Nov 25, 2008 - 04:30 AM

By Jeff Mitchell

WHITBY -- A desire for vengeance led a police agent to accuse two high-ranking Hells Angels of plotting to murder a rival, a defence lawyer has suggested.

Steven Gault was settling an old score against Remond Akleh -- a fellow biker who had accused Mr. Gault of being an informant -- when he told his police handlers about being recruited by Mr. Akleh and Hells Angels president Mark Stephenson to carry out a hit, lawyer Brian Grys suggested Monday.

"You thought, I'm going to get Mr. Akleh back and if Stephenson has to go with him, so be it," Mr. Grys said. "You're putting out a little feeler; you're saying, let's see how this flies."

Mr. Gault has testified he was working as a police agent, gathering information on drug dealing among the Hells Angels, when Mr. Akleh, of Cobourg, and Mr. Stephenson, of Sunderland, approached him in June 2006 with a plan to kill Frank Lenti, a Woodbridge biker with ties to the Bandidos gang. Mr. Gault said he and the accused men were attending a national officers meeting in Windsor when the issue of Mr. Lenti and the Bandidos was discussed.

Under cross-examination by Mr. Grys Monday in Superior Court in Whitby Mr. Gault agreed that prior to the spring of 2006 he'd had issues with both men now on trial. Mr. Stephenson, jurors heard, had expressed doubts about Mr. Gault's ability to act as an officer of the Oshawa Hells Angels chapter.

A much more serious allegation had been made by Mr. Akleh, jurors heard: Armed with information provided by Mr. Gault's ex-wife, Mr. Akleh accused Mr. Gault of acting as a police informant.

In the biker world that's a grave matter, Mr. Gault agreed.

"I had to show some upset towards it," he testified Monday. "I (said) Ray should have his (Hells Angels) patch taken off for bringing up the (allegation)."

The matter went to arbitration within the club and Mr. Gault's cover was preserved. His calls for action against Mr. Akleh were not acted upon.

As the Angels would discover in September 2006, Mr. Akleh was right: Mr. Gault, known in the Oshawa club as "Stevie," had been acting as a paid police agent for the provincial Biker Enforcement Unit from the time he was introduced to the Angels as a prospect and while he worked his way up the ranks to full patch member and eventually secretary.

Information he provided in an investigation dubbed Project Tandem led to numerous arrests on drug and weapons charges as well as the charges against Mr. Akleh and Mr. Stephenson. They pleaded not guilty at the start of this trial to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and counselling to commit murder.

The trial, presided over by Justice Bruce Glass, continues.