103 Facts About Michael Sandham

Michael Sandham had served in Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry of the Canadian Army between 1990 and 1994, being honourably discharged as a trained private.

Furthermore, Michael Sandham maintained that he fought in the Bosnian War during his time in the Army, performing top secret missions he could not talk about, and to have served as a bodyguard to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and to the royal family, neither claim which is supported by his service records.

Michael Sandham was so unsuccessful as a salesman that he depended upon the local food bank for his meals as he could not afford to buy groceries and had to ask his wife's grandmother to help pay his rent.

Michael Sandham was very controlling of his wife Cynthia, refusing to allow her to have a job despite his financial problems.

Michael Sandham then set up a martial arts studio with money borrowed from his wife's family in his native Winnipeg.

Michael Sandham claimed to been trained in the martial arts by Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Dan Inosanto, and Bill "Superfoot" Wallace.

Michael Sandham started to abuse steroids and under their influence became violent towards his wife Cynthia, as she stated that he beat her and their sons constantly.

In 1998, Michael Sandham's studio went bankrupt after two years with many of his former students complaining he did not know any martial arts at all, and that Sando was a fraud; at about the same time, Michael Sandham's first wife divorced him, stating he was an abusive husband who had regularly beaten her up.

In October 2002, Michael Sandham asked for leave, claiming he had to attend the funeral of a relative in Montreal.

Michael Sandham then called in sick for an entire week, and while supposedly sick in Montreal, had spent the week in Woodstock at the Outlaws' clubhouse, trying to join their club.

Michael Sandham was photographed associating with the Outlaws by the Ontario Provincial Police, which forwarded the photos to the East St Paul police chief David Grant.

At this point, Grant produced the photos, saying he was disappointed that not only was Michael Sandham associating with bikers, but he had just lied to him.

Michael Sandham left the East St Paul force on 15 October 2002.

Michael Sandham's attempt to join the Outlaws failed as they discovered that he was a former policeman and outlaw biker clubs did not accept either current or former policeman into their ranks.

Michael Sandham was diminishing his service record by claiming to have served with the Airborne Regiment instead of the Princess Patricia's regiment.

Michael Sandham joined an outlaw biker club in Winnipeg called los Montoneros.

Small with a hateful stare, Michael Sandham didn't look like a theology student and he didn't last very long as one either.

Michael Sandham got in touch with Giovanni Muscedere, the national president of the Bandidos, to ask to "patch over" to join the Bandidos whose world headquarters are in Houston, Texas.

In June 2003, Michael Sandham first met Muscedere and Luis Raposo at Wayne Kellestine's farm at 32196 Aberdeen Line in Iona Station.

In July 2004, Michael Sandham joined the Bandidos as the president of the Winnipeg chapter.

Michael Sandham applied to work for Prairie Bylaw Enforcement and in his resume "made several claims that either dubious or completely untrue" such having been both a commando and a paratrooper with the Canadian Army; to have won 12 martial arts "full contact fights" without a single loss; and to have won numerous black belts in HwaRang Kempo, taekwondo, Wing Chun Kung Fu and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Michael Sandham then worked for Prairie Bylaw Enforcement, handing out parking tickets, but resigned after six months after claiming that the job was too stressful for him.

For Michael Sandham, being allowed to join the Bandidos would give him the power and status that he craved.

Lenti further noted that Michael Sandham had no tattoos, which was unusual as almost all outlaw bikers have many tattoos on their bodies, his demeanor was like that of a policeman doing a very clumsy impression of an outlaw biker, and that Michael Sandham seemed like the sort of man who would have "sucked up" to the high school bully rather than stand up for himself.

However, Kellestine reported that the rumors were not true, and Michael Sandham had never been a policeman.

Lenti still protested that Kellestine's investigation was inept and he thought that the rumors that Michael Sandham was a former policeman were true.

Edwards wrote: "Through Michael Sandham had botched many things in life, he had discovered a talent for ruthless politicking and manipulation".

Edwards wrote that Mushey's associates in the Shedden massacre, Kellestine and Michael Sandham, were both pathological liars whose yarns about their "exceptional fighting skills and sang-froid" were all fantasies, but that in the case of Mushey "the stories had a chilling ring of authenticity".

