Testifying at the ongoing inquest into the death of the notorious bandit, Pool said their relationship started with him supplying London with stock from his La Penitence Market stall, in Georgetown, as well, until sometime in the 1980s.

Pool said he was arrested in 1985 and charged, along with London and Winston Huntley, for robbery under arms, at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo, but the charges were all dismissed.

The witness said, more than two years after, he received a note from London, saying the latter was in Georgetown jail and wanted to meet him.

Pool said, during the visit, London told him he and three others had been accused of a crime but one of the co-accused was shot in a car trunk, the second was poisoned in prison and the third had been released on bail.

Pool said, at London’s request, he supplied him with meals in the penitentiary, three times a day for more than a year.

However, one midday, when he took lunch, a warden informed him that London was no longer there and, subsequently, he found him at his home in Albouystown.

Pool said he took up residence in Suriname for about three years and did not hear from London for between nine and ten years.

But, in January 2000, he met London, who asked if he knew any good lawyer and Pool recommended Mr Mortimer Coddett.

The witness said he is the owner of a cellular telephone and he gave London the number 294-2055 to make contact with him.

A few days after, Coddett visited Pool at his home and London called at the same time and spoke with Coddett.

The witness said he undertook to arrange for two other lawyers to meet London but never saw London again until his funeral.

Pool said, the following day, the cellular phone rang and the person at the other end said:`Ah jus checkin, ah jus checkin” and hung up.

The witness said Coddett advised him to go to VCT Channel 28 and let the nation know what was his relationship with London and he did so.

Pool said he did not know the woman Forde but knew Dubissette.

In answer to the five-member jury sitting with Coroner Melissa Robertson, Pool said he had been asked to report at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, on several occasions but was never really arrested.

The inquiry also spawns Rhonda Forde, who was killed in the same Eccles, East Bank Demerara, where she, too, was shot by Police and Army ranks on February 9, 2000.

Forde’s reputed husband for about eight years, Dexter Dubissette, of Lot 154 Non Pariel Street, Albouystown, another Georgetown address, disclosed that, during 1998, he served three years imprisonment for narcotics and, when released on February 1, 2000, he returned to live with the mother of two.

Dubissette said none of the children were his but he knew their fathers.

Her spouse said, Forde left for Bible Class about 7 pm on February 8, 2000, in the company of another friend but she did not return home.

He said, the next morning, he woke up about nine o’clock and preceded to search for her, visiting her friends and aunts, none of whom saw her.

Later the same evening, while watching the television news on Channel 28, he saw Forde lying on the ground and she appeared to be dead.

She was wearing the blue blouse in which she was clad the previous day and sporting the same ‘Rasta’ hairstyle.

Dubissette said he never knew London and did not know Forde was associated with him.

The witness said he read about London in the Press and did not attend his funeral but attended that of Forde.

Questioned by the jurors, Dubissette said Forde always went to Bible Class at a church on D’Urban Street, also in the city.

The inquest continues on April 9.