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SCMP Reporter

A LEADING Hong Kong criminal lawyer and his young female Russian companion have been shot dead in Vladivostok.

  The killing of Gary Alderdice QC has stunned judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers, and his wide range of friends in horse racing and business circles in Hong Kong, Macau and New Zealand.

  Alderdice, 48, a former Hong Kong deputy Crown prosecutor before he entered private practice about 10 years ago, was found dead last week in the Vladivostok flat of a woman.

  At first he was mistakenly identified as a New Zealand diplomat based in Singapore.

  Diplomatic sources said his death was confirmed yesterday and efforts were being made to break the news to his estranged wife, Pippa, and children from a previous marriage.

  Former Chief Justice Sir Denys Roberts officiated at his second wedding.

  The sources said police had launched a manhunt in Vladivostok and were liaising with Interpol and New Zealand diplomats in Moscow, where the nearest embassy is located.

  New Zealand diplomats in Hong Kong yesterday called the Attorney-General's chambers in an effort to obtain contact numbers for Alderdice's family so that arrangements can be made for them to visit or return his body.

  ''The distance and the communication problems in that part of the world are not easy to overcome and there have been problems with the identification of his travel document,'' a diplomatic source said.

  Alderdice's friends and acquaintances who have seen him in recent weeks said he had been living at the Westin Resort in Macau with the Russian woman, who was in her 20s. They described him as being in good health.

  However, they said he had not been in the best of spirits since a dispute with his wife in February.

  She left Hong Kong earlier this year under a formal separation arrangement.

  He has not practised law since the incident, but was last in court about two weeks ago when the Crown offered no evidence in an Independent Commission Against Corruption case he was defending.

  Alderdice is author of a legal book called Let's Kill All the Lawyers.

  Crown Prosecutor John Wood, Law Draftsman Jim Findlay QC, High Court judges and barristers last night described Alderdice as an outstanding lawyer and character who had contributed immensely to Hong Kong's criminal justice system.

  ''I knew him very well. He was a good friend. I liked him immensely and I'm absolutely appalled that this has happened,'' said Mr Wood, head of the Prosecutions Division.

  ''He was a very able, courteous, fair and entirely straight and honest man in and out of court.

  ''One can only hope that everything will be done to catch those responsible,'' he said.

  Mr Findlay, a friend of Alderdice's for 13 years and former Prosecutions Division colleague, said: ''This is a terrible tragedy. He was what the New Zealanders and Australians call 'a good operator'.

  ''We had a lunch together recently at the home of a judge for his birthday and he seemed fine.''   A High Court judge who was a close friend of Alderdice's said last night he was recovering from the news and too saddened to say anything.

  Longtime Hong Kong lawyer Kevin Egan said Alderdice was so popular in Hong Kong that it was impossible to imagine him having an enemy in the world.

  Alderdice's brother in Wellington, who refused to be named, said the family had been told to ''prepare for the worst'' by officers from New Zealand's Ministry for External Relations and Trade.

  The brother said they had been told by the ministry that full details, including confirmation of the death, had not yet been made available due to communication difficulties.



Respected barrister shot dead in Russia