Sept 15, 1990
Dec 18, 2025
Ontario
23
Tim Rees
Tim Rees was wrongfully convicted of the 1989 murder of 10-year-old Darla Thurrott in Etobicoke after police quickly focused on him following an evening he spent drinking and watching movies at the Thurrott home. Convicted in 1990 and sentenced to life in prison, Tim spent 23 years incarcerated while consistently maintaining his innocence, with all appeals initially denied. In 2016, Innocence Canada took on his case and uncovered a critical failure of disclosure: a withheld tape recording of a conversation that strongly implicated the family’s landlord, James Raymer, as a viable alternative suspect. The tape, found decades later in police files, fundamentally undermined the case against Tim and led the Ontario Court of Appeal to quash his conviction in November 2025 and order a new trial. One month later, the Crown withdrew the charge entirely, formally clearing Tim’s name after nearly four decades and highlighting a profound miscarriage of justice that denied accountability for Darla’s murder.
Legal Materials
In the News
The journey
to justice
March 17
Darlene Thurrott discovered her daughter, 10-year-old Darla, dead in her bed
September 15
Tim Rees was convicted of the second-degree murder of Darla Thurrott and sentenced to life in prison
June 16
Tim’s appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal was dismissed and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his case
October
Tim was released on Parole & Innocence Canada took on his case
The Toronto Homicide Cold Case Squad discovered a box of materials related to Tim’s case that included an incriminating tape recording implicating landlord James Raymer (now deceased) as a viable alternative suspect, and turned it over to Innocence Canada
Innocence Canada filed an application for ministerial review with the Justice Minister’s office
November 27
The Ontario Court of Appeal quashed Tim’s conviction and ordered a new trial
December 18
Tim’s charge of second-degree murder was withdrawn in the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto
The Case
On the evening of March 16, 1989, Tim visited friends Darlene Thurrott and her husband Bill Wilson at their home in Etobicoke. They spent the night drinking beer and watching movies. Tim stayed overnight and left early the next morning, but he was too hungover to go to work, so he returned home.
On the morning of March 17, 1989, Darlene Thurrott discovered her daughter, 10-year-old Darla, dead in her bed. The tragedy quickly led to an investigation that almost immediately focused on Tim.
On September 15, 1990, 26-year-old Tim Rees was convicted of the second-degree murder of Darla Thurrott and sentenced to life in prison. His appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal was dismissed on June 16, 1994, and the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his case.
The Fight for Justice
Tim spent a horrifying 23 years in prison before finally being released on parole in October 2016. He never stopped proclaiming his innocence and looking for help to clear his name. Innocence Canada adopted Tim’s case that same year and, in 2018, filed an application for ministerial review with the Justice Minister’s office. The primary basis for his application was the nondisclosure of important and crucial evidence: a tape recording of a highly incriminating conversation was withheld from Tim’s defence. As part of Innocence Canada’s review of Tim’s case, a request was sent in 2016 to the Toronto Police for access to the original investigative files. The Toronto Homicide Cold Case Squad discovered a box regarding Tim’s case, which included the tape recording and turned it over to Innocence Canada.
The recorded conversation was between the police and Darlene Thurrott’s and Bill Wilson’s landlord, James Raymer, who lived in the same house and slept in the room immediately across from Darla’s bedroom. This recording clearly incriminated Raymer (now deceased) as a viable alternative suspect. Had the missing tape recording been disclosed in 1989, it is highly doubtful that Tim would have been tried or convicted of Darla’s murder.
On Thursday, November 27, 2025, thirty-six years after Tim’s conviction, the Ontario Court of Appeal quashed his conviction for the murder of 10-year-old Darla Thurott and ordered a new trial.
Life After Exoneration
On Thursday, December 18, 2025, Tim Rees’s charge of second-degree murder was withdrawn in the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto.
Tim Rees, who is now 62 years old, said:
For the first time in 37 years, I do not carry the burden of the charge of murdering Darla. I did not murder her, and today the charge was withdrawn. I should never have been charged in the first place. I’m 62 and only now can I start my life anew. Darla never got justice either because the real killer was never charged.
Innocence Canada counsel James Lockyer, who is one of Mr. Rees’s lawyers, said today:
Tim Rees was a victim of extraordinary non-disclosure. He has always claimed his innocence and testified to his innocence at his trial in 1990 and before the Court of Appeal in 2024. Fortunately, his parole officer believed he was wrongly convicted because, without that, he would likely not have been given parole in 2012 and would still be in prison today.