Relations between Raposo and Michael Sandham were stormy with both men accusing each other to their faces of embezzlement.

Michael Sandham had a highly authoritarian leadership style giving all members a rule-book listing a set of rules which forbade "lying to a brother" and "coming between two brothers" under the pain of expulsion.

Edwards wrote that Michael Sandham was a ruthless schemer as his goal was nothing less than to take over the outlaw biker scene in all of Canada.

Michael Sandham had behaved in a very sycophantic manner towards Muscedere and Raposo when he wanted to join the Bandidos in 2004, but turned on them when they stood in the way of his ambitions.

On 25 June 2005, Michael Sandham visited Kellestine's farm to complain about the unwillingness of the Toronto chapter to make the Winnipeg chapters full members, asking for his support.

Michael Sandham had told Kellestine at this time that the "no surrender crew" led by Muscedere were planning to "patch over" to join the Outlaws without him.

Kellestine believed what Michael Sandham had told him, and this bit of misinformation turned Kellestine against the "no surrender crew".

Michael Sandham believed an alliance with Kellestine would make him rich, as Kellestine knew many of the methamphetamine makers in the countryside around Stratford while there was much demand for methamphetamine in Winnipeg.

Edwards wrote that both Kellestine and Michael Sandham displayed much narcissistic behavior and a contempt for all rules, which allowed them to justify doing anything they wanted.

On 26 November 2005, Michael Sandham visited Toronto to again ask for a "full charter" for his chapter, only to be vetoed again by Raposo who accused Michael Sandham of not paying his monthly dues.

When Michael Sandham handed Raposo his travel receipts totalling $4,000 and asked Raposo to pay his travel expenses, the latter refused which led to more shouting and ill-will.

On 4 March 2006, Michael Sandham sent out an email under the bland pseudonym "John Smith" to all Winnipeg chapter members to announce chapter president Michael Sandham had just been promoted to a full patch Bandido.

Price stated that Michael Sandham would serve as the new national secretary while the Toronto chapter would be disbanded, to be replaced by a new chapter in London, Ontario.

Price concluded by stating that both Kellestine and Michael Sandham would be expelled as well if they failed to remove the patches being worn by the rogue Toronto chapter.

At his trial in 2009, Michael Sandham testified that Price who was representing Pike had told him that Muscedere and the rest of the "no surrender crew" were to be killed with Kellestine to become the new leader of the Canadian Bandidos as the reward.

On 13 March 2006, Michael Sandham mocked Raposo in an email by claiming the Winnipeg chapter now had 35 members, through he signed his email "Much love, loyalty and respect, Probationary Bandido Taz".

The Winnipeg crew claimed that Michael Sandham received a phone call from an American Bandido, Keinard "Hawaiian Ken" Post, asking why the "no surrender crew" were still wearing Bandido patches five months after being expelled and accused them all of incompetence in allowing this situation to persist.

On 25 March 2006, Michael Sandham announced to his followers that he had received orders from Houston to act against the "no surrender crew" and they were departing for Kellestine's farm without telling him that they were coming.

Michael Sandham assured his followers that Kellestine had plenty of guns at his farm, but he brought along a bullet-proof vest and a box of surgical gloves, saying he needed them to leave no fingerprints on the guns that Kellestine would provide.

When Michael Sandham arrived at Kellestine's farm, he lied to him by claiming not to know why he had been sent there, and told Kellestine that he would receive further orders from Houston.

Kellestine was surprised by Michael Sandham's visit, but he quickly took charge of his guests and provided them with weapons from his hidden cache of arms he kept at his farm.

Aragon had apparently been dispatched by Muscedere to kill Michael Sandham, who was seen as the source of their problems with Houston.

At Kellestine's farmhouse, Michael Sandham discussed a plan where he would use his sniper skills to shoot Muscedere at his apartment as it was known that Muscedere liked to smoke his cigars on the balcony because of his infant daughter.

Finally, Kellestine and Michael Sandham devised a scheme under which a "church" would be at Kellestine's farmhouse to allow the massacre to proceed.

