Port Hope 8 case

Background of the Biker Conflict

The Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club, founded in 1965, was the largest outlaw motorcycle gang in Ontario during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1973, the Ontario government initiated a campaign to dismantle outlaw biker clubs, leading the Ontario Provincial Police to establish a Special Squad, later renamed the Anti-Biker Unit. Corporal Terry Hall led this unit with a mandate that disregarded legal niceties in pursuit of convictions, a strategy he called reverse intimidation. Hall, with his long hair and beard, cultivated an appearance akin to an outlaw biker and operated on the fringes of law enforcement, using ruthless and sometimes illegal methods. The club fractured on July 1, 1977, in an event known as the Big Split, with chapters in Windsor, St. Catharines, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Hamilton, and Kingston all joining the American-based Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Chapters in Toronto, Kitchener, Oshawa, Thunder Bay and Peterborough remained loyal to imprisoned national president Bernie Guindon, creating intense rivalry.

Port Hope, a small town less than thirty minutes from Oshawa, became a flashpoint in this conflict. The local Golden Hawk Riders, a seven-member gang, were considering patching over to join the Outlaws. Such a move threatened the drug trade profits of the Satan's Choice Oshawa chapter, as an Outlaw presence in Port Hope would be effectively the same as one in Oshawa. The outlaw biker scene in Port Hope in the 1970s was described as semi-organized crime, with some members holding legitimate jobs and others engaged in criminal enterprises. The Golden Hawk Riders' sergeant-at-arms was William John Matiyek, a 23-year-old known locally as a bully who still lived with his parents. Standing 6'3" and weighing 300 pounds, Matiyek had a reputation for violence and often carried illegal firearms, including a sawed-off .410 shotgun and a .32 pistol. He lived in terror of Satan's Choice, having been beaten by member Lorne Campbell in 1976 and having his biker vest stolen during the same brawl. In July 1977, a drunk and high Matiyek shot up the Port Hope home of Satan's Choice member Richard Sauvé, forcing Sauvé's wife and daughter to take cover, an act for which Sauvé confronted him with a baseball bat and warned he would kill him if his family was endangered again.

The Night of the Murder

On the evening of October 18, 1978, Matiyek was drinking at his usual haunt, the seedy Queen's Hotel, with two Outlaws members, Fred Jones and Sonny Bronson. The hotel's bar-room featured strippers of both sexes in an attempt to attract customers. A petty criminal and Satan's Choice associate named Brian Brideau, a drug addict known for begging for money, was also in the bar and, after being beaten and thrown out by Matiyek, sought revenge. From a phone booth outside, Brideau called the Satan's Choice chapter in Peterborough and spoke to Richard Sauvé, reporting Matiyek's location and demanding to see an officer of the chapter that night. Sauvé, not wanting to appear cowardly, called other chapters for backup. After an initial refusal at 9:19 pm because he wanted to watch a hockey game, Gary Comeau of the Toronto chapter agreed to assist at 9:30 pm, and a group set out for Port Hope.

The Satan's Choice members who travelled to the Queen's Hotel that night included Richard Sauvé and Merv Blaker from Peterborough, and from Toronto, Gary Comeau, Jeff McLeod, Larry Hurren, Lorne Campbell, and Armand Sanguigni. Blaker, an Ojibwe man known by the moniker Indian, was considered too easy-going for a potential fight. Sanguigni, nicknamed In the Trunk, was a feared figure with close links to the Mafia and was a prime suspect in several murders. They arrived at the hotel around 10:50 pm. Head waitress Gayle Thompson recognized Sauvé and Blaker and reminded owner Leo Powell that Satan's Choice members were banned due to past unruly behaviour, advising him to call the police. Powell decided to let them stay as the bar was almost empty that night. Waitress Cathy Cotgrave directly told Blaker and Sauvé they were banned and would not be served.

A confrontation ensued in the dim, smoky barroom. Sanguigni argued with Jones in the pinball room, accusing him of being a traitor for joining the Outlaws. Sauvé and Comeau sat with Matiyek, who flashed a handgun and said he had nine friends, interpreted to mean nine bullets. Matiyek, intoxicated on alcohol, marijuana, and amphetamines, talked openly about shooting the Satan's Choice members. Lorne Campbell, who had brought a gun after hearing Matiyek was armed, intervened. At approximately 10:55 pm, guns were drawn and Campbell shot Matiyek three times at point-blank range. Campbell later claimed self-defence, stating Matiyek reached for his gun first. The bullets entered Matiyek's neck and skull from the left, with one striking Gary Comeau, who was sitting to Matiyek's right. The women present, including waitresses Gayle Thompson and Cathy Cotgrave and patrons Sue Foote and Jamie Hanna, fled to the women's washroom. The Satan's Choice members fled the scene. Port Hope police constables Kenneth Wilson and David MacDonald arrived at 11:08 pm to find Matiyek's corpse.

