had helped to save lives and take guns off the island’s streets.

The trial continues.

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