Clint Milazzo was assaulted outside the Ettamogah Hotel on Kellicar Road in Campbelltown on February 23, 2003.
Mr Milazzo, 24, was drinking with a friend and left the hotel at closing time. He and his friend were assaulted while standing in the undercover car park waiting for a taxi near the hotel.
According to investigators, Mr Milazzo was punched in the head, causing him to fall to the ground.
He suffered serious head injuries and was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at Liverpool Hospital where he underwent several operations.
His health continued to deteriorate and he died on March 3, 2003 from severe head injuries he suffered during the attack.
Mr Milazzo was an applicant to enter the NSW Police College in Goulburn shortly before his death. His widow is a NSW Police officer.
A coronial inquest in 2005 returned an open finding and recommended a $100,000 reward be offered to help police find the person or persons responsible for the attack on Mr Milazzo.
Mr Milazzo’s case is still under the responsibility of Campbelltown detectives, who have conducted extensive inquiries but have exhausted all leads.
If the case goes to the Unsolved Homicide Unit then it could be reopened in the future under the new framework.
Detective Superintendent Cook said the reviews would “strengthen relationships with victim families through regular and informed communication”.
“It also allows the Unsolved Homicide Unit to initiate re-investigations while all other cases continue to be reviewed,” he said.
“We are committed to ensuring the most effective and efficient allocation of resources in order to maximise our capability to provide justice for victims and answers to their families.”
Seventeen cases are already being investigated under the new framework. No further detail on the cases has been provided.
The Unsolved Homicide Unit was formed in 2004 to centralise the bulk of the state’s unsolved murders and unexplained disappearances.
The unit has seen 30 cases solved and five more are before the court.
FOURTEEN years after the killing of police recruit Clint Milazzo outside a Campbelltown pub, police have again appealed for help to find his murderer.
The 24-year-old had left Ettamogah Hotel, then at Macarthur Square, on February 23, 2003, when he was attacked while waiting for a taxi.
Mr Milazzo suffered serious head injuries and was taken to Liverpool Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit where he eventually died on March 3.
The Ambarvale man was an applicant to enter the NSW Police College in Goulburn shortly before his death.
Police are hoping a $100,000 reward will encourage witnesses of the incident to come forward.
Reward posted for police killer
POLICEWOMAN Tanya Milazzo is hoping a $100,000 reward will unlock critical information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of her husband‘s killer.
Clint Milazzo was celebrating his acceptance as a recruit to the NSW Police Academy when he was punched to the ground outside the Ettamogah Hotel in Campbelltown, on February 23, 2003. He suffered severe head injuries and died on March 3.
The 24-year-old father had been looking forward to his wife completing her police training and joining him in their chosen career.
“I know that there are people out there who know who was responsible for my husband’s death,” Picton-based Constable Milazzo said.
“They have the information we need to bring the killer to justice. It’s very frustrating because we know who did it, they know who did it, but they won’t come forward.
“Hopefully, the prospect of picking up $100,000 will end the stalemate in the investigation.”
Detective Sergeant Bob Morley said the police inquiry was focusing on a suspect whose role emerged during a 10-day coronial inquest last year.
“We hope the reward will loosen someone’s lips, especially among the associates and acquaintances of the person we are looking at,” Sergeant Morley said.
Posting the $100,000 reward, Police Minister Carl Scully said: “Campbelltown detectives have conducted extensive enquiries but have exhausted all leads.
“It’s hoped this reward may persuade somebody with knowledge of Clint’s murder to come forward and provide police with information that could lead to an arrest and conviction.
“His wife and two young children deserve to know who was responsible for Clint’s death, and see justice done.”
During their initial inquiries, police said the unprovoked attack was carried out by a male Caucasian 20 to 25 years old, about 178 centimetres tall, with short-cropped hair.
Anybody with any information about the Milazzo murder should contact Campbelltown Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
An offer of help and assistance by retired police officer Mick Horne has cost him his life.
The 54-year-old Merimbula resident died in hospital yesterday following Friday evening’s horrific attacks in Bega.
Mr Horne retired as a Senior Constable in 2009 after serving at Bega Traffic & Highway Patrol Command.
At about 3.30pm on Friday (June 1), 71-year-old Thomas Winner and his 69-year-old wife Gail were stabbed in their East Street home by a man alleged to be their grandson, 20-year-old Murray Deakin.
Tragically, Mrs Winner died at the South East Regional Hospital shortly after, while Mr Winner remains in Canberra Hospital in a critical condition.
In the hour that followed, officers from the South Coast Police District pursued a car belonging to the couple, which was allegedly being driven by Deakin.
At about 4.40pm, Mr Horne, who appears to have stopped to offer assistance to Deakin on Sapphire Coast Drive at Bournda, thinking he was a motorist in need, was allegedly struck in the head with a hammer.
Police allege Deakin then made off with the 54-year-old’s vehicle before crashing it and running into bushland.
A father to one son, Mr Horne was airlifted to St George Hospital where he died early yesterday afternoon (June 3).
Appearing in Batemans Bay Court earlier today via a video link, Deakin did not enter a plea but now faces two murder charges.
Fairfax Media reports the 2o-year-old told the court he was sorry, before speaking briefly of drug and mental health issues.
Police say Mr Horne’s family has asked for privacy and won’t be making any statement to the media.
Speaking to the RiotACT, Merimbula’s Jase Holly says the community has lost one of its pillars.
“I got to know him and his son Tom through the local AFL club,” he says. “He was a doting father and loving husband to Mel, who in recent years fought off serious health issues with the support of Mick at her side.
“Mick was an avid sport fisherman and he loved taking any opportunity for fishing banter! I will always remember one morning when I was towing the boat home and was surprised when the flashing lights of a police pursuit car were flashing behind me. What had I possibly done wrong? Then I saw Mick walking up to the window.
“Not realising it was me, he just wanted to have a good look over the boat as it had struck his eye as “a good bit of gear.” In typical Mick form, he spent about 30 minutes going over all the little bits of customisation taking away a few ideas for his own boat set-up.
“As a cop, Mick was fair without fault, a gentleman in the truest sense of the word and a loving family man. He was a friend to everyone that knew him and I think the last time I saw him summed Mick up perfectly.
“As we waited in the barbers for a haircut, he was ahead of me in the queue but when his time came he let me go first so I could get back to work, it also gave him some extra time to talk fishing with everyone in the room!
“R.I.P. Michael Horne, you died offering help and service to someone in distress. Your legacy will shine in all that knew you.”
Other friends have expressed their condolences and paid tribute via social media.
“Mick Horne you died attempting to protect and serve, being a former police officer. Stopping to assist someone you thought needed help only to be attacked in the process.” – Marie Hart on Facebook.
“He sure was a lovely chap and thought he was doing the right thing and paid the ultimate price. So so sad RIP Mick.” – Rick Stafford on Facebook.
“Thinking of Mick and family so very sad. Prayers of strength and love.” – Andy O’Donnell on Facebook.
“So sorry to hear the sad news thoughts and prayers for Mick Horne’s family he was a wonderful man.” – Evi Scott on Facebook.
