Surrey killer nabbed by elaborate Mr. Big sting dies in jail

A B.C. killer who lost two appeals of his second-degree murder conviction after being ensnared by an elaborate Mr. Big sting has died in jail.

The Correctional Service of Canada confirmed former Surrey resident Gary Donald Johnston, 63, died while in custody at Mountain Institution in Agassiz on Sunday.

Johnston began serving an indeterminate sentence for the murder of Vic Fraser in Surrey in 2011.

The career criminal was convicted of Fraser’s 1998 murder after a Mr. Big sting in which undercover officers posed as fellow criminals, wining and dining and giving cash to Johnston for months to win his trust.

The ruse went as far as the fake kidnapping of two bound and gagged men, who an officer pretended to murder by firing three gunshots while Johnston was out of the room.