Pickton probe 'a screw-up:' former mayor

The man who was mayor of Vancouver during the time Robert Pickton was murdering women from the city's Downtown Eastside says he feels some personal responsibility.

Philip Owen admitted to Rick Cluff of CBC Radio One's The Early Edition that the investigation was "a screw-up" and he wishes things had been handled differently.

"I wish I could do it over again. I think we all wish we could have done it over again," he told Cluff in an interview Friday morning.

"We did not cross all the t's and dot all the i's and yeah, I'd like to do it over again and I'd like to do it differently."

On Wednesday, a B.C. Supreme Court judge stayed 20 remaining murder charges against Pickton and lifted several publication bans on information relating to the case.

Pickton is serving a life sentence for the murder of six women from the Downtown Eastside.

The families of some of the serial killer's victims are calling for a public inquiry in light of the new information.

'It was basically kind of a screw-up right from the beginning all the way through for many years' Philip Owen

But Owen, who was also chair of the Vancouver Police Board at the time, said a public inquiry is not necessary, arguing it would be too expensive.

"A lot of finger pointing can go on here, it's a great mess, but I believe that enough is enough and Pickton's put away for the rest of his life and he's going to stay there."

Police took investigation seriously

Owen also admitted the investigation of women disappearing from the Downtown Eastside may not have been a priority because many of the women were sex trade workers.

"That is the public image and there's some justification for that, but as chair of the police board I know that during the time [police] took it very seriously, the police board spent a lot of time on it, we got a lot of reports," he said.

"It was basically kind of a screw-up right from the beginning all the way through for many years."

Owen said it took police far too long to identify and arrest a suspect.

"It's unbelievable that this went on for so long, and all these women [died], and we didn't have some evidence and some witnesses, some people coming forward it was just an awful, awful situation."