Investigations into the incident continue, with detectives from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad assisting local police.
Police are urging anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page. The information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence.
A man accused of killing his grandmother in the NSW south coast town of Bega last week has now been charged with the murder of a 54-year-old former police officer, who died in hospital yesterday.
Police alleged 20-year-old Murray Deakin stole Michael Horne’s car and attacked him with a hammer, after earlier stabbing his grandparents at their East Street home in Bega on Friday.
Murray Deakin: 20-year-old Murray Deakin is facing two counts of murder.
Mr Deakin appeared in Batemans Bay Local Court today where a charge of wounding with intent to kill Mr Horne was upgraded to a murder charge.
He spoke via video link.
“I’m sorry, I used psychedelic drugs and I have a family history of schizophrenia,” he said.
The magistrate interjected, telling him it was best to let his lawyer speak on his behalf.
He did not apply for bail and will reappear in court in August.
Mr Deakin had already been charged with the murder of his grandmother Gail Winner, aged 69, who died in hospital after allegedly being stabbed in her East Street home.
His grandfather Thomas Winner, 71, remains in a critical condition in hospital after he was also allegedly attacked by his grandson at his home.
Mr Horne was allegedly attacked by Mr Deakin as he tried to steal his car on Sapphire Coast Drive in Bournda, 20 kilometres south of the initial attack.
New South Wales Police said Mr Horne retired as a senior constable in 2009 after serving in the Bega Traffic and Highway Patrol Command.
The events unfolded about 3:35pm on Friday when a passing motorist was flagged down by Mr Winner.
Witnesses said they saw a man lying on the ground, covered in blood and desperately trying to flag down help.
When emergency services arrived, they also found Mrs Winner, who was critically injured.
She died in hospital after the attack, while Mr Winner remains in a critical condition at Canberra Hospital.
An hour after emergency services became aware of the stabbing attacks, Mr Deakin allegedly tried to steal Mr Horne’s car.
Friends of Mr and Ms Winner told the ABC the couple were kind and that the attack had come as a shock to the small community.
Second victim of South Coast rampage named as former policeman
A man accused of murdering his grandmother and critically wounding his grandfather, then fatally wounding a former NSW police officer on the Far South Coast of NSW has told a court he is sorry.
Murray Deakin, 20, appeared briefly in Batemans Bay Local Court on Monday charged over the stabbing of his grandparents Gail and Thomas Winner at their home in East Street, Bega, on Friday.
Mrs Winner, 69, died at the South East Regional Hospital and Mr Winner, 71, remains in a critical condition in Canberra Hospital.
Mick Horne, a 54-year-old former senior constable with NSW Police, was allegedly attacked with a hammer during a carjacking in the neighbouring town of Bournda. He died as a result of his wounds in St Georges Hospital on Sunday afternoon.
Police said the rampage began about 3.30pm on Friday when Mr Deakin stabbed his grandparents at their home, before fleeing in their car.
It is alleged that, after abandoning the car in Bournda, he carjacked another vehicle, using a hammer to attack Mr Horne, the driver.
A female passenger in the car escaped without injury.
The incident sparked a five-hour manhunt involving specialist tactical police, negotiators and PolAir.
On Monday, Mr Deakin faced Batemans Bay Local Court via audio-visual link charged with two counts of murder and two counts of wounding with intent to murder. He is yet to enter pleas.
Defence solicitor Keely Boom did not apply for his release on Monday and bail was formally refused.
Mr Deakin told the court he was sorry for his actions and spoke of his history of mental health issues.
“I’m so sorry,” Mr Deakin said. “I have a family history of schizophrenia.”
Mr Deakin went on to tell the court of his history with “psychedelic drugs”, before magistrate Mark Douglass cut him off.
Prosecutor Sergeant Mark Chaplin submitted two forensic procedure applications to the court, which were approved.
Mr Horne was awarded a medal in 2004 for his 15 years’ service with the force.
He has been described by community members on social media as a “wonderful man” and a “lovely chap … who paid the ultimate price”.
Chief Inspector Susan Charman-Horton said on Saturday the rampage was “just a terrible event“.
“The local community would be quite upset by the incident. This is not something that is usual in the area,” she said.
“[Mr Deakin] was unwell [when he was arrested]; he needed to be taken to hospital to be looked at by an expert.”
Mr Deakin is due back in court in August.
Blood and hair samples will now be taken from Mr Deakin.
Mr Horne retired as a senior constable in 2009 after serving at Bega Traffic & Highway Patrol Command, NSW Police said in a statement on Monday.
“The family would appreciate privacy at this time,” the statement read.
( Howell is the second, Victorian Policeman, to be awarded the KPFSM )
Victoria Police Force
Regd. # 10323
Rank: Constable
Stations: ?, East Malvern, Caulfield – death
Service: From? May 1948to 1 February 1952=3+years Service
Awards: Queen’s Police Medal, as mentioned in all of these articles, was NOT awarded to George but he WAS awarded ( posthumously ) the King’s Police & Fire Services Medal – KPFSM – which was granted on 29 August 1952 for Gallantry.
Born: ? ? 1926
Died on: Friday 1 February 1952 – 5.40am in Alfred Hospital
Cause: Shot – Murdered
Event Date: Wednesday 30 January 1952 about 10.35pm
Event Location: Normandy Rd, Caulfield, Victoria
Age: 25
Funeral date: Monday 4 February 1952 @ 2.30pm
Funeral location: Ewing Memorial Presbyterian Church, East Malvern, Victoria
Buried at: Cheltenham Memorial Park, Cheltenham, Bayside City, Victoria
Plot: Plot is CE (Church of England), Monumental, Section 337, Gave 024
Memorial at: ?
GEORGEIS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance
FURTHER INFORMATION IS NEEDED ABOUT THIS PERSON, THEIR LIFE, THEIR CAREER AND THEIR DEATH.
On the night of Wednesday 30 January 1952 Constable Howell rode his police bicycle to the Crystal Palace Theatre Dandenong Road Caulfield. He had been assigned to investigate and prevent the numerous thefts from cars which occurred in the vicinity.
About 10.35 p.m. Constable Howell intercepted a man tampering with a Morris Minor motor car. After a struggle the man ran off and the Constable ran after him. The offender then shot the Constable in the stomach with a sawn-off .22 calibre rifle. Although unarmed and mortally wounded the Constable continued to chase the gunman before collapsing in the centre of Normanby Road. The offender then escaped.
Although in shock and terrible pain and lapsing in and out of consciousness he was able to give a description of his assailant to bystanders who assisted him and to police who arrived shortly after. Crucially to the later trial he identified a hat and other items as belonging to the offender.
Rushed to the Alfred Hospital for emergency surgery Constable George Howell died in the early hours of 1 February 1952.
A skilful investigation primarily based on articles found at the crime scene and information from Constable Howell led to the arrest and subsequent conviction of a well known and active criminal.