The Police Investigation

The initial investigation was led by Port Hope Police Sergeant Samuel McReelis, an officer nicknamed Shotgun Sam for an incident where he pointed a shotgun at unruly teenagers but who was inexperienced in homicide cases. The small, 11-officer force was so underfunded in the 1960s and 1970s that its officers wore no uniforms and had paper badges. McReelis's investigation was criticized as slapdash. He took no fingerprints from the crime scene, such as from beer glasses which could have identified the Toronto chapter members via police files, and he interviewed witnesses as a group. In a 2003 interview, McReelis stated that small towns like Port Hope were being terrorized by outlaw biker gangs. The day after the murder, Inspector Colin Cousens of the Ontario Provincial Police arrived to take over the investigation, demoting McReelis to deputy. On October 27, 1978, Corporal Terry Hall of the OPP's Special Squad assumed control, seemingly intent on using Matiyek's death as a chance to cripple Satan's Choice by convicting as many bikers as possible.

Hall's methods were heterodox and contrary to accepted standards, focused solely on obtaining convictions. Despite his demotion, McReelis remained a key member of the team due to his knowledge of Port Hope. Inspector Cousens noted in his notes to Hall that witnesses mentioned one biker had been shot in the arm and left bleeding, referring to Gary Comeau. Hall and his team, including Constable Donald Denis, a 15-year OPP veteran who specialized in photographing bikers, stalked and confronted suspects like Sauvé, Blaker, and Gordon van Haarlem. Denis showed witnesses photographs of various Satan's Choice members to identify those present, but he had no experience with this technique and violated procedure by allowing group viewings. He also placed a red dot on Gary Comeau's photo, signalling he was a target. Witnesses were never shown a photograph of Lorne Campbell, the actual shooter. The investigation was further hampered by the dim lighting and cigarette smoke in the bar, and by the fact that the Toronto chapter members were unknown to the hotel staff. A key puzzle was a missing third bullet, as witnesses heard three shots and there were three bullet holes in Matiyek's corpse, but police found only two bullets.

The Trial and Convictions

Eight men were charged in connection with Matiyek's murder and stood trial in 1979. The prosecution, led by the OPP's Special Squad, argued for their collective guilt. The evidence was largely circumstantial and reliant on flawed witness identifications from the group photo sessions. The defence contended that the shooting was committed by Lorne Campbell in self-defence, a fact known to police but not pursued with equal vigour. The jury's verdict resulted in a split outcome. Public opinion in Port Hope had been outraged, with the Port Hope Evening Guide editorial on October 19, 1978, calling it a terrifying cold-blooded premeditated murder. Several of the Satan's Choice members who fled, including the wounded Comeau, Blaker, and Sauvé, drove to Kitchener to seek help from David Hoffman of the Kitchener chapter.

• Gary Comeau and Richard Sauvé were convicted of first-degree murder.
• Jeff McLeod, David Hoffman, Merv Blaker, and Larry Hurren were convicted of second-degree murder.
• Armand Sanguigni and Gordon van Haarlem were acquitted.

The six convicted men received life sentences. The case was immediately controversial, with many legal observers and journalists labelling it a miscarriage of justice. The convictions were seen as the product of a police force under political pressure to crack down on bikers, using methods that compromised investigative integrity. In the aftermath, the president of the Golden Hawk Riders, Lawrence Leon, was so demoralized he disbanded the club, which had dwindled to six members, and they never joined the Outlaws.

Aftermath and Legal Legacy

The Port Hope 8 case had enduring consequences, most notably through one of the convicted men, Richard Sauvé. While serving his life sentence, Sauvé launched a constitutional challenge based on the newly enacted Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He argued that a provision of the Canada Elections Act denying all prisoners the right to vote violated his Charter rights. With lawyer Chip O'Connor, he began a two-decade legal battle. This fight culminated in two Supreme Court of Canada cases, with Sauvé winning a landmark victory in R. v. Sauvé in 2002, which struck down the federal voting ban and established the right of all Canadian prisoners to vote in federal and provincial elections. The government had undermined an earlier 1993 ruling with new legislation, but the 2002 decision was definitive.

