RCMP suspect 2 Vikings associates in Dale Porter murder

The RCMP believe two people associated with the Vikings Motorcycle Club murdered Dale Porter in North River last summer, according to a police affidavit obtained by CBC News.

No charges have been laid in relation to the death of 39-year-old Porter, who was killed on his property during the early morning hours of June 29, 2014.

​​In an October 2014 affidavit, RCMP Const. Laura Purchase identified Allan Potter and Daniel Leonard as suspects in the North River murder.

“The offence I am investigating at this time is as follows: Allan Potter and/or Daniel Leonard, on or about June 29, 2014, at or near the town of North River, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, did commit murder on the person of Dale Porter,” Purchase wrote in that affidavit.

None of the allegations in the affidavit have been proven by the RCMP.

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Purchase’s affidavit was filed in support of an application to allow police to keep items seized when they executed two search warrants in the weeks after Porter’s death.

One of those warrants was executed at the Vikings clubhouse in Cupids on July 5.

​Two days earlier, according to the RCMP affidavit, police had arrested Potter for the murder. He was later released without being charged. Some of Potter’s belongings were seized by the police and held in a locker at RCMP headquarters in Harbour Grace.

The police later obtained a search warrant for the contents of that locker.

Those two search warrants remain sealed.

“I believe that the items seized are evidence of the offence of murder pursuant to the Criminal Code and their detention is still required for the purposes of this ongoing criminal investigation,” Purchase wrote in her affidavit.

“The criminal investigation is not complete.”

Crown alleges intimidation of witnesses

Potter is currently in custody, and facing charges of impaired driving and assault causing bodily harm.

The Crown has filed an application to exclude members of the public from some or all of Potter’s assault trial, citing the alleged intimidation of witnesses.

According to that application, three witnesses expressed concerns about testifying because of Potter’s links to “biker gangs.”

The Crown alleges that “six individuals identified by police as members of the Vikings Motorcycle Club” were in the courtroom for an early January court date, and believes they were there to intimidate witnesses.

The court filing adds that witnesses “have also expressed concerns of physical reprisal for testifying.”

About a half dozen men who appeared to be affiliated with the motorcycle club were at court Tuesday for Potter’s assault trial.

Judge Mark Linehan cleared the court to hear testimony from police officers in support of the Crown’s application to exclude them from the trial.

Linehan is expected to make a decision on the matter Wednesday morning.

Potter lived in home firebombed in 2013

Potter was living in a Hamilton Avenue house that was firebombed in July 2013.

At the time, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary linked that firebombing to a retaliatory drive-by shooting later the same night on Dauntless Street, in the Kenmount Terrace area of St. John’s.

• Police believe Hamilton Avenue vehicle fire is suspicious
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Then-RNC chief Robert Johnston said in 2013 the violence may be linked to the Hells Angels.

"Outlaw motorcycle gangs may be involved in these events,” Johnston said at the time.