Pickton escaped 1997 charge before murders

Newly revealed court material shows that convicted serial killer Robert Pickton was charged with attempted murder of a sex-trade worker in 1997, butthe casedid not go to trialand hewent on to kill an unknown number of Vancouver-area women.

The woman in the 1997 case who still cannot be legally identified alleged that she had been hired for sex by Picktonand was taken to his farm, where he tried to handcuff her and then stabbed her repeatedly, nearly killing her.

The woman suffered stab wounds to her abdomen, chest and arms, lost three litres of blood and remained unconscious in hospital for four days before recovering.

Pickton was charged with attempted murder and forcible confinement in that case, but the Crown later stayed the charges, saying the womanwas not a sufficiently credible witness.

Ten years later, Picktonwas convictedon six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood and sentenced to life in prison.

Allsix womenwerekilled after the 1997 case was dropped.

As the Crown announced Wednesdayit was staying 20 othermurder charges against Pickton, ending the possibility of more trials, the courtlifted the publication ban on a raft of controversialmaterial connected to thetrial that produced his conviction.

Thesex-trade worker hadprovided riveting testimonyat Pickton's 2003 preliminary hearing, but the juryat hismurder trial was not allowed to hear her story.

The judgeaccepted a defence argument thatthe woman's testimonywas not directly relevant to the six charges Pickton faced.

The lifting of the publication bans also means thatPickton's videotaped statement to police after his arrest willbe released within a few days.