Missing killer with Hamilton connections arrested in Vancouver: OPP

A fugitive and convicted killer with Hamilton connections has been arrested in British Columbia, police say.

Det. Staff Sgt. Steve Sermet from the provincial Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (ROPE) squad said Douglas Spiers wast arrested in Vancouver Saturday evening.

The 40-year-old Spiers, formerly know as Douglas Stokes, was wanted for violating his parole, which was granted after he served 12 years of a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Murray Parrott, 55, of Milton.

He was supposed to be living with family in St. Catharines but vanished from Niagara Falls on March 5. A warrant for Spiers, who was known to frequent the Toronto and Hamilton areas, was issued two days later.

In 2004, Spiers, then going by the name of Stokes, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Parrott.

The court heard that Parrott encountered a then-19-year-old Stokes while walking home from his favourite Main Street bar in Milton early on Aug. 31, 2001. Stokes testified that Parrott pulled out a knife and lunged at him, but Stokes managed to knock the weapon out of his hand before stabbing him.

Parrott was stabbed in the throat with his own knife and beaten.

When he vanished, Spiers' sister, Jessie Stokes, who lives in British Columbia, told The Spectator he isn't a monster."

For 10 years he has been an upstanding and contributing member of society and is loved," she said about her brother, adding that he wouldn't leave his kids.

She believed he is a very low risk to reoffend.

Grant LaFleche is an investigative reporter with The Spectator. Reach him via email: glafleche@torstar.ca