The Argus Friday 1 February 1952 p 1 & p 16
Constable’s condition is ‘very low’
THE condition of 26-year-old Constable George Howell, who was shot by a gunman at Caulfield on Wednesday night, is dangerously low.
The bullet entered his stomach, travelled upward, and lodged in a back muscle.
Police believe they know the gunman who fired the bullet, and are confident they will ‘ pick him up” today or tomorrow.
They think he is hiding in an inner northern suburb.
Police last night detained a man for questioning but later allowed him to leave.
Doctors in Alfred Hospital began their fight for Constable Howells’ life soon after he was admitted at 11 o’clock, on Wednesday night.
They tried for three hours to extricate the bullet but by 3 a.m. his condition was so low that they abandoned their probing.
Nearly 50 of Victoria’s top detectives including the entire homicide and consorting squad backed by fingerprint experts, have worked around the clock in the hunt for the gunman.
Before he lapsed into unconsciousness at midnight on Wednesday, Constable Howell described his attacker as about 26 years, 5ft 8in, solid build, ruddy, round face, wearing a tweed overcoat over brown sports clothes.
Interviewed in hospital, Howell said “I had nearly caught him – he turned and fired straight at me – he was so close he just couldn’t miss.”
Constable Howell told homicide detectives he saw the man trying to enter several of the cars. When challenged, the man threw a leather satchel in his face. In a chase through the railway viaduct into Smith st, the man dropped a bunch of car keys, a screwdriver, a pair of tin snips, a torch, a small tin box, and “pork pie” black hat.
Police yesterday rounded up all known car thieves tor interview. They were still interviewing people late last night.
They also interviewed owners of cars which were parked outside the Crystal Palace Theatre, Caulfield, where Constable Howell surprised the gunman. The cars were thoroughly examined for fingerprints.
Police believe the man they are seeking has three convictions for car stealing, but is not a hardened criminal.
“A hardened criminal would not have pulled a gun on a policeman,” a detective said yesterday. “An experienced crook would know he could receive only a minor gaol sentence for attempted larceny and possession of a gun and house breaking implements.
“Shooting is a major charge which most criminals try to avoid.”
HOWELL. — On February 1 at Alfred Hospital, George, dearly beloved son of Ernest and Nellie Howell, of 9 Lord Weaver grove, Bon Beach loved brother of William, Edith (deceased) Joyce ( Mrs. Lumley ) and Rob dear grandson of Mrs Feist of Brunswick and Mr. George Howell aged 25 years ( late Victoria Police Force ) loved by all
HOWELL. — On February 1
George. dearly loved friend of Marj. and Ced Lumley, Ripponlea. So dearly loved, so sadly missed.
HOWELL – Loving memories of our dear George, passed away February 1. Sadly missed. ( Lomax family ).
HOWELL. — On February 1 at Alfred Hospital. George, dearly loved fiancé of June.
POLICE DRAW DRAGNET TIGHTER ROUND KILLER OF CONSTABLE
The hunt for the man who shot dead Constable George Howell at Caulfield is getting hot. Police have gathered much valuable information which may lead to his arrest.
Scores of armed police, working in twos and threes, made a series of surprise raids last night on suburban haunts and homes of known car thieves.
After a courageous fight for life, Constable Howell died in Alfred Hospital yesterday from the bullet wound he received in the stomach while chasing a car thief on Wednesday night.
Detectives have a fairly accurate description of the killer, and have narrowed the hunt down to the metropolitan area.
The man they are seeking is thought to have been responsible for about nine thefts from parked cars outside the Crystal Palace Theatre since mid-December.
The man was in the act of robbing another car near the theatre, after unlocking it, with a duplicate key, when he was challenged by Constable Howell.
He was fast seen running along Normanby Rd., Caulfield, near the railway viaduct where the shooting occurred.
The man has an unusually large head. The hat he dropped while being chased is size 7 1/4.
The hat is one of the best clues in police hands. It is a black “Continental” type “pork-pie” model, several years out of fashion.
The hat has an unusually narrow brim, and a wide black band of a type not seen on modern hats. The bow on the band is ripped, and hanging loosely.
Police also have a set of car thieves’ tools dropped by the gunman. These tools have been examined by scientific experts. Fingerprints have been obtained from cars which had been parked outside the theatre on the night of the shooting, and police have contacted several people who saw the killer running away from the viaduct.
After Constable Howell died at 5.40 a.m. yesterday, doctors extracted from his back the bullet which had fatally wounded him. The bullet was of .22 calibre.
Police originally thought the gun used was of a heavy calibre. Now it is thought to have been a sawed off pea-rifle.
Neither the gun nor the shellcase of the spent bullet has yet been found.
The wanted man’s description is: About 26 years, 5ft., solid build, round face, ruddy complexion, large head; wearing Donegal brown tweed coat over sports clothes.
Interstate police as well as all Victorian police, are watching for a man of this description.
Homicide squad chiefs in Melbourne said last night they had already had valuable aid from the public in their hunt and would appreciate still more help.
The killer dropped, with his hat on Wednesday night, a leather satchel containing a screwdriver, a pair of tin snips for cutting leads to car radios, a broken silver brandy flask with a round hinged top and 13 labeled car keys on a ring.
D24, police radio control, yesterday broadcast a detailed description of the keys to all Victorian police stations. A check will be made on garages and spare parts stores which sell such keys.
DETECTIVES believe that an accomplice was keeping watch while the man who killed Constable George Howell tried to break into cars outside the Crystal Palace Theatre at Caulfield.
Those who have been hunting for the gunman since the fatal shooting at Caulfield on Wednesday night were investigating this theory last night.
Inspector H. R. Donnelly, in charge of the investigations, said last night: “Car thieves invariably work in pairs. Records prove that they seldom operate alone.”
Police think the accomplice could have been sitting in a car near the theatre, and could have driven the killer away.
The fact that the murderer vanished seconds after the shooting” suggests that he might have fled in a car, detectives say.
They appealed last night to anyone who saw a man sitting in a parked car or acting suspiciously near the theatre to call on them.
The driver of a grey Holden car who was one of the first to reach the dying constable called at Russell st. headquarters yesterday.
He could not add to the description of the killer.
Six thousand people, many of them aged and in tears, yesterday attended the funeral of Constable George Howell, aged 26, who was fatally wounded by a man he was chasing at Caulfield on Wednesday last.
Long before the service commenced, Ewing Memorial Presbyterian Church, East Malvern, was packed.
Thousands, including 500 uniform and plains-clothes comrades, waited in Burke road and surrounding streets.
Parked cars stretched for hundreds of yards.
In his funeral oration, Rev. C. T. F. Goy, who was a close friend of Constable Howell, said he was sure everyone shared his mixed feelings of shock, sorrow and righteous anger at the deed which had caused George Howell’s death.
He added: “We are apt to take our police force for granted until something like this happens.
“Without that police force, there would be chaos and lawlessness leading to anarchy.
“The police are the guardians of our civil security. In their duty they take grave risks; even make the supreme sacrifice.
“We honor the name of this young man who made the supreme sacrifice in the pursuing of his duty. He has set a splendid example to others.”