This legal legacy stands in stark contrast to the original trial's flaws. The case remains a textbook example of investigative malpractice, including witness contamination, failure to follow basic forensic procedures, and a targeted campaign by police to secure convictions rather than uncover the truth. The notoriety of the Satan's Choice club and the public fear of outlaw bikers in the 1970s created an environment where legal standards were compromised. The story of the Port Hope 8 continues to be cited in discussions about wrongful convictions, police accountability, and prisoners' rights in Canada. Sauvé himself relished the challenge of his voting rights case. The process for prisoner voting, established partly due to his efforts, involves setting up polling stations in penitentiaries ten days before the general election.

Key Figures in the Case

William 'Heavy' Matiyek was the 23-year-old victim and sergeant-at-arms for the Golden Hawk Riders. He was known as the town bully in Port Hope, and people there were too terrified of him to ever call the police. Matiyek was greatly disliked due to his rage issues and a tendency to threaten people with violence. He believed that having his club join the Outlaws Motorcycle Club would make him a more successful drug dealer. This intention brought him into fatal conflict with members of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club.

Lorne Campbell was a member of Satan's Choice's Toronto chapter and the admitted shooter of William Matiyek. Campbell stated he acted in self defence when Matiyek reached for his gun first. He was never charged for the murder. He later became a chapter president for both Satan's Choice and the Hells Angels.

Richard Sauvé was a Satan's Choice member from the Peterborough chapter who received Brian Brideau's phone call from the Queen's Hotel. He helped organize the response by calling other chapters for assistance. Sauvé was convicted of first degree murder in the Port Hope 8 case. He later became the plaintiff in a Supreme Court of Canada case that granted prisoners the right to vote.

Corporal Terry Hall was the head of the Ontario Provincial Police's Special Squad, later renamed the Anti Biker Unit. He took charge of the Matiyek murder investigation on October 27, 1978. Hall pursued a strategy he called reverse intimidation against outlaw bikers. He seems to have decided to use Matiyek's death as a chance to cripple Satan's Choice by convicting as many bikers as possible. His appearance with long hair and a beard made him look more like an outlaw biker than a policeman.

Sergeant Samuel McReelis was the initial lead investigator for the Port Hope police on the night of the murder. He was considered a hard working if overzealous policeman who had served with the Port Hope police since 1967. McReelis was inexperienced with murder investigations as they rarely occurred in Port Hope. His handling of the investigation was slapdash, including the failure to collect fingerprints from the crime scene and interviewing witnesses as a group. Armand 'In the Trunk' Sanguigni was a Satan's Choice member from the Toronto chapter who went to the Queen's Hotel. He was described as the scariest of the Satan's Choice bikers present, with alleged Mafia connections and work as a hitman subcontractor for the mob. Sanguigni was acquitted at trial, unlike six others who were convicted.

Investigation Techniques and Criticisms

The investigation into Matiyek's murder was marred by multiple procedural failures that later fuelled claims of a miscarriage of justice. The Port Hope Police Service's immediate response was inadequate for a homicide scene, with no forensic collection of fingerprints from glasses or surfaces. Interviewing witnesses like Gayle Thompson and Cathy Cotgrave as a group, rather than individually, violated basic police procedure and risked contaminating their independent recollections. When the OPP's Special Squad took over, their methods were explicitly geared towards obtaining convictions against the biker gang rather than impartially solving the crime. Constable Donald Denis's photo identification process was critically flawed. Showing photographs to witnesses collectively created peer pressure and the placing of a red dot on Gary Comeau's photograph was a suggestive tactic. The decision not to show witnesses a photograph of Lorne Campbell, despite his known presence and admission, indicated an investigative bias from the outset.

Corporal Terry Hall's overarching strategy of reverse intimidation, mirroring the bikers' own tactics, meant that legal standards were secondary to the goal of dismantling Satan's Choice. The political context was crucial, as the Ontario government had ordered the Special Squad to disregard legal niceties in its campaign against outlaw bikers. This created an environment where securing multiple convictions for a single murder was seen as a success, regardless of individual culpability. The investigation's focus on the eight men, rather than a thorough pursuit of the sole shooter, demonstrated this priority. These techniques and the political pressure behind them have made the Port Hope 8 case a perennial example in Canadian legal circles of how not to conduct a homicide investigation.

