"You were prepared to have Steven Clarke murdered?"

"Yes, sir."

"You asked someone if they were willing to have Steven Clarke murdered?"

"Yes, sir."

That was the strange exchange carried out in a Hamilton courtroom Friday as one-time convicted murderer Christopher McCullough agreed with Hamilton police defence counsel Kieran Dickson that after his May 24, 1990 arrest for the killing of Beverly Perrin, he counselled a would-be hit man to kill Clarke for testifying against him.

That hit man would prove to be an undercover police constable, leading McCullough to plead guilty to counselling to commit murder. McCullough would be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

McCullough would be convicted in December 1991 of second-degree murder in connection with the rape and strangulation of Tapleytown school teacher Perrin. He would serve nine years for both the murder and the counselling murder conviction before he was released in 1999.

McCullough, 47, and Perrin murder co-accused Nicholas Nossey are suing Hamilton police for more than $10 million for malicious prosecution before Ontario Superior Court Justice James Ramsay.

Nossey, who lives in Orillia, was acquitted of the Perrin murder. But he spent 19 months in pre-trial custody. The lawsuit is unusual in that it has been at least 15 years in the making but subject to numerous delays and postponements.

Two other Perrin co-accused, Clarke and Terry Pearce, served four- and seven-year terms, respectively, for their role in the slaying of the 55-year-old mother of five.

Clarke testified that McCullough, Nossey and himself were in the A&P on Barton Street East at Centennial Parkway on Feb. 13, 1989 looking to steal a car when they saw Perrin walking across the parking lot carrying groceries.

Clarke said the trio forced Perrin into her car and drove to Pearce's home. With Pearce at the wheel, the foursome drove to a field off Cascade Avenue, where Perrin was raped and strangled with a rope before her body was dumped at a Tapleytown Road field.

McCullough testified he eventually agreed to meet with the supposed hit man in the Barton Street detention centre because he was "being pressured" nightly by other inmates to do it.

"I was scared. I was put in jail because of a murder charge involving a rape. People on rape charges and pedophiles are looked on as prey," McCullough told court.

Dickson noted that because the sentence for counselling murder ran concurrent to his murder sentence, "I suggest you never served a day for counselling to commit murder?'

"I should never have been put in position where I could be charged with counselling to commit murder," McCullough shot back.

"The carrot was put in front of me and I bit," he continued.

McCullough told his lawyer, Neil Jones, about his struggles to lead a productive life after his release.

His last job was as a cashier at a Wendy's fast-food restaurant.

That was in 2009.

McCullough hasn't been able to find a job since.

"Most of the jobs I've had have been given to me through friends. I don't even seem to get calls."

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McCullough told court Friday when people Google his name, they discover he was convicted of second-degree murder in the rape and strangulation of Perrin.

"I think that's part of the problem why I'm having a hard time finding employment," said McCullough, who dropped out of a Hamilton vocational school in Grade 10.

The lawsuit continues Monday.