As it moved away from the church, the cortege was headed by mounted police and the police band, which played the Dead March.
At one stage, the procession was more than a mile long.
Burial was at Chelterham Cemetery.
–
The Argus ( Melbourne ) Tuesday 5 February 1952 p 5
5,000 at funeral
Constable George Howell, who was murdered on duty, was yesterday given one of the biggest funerals ever held in Victoria.
Crowds lined the roads for seven miles as the cortege moved from Ewing Memorial Presbyterian Church, East Malvern, to New Cheltenham Cemetery.
Four hundred packed into the church for the service, and 5,000 others waited outside.
Constable Howell had planned to be married in the church this month to Miss June Lomax, of Windsor.
“Died nobly”
The procession to the cemetery was over a mile long.
The Rev. C. T. F. Goy, minister of the Ewing Memorial Church, said during the service: “It is an event like this that makes us realise how much we owe to the Police Force, a service we usually take for granted.
“Constable Howell died in the noblest traditions of that service.”
Homicide detectives said last night that they were not overlooking the possibility that the man who shot Constable Howell may have had an accomplice.
They appealed to any person who saw a “suspicious character” hurriedly leave the scene of the shooting on Wednesday night about 10.35 to contact them immediately.
Daily Advertiser ( Wagga Wagga, NSW ) Wednesday 13 February 1952 p 5
MAN REMANDED IN CONSTABLE HOWELL CASE
MELBOURNE, Tues.: In the City Court today William John O’Mealey, 28, laborer, was remanded until February 21 on a charge of murdering Constable George Howell. 25, at Caulfield, on January 30. Bail was refused.
Detective Sergeant Tremewen said Constable Howell disturbed a man interfering with cars near the Crystal Palace Theatre, Caulfield.
Constable Howell chased the man, but fell with a bullet wound in the stomach.
O’Mealey declared he was innocent.
‘During the whole of my interrogation by police I have maintained my Innocence, and still do so,’ he said.
‘I hope to prove my Innocence at the trial. I wish the public to know this.
‘Five witnesses have stated that I am not the man concerned. I believe they are eye-witnesses.’
Examiner ( Launceston, Tasmania ) Wednesday 13 February 1952 p 4
Accused Of Killing Constable MELBOURNE. — Thirteen days after Constable George Howell (25) was fatally shot, William John O’Meally (28), labourer, appeared in the City Court yesterday charged with his murder.
O’Meally, dressed in a light brown suit, with a white shirt and yellow tie, was refused bail and remanded to February 21.
Detective Sergeant William Charles Tremewen of the Homicide Squad told the court that at 11.30 p.m. on January 30, Constable Howell was on duty near the Crystal Palace Theatre, Caulfield and disturbed a man interfering with cars. The man ran away and Howell chased him. It was alleged that after a short distance Howell fell with a bullet wound in the stomach. He died in the Alfred Hospital on February 1.
O’Meally said, “I would like to say a few words. During the whole of my interrogation by police, I have maintained my innocence and still do.”
The charge against O’Meally is the sequel to exhaustive enquiries by police during which more than 500 people were questioned.
The Public Trustee yesterday applied for letters of administration of the £1,154 estate of Constable George Howell, shot dead while on duty at Caulfield on February 1.
The application was made on behalf of Constable Howell’s father. Mr. E. C. F. Howell, who with Howell’s mother is next of kin entitled to share in the estate.
Constable Howell divorced his wife last year and had no children.
His estate consists entirely of personalty.
Probate duty and legal expenses are not expected to exceed £70.
Melbourne – Constable George Howell (26) , who was fatally shot while chasing a suspected car thief near the Crystal Palace Theatre, on January 30, has been posthumously awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for bravery.
The award was announced by the Chief Commissioner of Police ( Mr. Duncan ), who asked the Government several months ago to make a recommendation to Buckingham Palace.
Approval by the Queen has been published in the London Gazette.
William John O’Meally was sentenced to death in May on a charge of having murdered Howell. He is expected to appeal to the High Court.
Police said that the medal had not yet arrived here.
For Parents
It will probably be given to Constable Howell’s parents at the next State investiture.
Mr. Duncan said that he would write to Howell’s parents about the award.
“Nothing can bring back Constable Howell’s valued life,” he said; “but it is gratifying to know that the Queen has graciously recognised his extraordinary bravery. ”
“His conduct was a fine example of devotion to duty, and will always be an inspiration to every member of the Victorian police.”
Constable Howell’s award ranks with the King’s Police Medal, which former Detective Chris Coe won for bravery at Highett in 1932.
O’Meally Appeal
The grounds of O’Meally‘s appeal are being prepared by his counsel ( Mr. M. Ashkanashy, Q.C. ), and Mr. J. F, Maloney and the Public Solicitor’s office, acting as his legal advisers.
The High Court is scheduled to begin its Melbourne sittings on September 30.
The appeal to the High Court is directed against the judgment of the State Full Court in rejecting O’Meally‘s appeal that the conviction be quashed and a fresh trial ordered.
A great deal of preparation for the High Court hearing has been made already.
This includes the combination of 12 bound appeal books containing a record of the ten day’s proceedings before the Criminal Court which convicted O’Meally.
MELBOURNE: William O’Meally , (28), of Bonbeach, would stand trial at the Criminal Court, next Monday on a charge of having murdered Police Constable George Howell at Caulfield early this year, a Crown Law official said, last night.
The trial judge was expected to be Mr. Justice Coppel. The Solicitor-General ( Mr. H. A. Winneke, Q.C. ) would be the Crown Prosecutor, and his assistant would be Mr. F. R. Nelson; The defence counsel would be Mr. J. Maloney.
The Crown law official said that about 50 Crown witnesses would be called during the trial, which would be one of Victoria’s longest for 10 years,
O’Meally is being held in the remand section of Pentridge gaol awaiting trial.
Constable Howell died on February 1 in Prince Alfred Hospital after being shot in the stomach outside the Crystal Palace picture theatre at Caulfield on January 30.
The coroner ( Mr. J. Burke, S.M. ) committed O’Meally for trial several weeks ago.
The Argus ( Melbourne ) Wednesday 6 February 1952 p 1
SHOOTING OF CONSTABLE
Arrest today likely
Homicide detectives expect to end the hunt today for the killer of Constable George Howell.
Late last night they had been questioning a man for l6 hours.
The man, a 30 year-old Australian laborer, was detained early yesterday at a seaside house.
Detectives got one of their most valuable leads in the case early yesterday when a man identified the hat found at the scene of the shooting as one recently stolen from his house.
He was taken to a house in a southern suburb where he identified property stolen with the hat.
In line-up
The suspect was placed in an identification lineup at Russell st. last night.
Two women and a man alleged to have been near the murder scene attended the lineup.
State Cabinet last night decided against offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of Constable Howell’s killer.
Mr. Dodgshun, Chief Secretary, said Cabinet was satisfied it would be contrary to the public interest to offer a reward at this stage.