Port Hope Context and Lasting Notoriety

The murder of Bill Matiyek deeply shocked the small community of Port Hope, which was unaccustomed to such violence. The Port Hope Evening Guide's editorial captured the community's fear, questioning if it would ever be safe to walk the streets at night again. The Queen's Hotel itself symbolized the town's changing character, having once been one of Ontario's most luxurious hotels but by the 1970s reduced to a seedy bar featuring strippers. The presence of outlaw biker gangs, though described as semi-organized crime, was a visible and unsettling element in the town's social scene. The immediate disbanding of the Golden Hawk Riders after the murder showed how the violence destabilized even the local criminal element.

The Port Hope 8 case remains its most notorious historical criminal event. The case's legacy extends beyond the town due to its connection to constitutional law and prisoner rights. The notoriety of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club and the dramatic narrative of biker rivalry, a barroom shooting, and a flawed trial have ensured the case remains a subject of true crime interest. It is a reminder of a period when outlaw biker wars and aggressive policing intersected, sometimes at the expense of justice, in small-town Ontario.

Questions about Port Hope 8 case

Who actually killed Bill Matiyek?

Lorne Campbell, a member of the Satan's Choice Toronto chapter, admitted to shooting and killing Bill Matiyek. Campbell claimed he acted in self-defence after Matiyek reached for a gun during a confrontation in the Queen's Hotel bar. Despite Campbell's admission and his known presence at the scene, the OPP's Special Squad focused its investigation on securing murder convictions against eight other bikers present that night. Campbell was never charged in connection with Matiyek's death.

Why is the case considered a miscarriage of justice?

The case is considered a miscarriage of justice due to severe investigative failures and prosecutorial overreach. Police failed to follow basic procedures, such as collecting fingerprints and interviewing witnesses individually. The OPP's Special Squad, led by Corporal Terry Hall, used contaminated photo lineups and pursued convictions against a group of men despite knowing the identity of the sole shooter. The convictions were seen as politically motivated, aimed at appeasing public fear of outlaw bikers rather than delivering a fair outcome based on evidence.

What was the connection to prisoner voting rights?

One of the convicted men, Richard Sauvé, used his time in prison to challenge a federal law that banned all prisoners from voting. Citing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Sauvé argued the ban was unconstitutional. His legal battle reached the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in his favour in the landmark 2002 case R. v. Sauvé. This decision established the right of all Canadian prisoners to vote in federal and provincial elections, a significant legacy stemming from the Port Hope 8 convictions.

What was the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club?

The Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club was the largest outlaw biker gang in Ontario during the 1960s and 1970s. Founded in 1965, it was a major target of a dedicated Ontario Provincial Police unit. The club split in 1977, with many chapters joining the American-based Outlaws Motorcycle Club, while others remained loyal. This split, known as the Big Split, fueled violent rivalry and was the direct context for the conflict in Port Hope, as local bikers considered joining the Outlaws, threatening Satan's Choice's operations in nearby Oshawa.

How did the police investigation go wrong?

The investigation was flawed from the start. The Port Hope police failed to secure forensic evidence like fingerprints. When the OPP's Special Squad took over, they employed improper identification procedures, showing witnesses photographs as a group and marking a suspect's photo with a red dot. They focused on building a case against eight men while not charging the known shooter. The lead investigator, Corporal Terry Hall, operated under a mandate to cripple the biker gang by any means, leading to an investigation that prioritized convictions over uncovering the precise truth of the events.

What was the Port Hope 8 case?

The Port Hope 8 case was the 1979 trial of eight members of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club for the murder of William John Matiyek on October 18, 1978 at the Queen's Hotel in Port Hope, Ontario. Six of the eight accused were convicted of murder, while two were acquitted. The case is widely considered a miscarriage of justice. The convictions resulted from an investigation led by the Ontario Provincial Police's Special Squad, which was under political pressure to secure convictions against outlaw bikers. The investigative methods used, including improper witness identification procedures, have been heavily criticized.

Sources and further reading

• Port Hope 8 case (Wikipedia)
• Jailhouse Bloc (thewalrus.ca)
• $80K worth of drugs seized: Port Hope, Cobourg residents ... (granthaven.com)

Checked by the Nosy Mag desk. Last updated 2026-11-01.