Michael Sandham was standing in the rafters with a rifle while Mushey, Frank Mather, Aravena and MH were patrolling outside armed with rifles and shotguns, and Gardiner listened to the police scanners inside Kellestine's house.

Michael Sandham was only slightly injured as he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, returned fire and killed Raposo.

However, Raposo's favorite gesture was to "give the finger", and the autopsy revealed at the time of his death, Raposo had raised his middle finger while the rest of his fingers clenched into his fist and that Michael Sandham's bullet had gone through Raposo's raised finger, shattering it completely.

The forensic evidence does not support Michael Sandham's claim that Raposo had fired at him, and moreover Michael Sandham is a "well known pathological liar" not known for his willingness to take responsibility for his actions.

At gunpoint, Michael Sandham forced Paul Sinopoli to confess to embezzling the money along with Raposo, which he took as a personal vindication.

When George Jessome was taken out to be shot, Kellstine turned his back towards Michael Sandham who made no effort to shoot him despite having a gun.

Kellestine was too drunk to kill the last of the "no-surrender crew" Jamie "Goldberg" Flanz, and instead Michael Sandham shot him in the head.

Michael Sandham was too nervous to aim properly despite shooting at point-blank range, and Flanz was still alive after Michael Sandham had shot him, blasting off much of his right cheek.

Finally, Mushey, who was a more experienced killer than Michael Sandham, took his gun and proved it was not jammed by finishing off Flanz with another shot to the head.

An examination revealed the tires that Michael Sandham had just abandoned in the countryside matched the tire prints found on Kellestine's farm.

Michael Sandham used his savings to open up a tattoo studio on 1 May 2006.

Michael Sandham's studio was so unsuccessful owing to the poor quality of his inkmanship that he was reduced to trying to have applicants for the Winnipeg Bandido chapter make financial contributions to his studio to help him pay the rent.

Michael Sandham's studio ended when the rent for July 2006 went unpaid, causing the landlord to evict him.

Michael Sandham lied to his chapter by claiming that the American leaders had promoted the Winnipeg up to a "full charter" chapter.

Aragon and Michael Sandham spent all of May 2006 and the first half of June writing emails to Houston denouncing each other and demanding that Houston support their claim to be the president of Bandidos Canada.

The Canadian authorities alerted the American authorities about Michael Sandham's impending visit to Houston, and the US customs allowed Michael Sandham to cross the border to see what might happen.

Michael Sandham was watched by law enforcement during his trip to Texas.

Michael Sandham was desperate to stay in the Bandidos, and Edwards wrote that after he was expelled that Michael Sandham appeared to be "losing his mind".

However, Lenti was a living legend within Canadian outlaw biker circles with close links to the Mafia and a habit of gouging out the eyes of his enemies, and Michael Sandham was so utterly terrified of him that he agreed to stop calling himself president of Bandidos Canada, and allow Lenti that honour.

Michael Sandham denied to Bickerton that he was a member of the Bandidos, saying he had left the club in 2005.

On 29 December 2006, Michael Sandham changed his story, now telling Bickerton he had been present at the massacre and wanted immunity in exchange for his testimony, portraying himself as a man who tried to stop the massacre.

Michael Sandham stated that at the Peace Arch Park meeting in March 2006 that he had received orders from Price who was speaking on behalf of the American leaders to kill Giovanni Muscedere and Luis Raposo, but that he had refused, saying he was utterly against murder.

However, Michael Sandham then claimed that Price had said to kill Muscedere and Frank Salerno, the president of the Toronto chapter.

Michael Sandham claimed that the Keswick drug dealer Shawn Douse had been murdered in December 2005 on Muscedere's orders, which he used as an example of Muscedere's murderous tendencies, through unknown to him the police had already established that Muscedere was not involved in Douse's murder.

The story that Michael Sandham told Bickerton was full of erroneous information such as his statement that there was a river running through the Kellestine farm.

When Michael Sandham learned that the Crown would not be making a deal with him, he sounded very dejected and defeated.