The Argus ( Melbourne ) Wednesday 13 February 1952 p 3
HOWELL MURDER CHARGE LAID
A MAN charged in the City Court yesterday with having murdered Constable George Howell at Caulfield on January 30, declared from the dock that he was innocent.
“During the whole of my interrogation by police I have maintained my innocence, and I still do,” said William John O’Meally, 28, laborer, of Bonbeach.
“I am innocent of any such crime, and hope to prove such innocence at the trial. I wish the public to know this.”
Only six policemen and two pressmen were in the court during the 10-minute special sitting.
Folded arms
O’Meally folded his arms across his chest as the charge was read. He was remanded to February 21. Bail was refused.
Detective-sergeant W. Tremewen said that while on duty at the Crystal Palace Theatre, Caulfield, Constable
Howell disturbed a man interfering with cars outside the theatre.
He chased the man, and later fell with a gunshot wound in his stomach. He died in the Alfred Hospital on February 1.
The Argus ( Melbourne ) Wednesday 20 February 1952 p 12
RACV appeal for constable
The Royal Automobile Club yesterday appealed to its 120,000 members to support the fund for a memorial to Constable George Howell, who was fatally shot on January 30.
The club started the appeal with £50.
Members should send donations to the secretary, R.A.C.V., 94 Queen st., city.
The money will be sent on to the secretary of the Police Provident Fund.
The Age ( Melbourne ) Thursday 11 September 1952 p 4
Queen’s Medal for Constable Howell
Constable George Howell, the young policeman who was murdered at Caulfield in January while pursuing a suspected thief has been posthumously awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for bravery.
This is the first time a Queen’s Medal has been awarded a member of the Victorian police, and the second occasion in which a similar award has been made. Howell, aged 26, was fatally shot at point-blank range near the Crystal Palace picture theatre at Caulfield on January 31 by a man whom he had suspected of interfering with parked cars. A 28-year-old laborer, William John O’Meally, was sentenced to death in May for Howell’s murder, but has intimated that he will appeal in the High Court. An appeal by O’Meally heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal in July was dismissed. The Commissioner of Police ( Mr, A. M. Duncan ) announced the award yesterday in a special circular issued to all police stations and broadcast to patrol cars. The citation states that
the award was made ” for conspicuous gallantry in attempting the arrest of a criminal. ” Mr. Duncan said that the medal would most likely be presented to Howell’s parents at the next State investiture. He said that the Queen’s approval had been published in the London “Gazette.” He had requested the State Government several months ago to forward a recommendation to Buckingham Palace.
The only other occasion on which a similar award was made took place in 1934 when former Detective Chris Coe in May, the same year, was given the King’s Medal ( Police and Firemen-Bravery Division ) for arresting two gunmen at the Highett railway station. Coe was seriously wounded.
Constable Howell joined the force in May, 1948, and spent most of his service at the East Malvern station.
The Argus ( Melbourne ) Friday 12 December 1952 p 7
The. Governer, Sir Dallas Brooks, yesterday presented 65 awards, one posthumous, at an investiture at Government House.
Mr. Ernest Howell, father of the late Constable George Howell, was overcome with emotion when he received a posthumous award for his son’s heroism at Government House yesterday.
The citation said that Constable Howell died In the course of duty while attempting to arrest a criminal.
Barrier Miner ( Broken Hill, NSW ) Saturday 14 February 1953 P 1
No Appeal for O’Meally
Melbourne. — Insufficient money will stop William John O’Meally appealing to the Privy Council, his wife ( Mrs. Lois O’Meally ), said today.
She said there was now no chance of raising the money to finance the appeal. But O’Meally still wanted to appeal and would probably continue to try to get the money.
O’Meally was sentenced to death, for the murder of Constable George Howell. An appeal to the Governor failed, but later the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without remissions.
The Cabinet decided that it would not pay the cost of a Privy Council appeal.
Front Inscription In memory of Constable Angela Rose Taylor 24274, aged 21 years, City Watch-house, who died on 20th April 1986, as a result of injuries received when a car bomb exploded outside the Russell Street Police Complex on the 27th March, 1986.
The 1986 Russell Street bombing which tragically killed Constable Angela Rose Taylor and seriously injured 21 others.
The explosion was caused by a car bomb hidden in a stolen 1979 Holden Commodore, parked deliberately on the busy city street.
Twenty-one-year-old Const Taylor was crossing the road on a staff lunch run and only a metre away from the car bomb when it exploded. She died in hospital a month later. Const Taylor was the first policewoman to die in the line of duty.
This was Victoria’s first encounter with terrorism. Three men were convicted and two sentenced to life imprisonment.
May you forever Rest In Peace.
On March 27 1986, shortly before midday, Constable Taylor left the Russell Street Police Complex to collect lunches for her colleagues. As she stepped on to Russell Street, she passed within 1 metre of a car packed with gelignite. At this time, the gelignite was detonated and the car exploded, showering the area with shrapnel. Angela suffered severe burns to 70% of her body and was hospitalised as a result. However, she died on 20 April 1986.
Stanley Taylor and Craig Minogue were convicted and imprisoned over the bombing which was motivated by an intense hatred of police.
Victoria Police Association Journal March 2006 p 10 & 11
It is 20 years since a car bomb exploded outside the Russell Street Police Complex – two decades since Constable Angela Taylor was mortally wounded as she crossed over Russell Street from the City Watchhouse. The Police Association Journal editor Shirley Hardy-Rix spoke to Angela’s parents, Marilyn and Arthur Taylor to mark the anniversary of Angela’s death.
Arthur & Marilyn Taylor
“It can seem like yesterday or it can seem like 20 years. But missing Angie is still as strong today as it was then; it’s just not accompanied with the pain.”
These are the words of a mother talking about a loved daughter 20 years after the criminal act that shocked the country and changed the Taylor family forever. Marilyn and Arthur Taylor admit that not a day goes by when they don’t think of their only daughter “not in a morbid way but in a joyful way”.
“We’ve made it a pleasant experience. Ange was always so full of joy and life it would be wrong of us to have a negative attitude. She has left us with so many lovely, lovely memories. It was so lovely to have had her for those 21 years – I’ve got to be glad about that,” says Marilyn.
“Something will trigger a memory and you think of some of the things that Angela did,” adds Arthur. “She fitted so much into those 21 years. She didn’t leave any gaping holes, she filled them all in.”
Sitting in their comfortable suburban home , Marilyn and Arthur remember their Ange, the protector of her brothers Michael and Byron. Arthur is usually a man of few words but when it comes to talking about his daughter the stories flow.
“From an early age she had a sense of what was right and what was wrong,” recalls Arthur. “When Mike was young he was knock-kneed and wore leg callipers. One day some of the boys pushed him over and started to laugh because he couldn’t get up. Angela was about four. She went inside and got the broom and chased them up the street, laying into them. When I asked her why she did that, Angie said what they did wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. From an early age she had a sense of fair play and right and wrong.”
