VANCOUVER — A confidential document that is used by police to assess risk in intimate partner violence cases lists a range of considerations to help determine if a suspect should be held in custody, should legal justification exist.

Have they engaged in threats? Has violence involved choking or strangulation? Have they discussed or attempted suicide?

Every one of those factors — associated with an "increased severity of future violence" and marked with a stick-of-dynamite logo on the police document — were met by James Plover, according to evidence at a trial in Kelowna, B.C., where he was convicted of choking and uttering threats on July 4.

Yet he was released on $500 bail. Less than three hours later, police found Plover’s estranged wife, Bailey McCourt, fatally injured in a hammer at

See Full Page