Bickerton asked why if Michael Sandham had been ordered in March 2006 to commit murders by the American Bandidos at the Peace Arch Park and he was opposed to murder as he claimed, then why didn't he contact the police instead going to Kellestine's farm with rubber gloves and a bulletproof jacket, questions that Michael Sandham was unwilling to answer.

Michael Sandham who had prided himself in his emails to Houston on his commitment to the "Bandido way" had just violated one of the rules of the outlaw biker code by attempting to turn Crown's evidence.

Michael Sandham was denied bail, and while awaiting trial had to be held apart from the other inmates, who wanted to abuse a former policeman.

Furthermore, Michael Sandham is a well known "pathological liar" whose long and well-documented record of telling lies reduced his value as a witness for the Crown.

The murder trial for Aravena, Gardiner, Kellestine, Mather, Mushey and Michael Sandham commenced on 31 March 2009 in London, Ontario with all six of the accused entering pleas of not guilty.

Kellestine was defended by Clay Powell, a Toronto lawyer best known for defending Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones after he was arrested for heroin possession in Toronto in 1977; Michael Sandham was defended by Don Crawford, a lawyer used to defending "ambitious dimwits"; and Aravena was defended by Tony Bryant, well known in Ontario for his dogged defense of the serial killer Paul Bernardo at his 1995 trial.

Michael Sandham, who liked to present himself as a tough guy when he was an outlaw biker, spent most of his time on the stand crying out his eyes, whining that it was "unfair" that he should be charged with first-degree murder for his part in the massacre.

Michael Sandham delivered what Edwards called "a lie-filled fusion of self-pity and selfless heroism" on the stand starting on 9 September 2009.

Michael Sandham began with the statement he been a good student at Bible school and was married with two children, "but technically I have four".

Michael Sandham stated that he had always been a hero, and testified that he had served in the Canadian Airborne Regiment and fought in the Bosnian war, performing classified missions that he could not talk about.

Michael Sandham used his alleged service as a commando during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina as an example of his heroic character.

Michael Sandham claimed on the stand that during his time in the military to have served as a bodyguard to prime ministers, presidents and royalty.

When Sandham mentioned he had served as a bodyguard to Princess Patricia, Michael Moon, the lawyer for Mushey challenged him on that point, noting that Sandham was born in 1970 and Princess Patricia died in 1974, and so Sandham could not have possibly been a bodyguard to Princess Patricia.

Michael Sandham did testify that he had supposedly ensured that the vehicles carrying the corpses away did not have enough gas, forcing their abandonment near Shedden as a clever ploy to reveal Kellestine was the killer.

Michael Sandham testified that he did not want to be Winnipeg chapter president and had been forced against his will by Weiche to play that role, saying that Weiche had threatened to kill him if he did not become Winnipeg chapter president.

When Gowdey brought up Kellestine's remark that about "cutting them [the Toronto chapter] into little pieces" as evidence of a premediated massacre, Michael Sandham insisted that Kellestine's remark was a joke.

When Gowdey stated that remark did not sound very funny, Michael Sandham stated: "He [Kellestine] has a very, very dark sense of humor".

Amid his tears, Michael Sandham testified Raposo had fired at him, but he was so opposed to violence that he did not choose to shoot back, and instead his gun just went off, killing his archenemy Raposo by accident.

Michael Sandham testified that despite his claims to be a brave "infiltrator", that he was too terrified to stop the massacre, mentioning that Kellestine liked to eat animal excrement as evidence of Kellestine's "crazy" behavior that scared him so much.

Michael Sandham testified he wanted to shoot Kellestine, but he was afraid that Kellestine would kill his family if he missed.

Midway through the trial, Michael Sandham changed his story, now testifying that the massacre had been ordered by Pike, and in May 2006 he paid a visit to Houston where Pike had allegedly personally congratulated him for the killings.

Michael Sandham was found guilty of 8 counts of first degree murder.

Cudmore in his final address admitted that Michael Sandham was quite dishonest, saying: "He has damaged his own credibility, but on the things that matter, he is telling the truth".

Aravena, Gardiner, Kellestine, Mather, Mushey and Michael Sandham appealed their convictions.

Michael Sandham is currently serving a life sentence with no chance of parole.