Marilyn remembers the good student who was a keen participant in school plays, was on the school debating team and the school council. But Angela left school at the end of Year 10 which was a disappointment to her parents. Then when the family moved to Melbourne from Canberra in 1982 Angela decided she wanted to join the police force. She didn’t want to join in Canberra because she didn’t want to spend her life guarding parliament house.
Angela wanted to do police work. Her determination saw her finish years 11 and 12 in one year. Angela Taylor went on to be the dux of her squad at the Police Academy in November 1984.
“That made me very proud. Her graduation day was the part in my life when I was at the pinnacle, the top of the mountain. I’ve never been right up there since. I was so proud that she had helped others in her squad get through. She didn’t just do it for herself,” says Marilyn. She and Arthur were the proud parents on graduation day and happy participants in the celebrations that marked the beginning of what should have been a long and successful career.
In March 1986, Angela Taylor had just finished her probation and was working at the City Watchhouse. On March 27 – Easter Thursday – just on one o’clock, an explosion rocked Russell Street. A car bomb was detonated by a team of criminals. Angela was walking across Russell Street at that instant. Her injuries were horrendous and she would never recover. On April 20, after a long and courageous battle, Angela Taylor died.
“It is almost like we lost Angie twice. From the time of the bombing she never spoke to us again. Each of those dates is intermixed,” says Marilyn.
That day Marilyn Taylor was working at a small shop in South Melbourne. She heard on the radio that a bomb had exploded and a woman had been injured.
“I thought, ‘thank God it’s not my Ange’. I didn’t think of her as a woman, just as my Ange, my girl.”
When Marilyn Taylor walked down to the bank she saw a police car and just knew. It might have been a mother’s intuition. Marilyn wasn’t surprised to see the two police who came to tell her the news.
Arthur was also working that day and was later than usual getting home because he’d stopped to get some hot cross buns on the way. He was listening to the radio and heard the news that a policewoman was injured. He thought his daughter was safe because she was in the watchhouse.
“There was a car in the driveway and a couple of senior police. The penny dropped. I’m not a talkative person but I couldn’t shut up. I didn’t want to hear what they had to say so I just kept on talking. My worst fear was that she was dead – that’s what I didn’t want to hear.”
What followed was a rollercoaster. Marilyn and Arthur say they were carried on by events. They had no control. Their whole motivation was to be at the hospital. Each day they would get up and drive to the hospital. At the end of the day they would drive home and collapse into bed.
In 1986 Marilyn and Arthur weren’t offered any counselling to help cope with their grief. “I thought if I saw a counsellor they would make it better – make me better but that is not what it does.”
Since Angela’s death many of those who knew their daughter have drifted out of their lives. “It is such a painful thing for so many people. Even the ones who loved Angie sometimes find it difficult to talk to Arthur and me. And it is not that they don’t care about us, it is just too painful.”
The Police family haven’t forgotten Angela Taylor and this is a great comfort to her family. The Angela Taylor Memorial Foundation was established and the dux of every graduating squad receives the Angela Taylor Award.
These initiatives have all been part of the healing process.
Every year there is the Angela Taylor Fun Run. Marilyn and Arthur are always there to welcome the winners over the finish line and present trophies. It is an important day for them. Marilyn admits in the early years she only went along because she had to but now she wouldn’t miss it.
“At first I did it because I had to – now I do it because I want to and I don’t know when that page turned. Everyone who comes along – they are all special. It gives us a lot of pleasure.”
Marilyn and Arthur receive great comfort out of the services held on National Police Remembrance Day. It is a special day in their calendar. In recent years they have become close to the Senior Police Chaplain, Jim Pilmer.
“We love Jim. He’s a special man. He is one of God’s chosen. He is a genuine man who gives great comfort to those people in the greatest pain. I love his services and we love going along to the Remembrance Day evening service. I like to hear the list of names read out and pray with the families and then go to the little chapel for private prayer. It is a closure for the day.”
Today Marilyn and Arthur are doting grandparents and spend time with their five grand-daughters. Four of these girls bear Angela’s name – Brooke Angela, Laura Angela, Alyssa Rose and Alex Jasmine Rose.
“They give another dimension, but nothing fills the hole of Angie,” says Marilyn.
In their garden are three Angela Taylor roses. They would love to see the rose named in honour of their daughter at the Police Academy and in each police station garden across the state.
Marilyn & Arthur Taylor with the Angela Taylor Rose
The men responsible for the Russell Street Bombing were brought to justice. Marilyn and Arthur did attend the final day of the committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court across the road from the scene of the bombing.
Marilyn refused to look at the faces of the men who killed her daughter. Arthur attended the sentencing at the conclusion of the Supreme Court trial. Marilyn couldn’t face it.
“That’s how we keep a positive attitude. We don’t want these people to have any other part of my life. They’ve taken away more than is almost possible to cope with. They are not going to get in because I am not going to hate them because that would be soul destroying for me and those I love,” says Marilyn.
“We’ve avoided getting angry. Sometimes it is very hard to avoid getting angry and hating. It is such a negative emotion it would take over our lives and that wasn’t going to happen,” adds Arthur.
Marilyn and Arthur Taylor are wonderful people. They are filled with love when they could be torn apart by hate. They look at all that has been done in their daughter’s memory and are filled with pride.
“We are very proud and very humbled by the legacy of having the unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital dedicated to Angie and all the other memorials they have put up in her name. I know there are a lot of people who do a lot of work and put in a lot of time and effort into not letting Victorians forget these wonderful people who get up in the morning and put on the blue uniform because they love to do it.”
Just like its namesake, the Angela Taylor Rose is vibrant, feminine and distinctive.
Clusters of deep cream and pink buds unfurl slowly to reveal sweetly scented, creamy-white flowers with a distinctive pink edging and prominent golden-yellow stamens.
Named in honour of Constable Angela Rose Taylor, who died as a result of the 1986 Russell Street police complex bombing, this rose is available by special arrangement with rose breeder John Nieuwesteeg.
The distributor, Garden Express, donates $2 from each rose sold to the Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation. The foundation perpetuates the memory of police killed in the line of duty through the support of community projects across the state.
Shortly after 1.00 pm Thursday, 27 March 1986, a massive explosion occurred near the southern entrance to the Russell Street Police Complex when a car bomb was detonated. As a result of this act three people were injured, damage was caused to the façade of the police building and the central business district was thrown into confusion for hours as emergency workers struggled to cope with the disaster. Later Forensic tests showed the bomb had consisted of 50 sticks of gelignite packed into a motor car and surrounded by small pieces of metal which were meant to act as “shrapnel”. The investigation into the setting of the bomb began at once and continued for months. During that time two of the injured – Magistrate Ian West and Constable Carl Donadio recovered from their wounds. However Constable Angela Taylor who had suffered extensive burns to her body died at the Royal Melbourne Hospital 20 April 1986.
The Russell Street Bombing refers to the 27 March 1986 bombing of the Russell Street Police Headquarters complex in Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The explosion was caused by a car bomb hidden in a stolen 1979 Holden Commodore.
