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For most of his adult life, Paul Derry has been exploiting other career criminals as a paid police informant.

Only he had immunity when he sold drugs and ran guns.

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He got the biggest pass of his life in 2000, when he was spared charges for his key role in a Hells Angels contract killing in Halifax. He did what he did best and went to work for the police, and wore a wire when he visited one of the accused in jail.

Derry’s testimony put away three men, including the Hells Angel who ordered the hit on a rumour that the target had an affair with a Hells Angels mistress. They shot Sean Simmons in the head, and while Steven Gareau didn’t squeeze the trigger, the Ottawa man was branded in court as the man who tracked down the target and brought the killers with him.

Gareau was condemned to life in prison but earlier this year he won a new trial after filing a handwritten appeal from his prison cell. In February, he was convicted again on the strength of star witness Derry. Gareau, 57, insists he thought he was tracking down Simmons for a drug deal, not a murder.