The blast seriously injured 21-year-old Constable Angela Taylor, who died on 20 April, becoming the first Australian policewoman to be killed in the line of duty. A further 22 people were injured. The explosion caused massive amounts of damage to the police HQ and surrounding buildings, estimated at more than A$1 million.
The Age newspaper reported that the blast had such an impact because of the open-floor design of the offices acted like a claymore mine, sending more shrapnel as the blast ripped through the floors, seemingly adding more pressure to the blast as it followed its path. The station has closed down and been converted into apartments.
In the course of the investigation, a group of people including Stan Taylor, Peter Reed, Craig Minogue and Rodney Minogue were apprehended. The motive for the bombing seems to have been revenge against the police, as the bombers had previously been arrested and still resented their jail terms. In court, Taylor, Reed and Craig Minogue were convicted; Rodney Minogue was eventually acquitted on appeal.
On 7 October 1985, gelignite and detonators were stolen from the Tryconnel Mine at Blackwood. On 25 March 1986, a Holden Commodore was stolen. Both crimes were later found to provide equipment needed for the construction of the bomb.
On 25 April 1986, ten Victoria Police officers raided the Kallista home of Peter Michael Reed at 5.45 am. It was alleged that upon attempting to enforce the arrest by forcing entry to the premises, Reed produced a .455 Smith and Wesson revolver and fired at police, seriously injuring Det Sgt Wylie. Reed was then fired upon by Det Sgt Quinsee and arrested. Reed was charged with attempted murder, recklessly causing serious injury, using a firearm to prevent apprehension and possessing explosives in suspicious circumstances in addition to charges related to the Russell Street bombing. Reed later stated at his trial in unsworn evidence that:
“the police started the shooting and I only used his firearm in self defence.”
On 30 May 1986, police arrested Stanley Brian Taylor during a 2 am raid on his Birchip home. Brothers Craig and Rodney Minogue were arrested in a Swan Hill motel at 5.15 am later that day.
The crown did not allege that any person played any particular role in the bombing, but that each of them were members of a team which planned the bombing and caused the bomb to explode. Evidence against the accused was as follows:
Gelignite and detonators used in the construction of the bomb were of the same type as those stolen from Tryconnel Mine.
Gelignite was found at Reed’s house wrapped in newspaper containing fingerprints belonging to Rodney Minogue.
Craig Minogue owned a pair of side cutters which produced cuts similar to those found on detonator wires.
A file with traces of brass deposits matched with brass deposits found at the bomb site.
a block of wood from which a wooden part of the bomb had been sawn was found at Craig Minogue’s premises.
tinned copper wire, similar to that used with detonators found at the bomb site, was found at Craig Minogue’s premises.
residue of gelignite matched residue found at a previous address of Craig Minogue in Lower Templestowe.
evidence from a witness that Craig Minogue called around Easter 1986, to ask about the use of detonators.
a witness testified that Craig Minogue was seen driving a 1979 Holden Commodore around the CBD prior to the explosion.
Published: 18:10 EST, 24 March 2016 | Updated: 19:26 EST, 24 March 2016
The young policewoman killed after a car bomb exploded in front of the force headquarters in Melbourne has been remembered 30 years after the tragedy – and awarded a service medal.
Constable Angela Rose Taylor, 21, died from her injuries 24 days after the bombing of Russell Street police headquarters on Easter Thursday, 27 March 1986.
She was the first policewoman to be murdered in the line of duty in Australia.
Her brother Michael Taylor paid tribute to the young officer at a memorial service on Thursday opposite the old Russell Street station, saying that she always had ‘a disdain for injustice’.
He recalled how as a three-year-old she fended off bullies by swinging a broom because they were teasing him over his leg calipers.
‘She had a strong belief we should all be treated equally,’ Mr Taylor said.
Constable Taylor was posthumously awarded the National Police Service Medal at the memorial which was attended by officers, family and friends wearing pink roses in her memory.
It was given to her parents Marilyn and Arthur by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton on behalf of Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove.
Two men were convicted of the horrific crime which left Constable Taylor dead and 22 others injured.
One of the bombers, Craig Minogue, could soon apply for bail as his 28-year non-parole period comes to an end this year.
His co-accused, Stanley Brian Taylor, 59, was jailed for life with no minimum set.
An arrangement of pink roses was seen at the memorial service to honour the young policewoman
Constable Taylor was was posthumously awarded the National Police Service Medal and it was given to her parents Marilyn and Arthur by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton
Former police member Carl Donadio ( centre )who was injured in the blast looks on during a memorial service to honour Constable Taylor
Mr Ashton said while any parole decision is up to the parole board, he hoped Minogue ‘stays behind bars’.
Minogue, who was almost illiterate at the time of his arrest has gone on to complete a bachelor of arts degree, and has also obtained his Masters and PHD behind bars.
He also runs a website, on which he apologises for his behaviour in 1986.
‘I understand the pain and suffering that I have caused. I am very sorry for the crimes of my past, and I regret those actions very much and wish that I had not done them,’ he wrote on the site.
‘Thirty years is a very long time in prison, I was 23 when I came in and I will be 53 when I am eligible for release.
‘I hope to be able to somehow pass on to others the value that I have found in education and learning during that time.
‘That contribution I can make depends to a large extent upon others, and whether or not I am going to be given a chance to make a positive contribution,’ he said.
Lawyer tearfully recalls Russell street bombing 30 years ago
Constable Taylor’s parents unveil a plaque in her honour in the RMIT Alumni Courtyard in Russell Street in Melbourne
A rose could be seen on a poster at the memorial service to honour Constable Angela Taylor
But Detective Inspector Bernie Rankin does not believe Minogue is reformed.
‘I am not convinced that he is the reformed Craig Minogue he is making himself out to be,’ he told 60 Minutes recently.
He went on to explain how Minogue murdered a man not long after being sent to prison for his part in the Russell Street bomb case.
‘Now if Craig Minogue is released tomorrow who’s to say it is not the old Craig Minogue who gets released.
‘What if you take his parking spot, you know, what if you bump into him in a bar?
‘He is trying to get parole and he is trying to demonstrate to a parole board he is no longer a risk,’ he said.
Mr Rankin held back tears when remembering the death of Ms Taylor three weeks after she was injured in the bomb blast.
He helped put out some of the fire on the 21-year-old officer’s clothes and hair.
‘She was thrown across street dreadfully burnt,’ he said.
‘She was a fine young woman that lost her life,’ he said choking back tears after remembering the day, April 20, he found out she had passed away in hospital.
The police officer remembers the bombers had ‘a strong desire to kill as many people and injure as many people as possible’ with their contraption.
In fact the blast could have been a lot worse, a police investigation at the time found not all of the explosives found set into the car went off as was planned because the detonator was used wrong.
At 15 seconds past one on Easter Thursday afternoon in 1986 Russell Street, Melbourne best resembled a warzone
One of the bombers, Craig Minogue (pictured both), could soon apply for bail as his 28-year non-parole period comes to an end this year
One of the bombers, Craig Minogue (pictured both), could soon apply for bail as his 28-year non-parole period comes to an end this year
‘He is trying to get parole and he is trying to demonstrate to a parole board he is no longer a risk,’ he said.
Mr Rankin held back tears when remembering the death of Ms Taylor three weeks after she was injured in the bomb blast.
He helped put out some of the fire on the 21-year-old officer’s clothes and hair.
‘She was thrown across street dreadfully burnt,’ he said.
‘She was a fine young woman that lost her life,’ he said choking back tears after remembering the day, April 20, he found out she had passed away in hospital.
The police officer remembers the bombers had ‘a strong desire to kill as many people and injure as many people as possible’ with their contraption.
In fact the blast could have been a lot worse, a police investigation at the time found not all of the explosives found set into the car went off as was planned because the detonator was used wrong.
Constable Taylor’s parents pose with an Infinity Rose which was presented to them by former police member Carl Donadio who was injured in the blast.
Man jailed thirty years ago for a Melbourne car bomb which killed a young policewoman is up for parole – but one officer who was there doesn’t think he’s reformed
Convicted killer Craig Minogue may be eligible for parole this year
Minogue was jailed for his part in the Russell Street bombing in 1986
A car bomb exploded near a police station killing a female officer
He also killed a fellow inmate once he was put behind bars
Published: 02:09 +11:00, 21 March 2016 | Updated: 07:43 +11:00, 21 March 2016
A killer who has served thirty years behind bars for his part in the detonation of a bomb outside a metro police station may soon be eligible for parole.
Two men were convicted of the crime, Stan Taylor was sentenced to life without parole, and Craig Minogue was given 28 years without parole, which has now been served.
At 15 seconds past one on Easter Thursday afternoon in 1986 Russell Street, Melbourne best resembled a warzone.
Convicted killer, Craig Minogue, pictured, may be eligible for parole this year after serving 30 years behind bars
Minogue was sentenced to 28 years without parole for his part in the notorious Russell Street car bombing on Easter Thursday in 1986 (wreckage from the explosion)
A car bomb parked strategically outside the police complex exploded killing 21-year-old police woman Angela Taylor and 22 officers and civilians.
Minogue, who was almost illiterate at the time of his arrest has gone on to complete a bachelor of arts degree, and has also obtained his Masters and PHD behind bars.
He also runs a website, on which he apologises for his behaviour in 1986.
‘I understand the pain and suffering that I have caused. I am very sorry for the crimes of my past, and I regret those actions very much and wish that I had not done them,’ he wrote on the site.
‘Thirty years is a very long time in prison, I was 23 when I came in and I will be 53 when I am eligible for release.
‘I hope to be able to somehow pass on to others the value that I have found in education and learning during that time.
‘That contribution I can make depends to a large extent upon others, and whether or not I am going to be given a chance to make a positive contribution,’ he said.
Detective Inspector Bernie Raking, pictured, was at the police station when the bomb went off. He does not believe Minogue is reformed
But Detective Inspector Bernie Rankin does not believe Minogue is reformed.
‘I am not convinced that he is the reformed Craig Minogue he is making himself out to be,’ he told 60 Minutes recently.
He went on to explain how Minogue murdered a man not long after being sent to prison for his part in the Russell Street bomb case.
‘Now if Craig Minogue is released tomorrow who’s to say it is not the old Craig Minogue who gets released.
‘What if you take his parking spot, you know, what if you bump into him in a bar?
‘He is trying to get parole and he is trying to demonstrate to a parole board he is no longer a risk,’ he said.
Minogue – pictured- only admitted to his part in the Russell Street bombing for the first time in 2012, Rankin believes that was a move to prove he had reformed
The car bomb did not explode as planned, and could have been a lot more devastating, police say
Mr Rankin held back tears when remembering the death of Ms Taylor three weeks after she was injured in the bomb blast.
He helped put out some of the fire on the 21-year-old officer’s clothes and hair.
‘She was thrown across street dreadfully burnt,’ he said.
‘She was a fine young woman that lost her life,’ he said choking back tears after remembering the day, April 20, he found out she had passed away in hospital.
The police officer remembers the bombers had ‘a strong desire to kill as many people and injure as many people as possible’ with their contraption.
In fact the blast could have been a lot worse, a police investigation at the time found not all of the explosives found set into the car went off as was planned because the detonator was used wrong.
Minogue killed fellow inmate and convicted killer Alex Tsakmakis shortly after going to prison but was not given any additional sentencing
In 1992 Prue Bird (pictured), the grandaughter of Paul and Julie (pictured) Hetzel known accomplices of Minogue went missing, child killer Leslie Camilleri came forward 17 years later
Paul Hetzel was a member of Taylor and Minogue’s gang, he helped police gain convictions, but in 1992 his partner’s granddaughter vanished.
Seventeen years later convicted child killer Leslie Camilleri came forward claiming to have killed Prue Bird of his own accord. Mr Hetzel believes she was taken from them in revenge.
‘I thought this is pay back just felt sick in the guts.’
Mr Hetzel said Minogue had threatened shortly after the explosion.
‘He was saying about that any bastard ever spoke about it and that, you know, they will be killed.
‘And that’s when he said wouldn’t it be a shame if anything happened to your little Prue.’
Mrs Hetzel (pictured left) and her husband Paul (pictured right) believe Prue was killed in an act of revenge as Mr Hetzel had given evidence against his fellow gang members in the bomb investigation
Minogue denies any involvement in the girl’s disappearance and murder. But police are not convinced.
‘There is no doubt in my mind Camilleri commit crime with others and that this crime is a payback for the Russell Street bombing,’ Detective Senior Sergeant Brent Fisher told 60 minutes.
Minogue has said he intends to repay the community for his crimes by accepting the sentence, admitting his guilt and apologising, by making an effort to rehabilitate himself and by not re-offending upon release.
Minogue was not handed down extra time for the murder of his fellow inmate Tsakmakis in prison.
He is currently being held in a medium-security prison in Victoria.
The deadly bomb blast shattered precinct windows and shook up the policing community sparking a wide search for those responsible
Russell Street bomber, Stanley Taylor, has died in custody aged 79.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the 1986 car bomb explosion that killed a female police officer and injured 21 others outside the Melbourne police office on Russell Street.
Corrections Victoria confirmed a prisoner of that age died of natural causes at St Vincents Hospital on Wednesday.
Taylor had been ill for at least a year, according to numerous media reports.
A career criminal, Taylor was known for having a hatred for authority.
Before the bombing, he had served 17 years in prison for numerous bank robberies.
Eight years after getting out, he would commit one of the most brutal acts of terror in Victoria.
The car bomb was set up to explode at 1pm, precisely the time most people would be heading out to get their lunch.
It was stuffed with almost 60 sticks of gelignite and timed for maximum destruction.
Constable Angela Taylor, 21, was on her way to pick up lunch for her office when she was in the direct firing line.
She died of her injuries 24 days after the bombing, becoming the first Australian police woman to die in the line of duty.
The explosion was so large that debris was found three blocks away.
Police were led to Taylor and his accomplices when they were able to rebuild the car used in the attack, and found it had been stolen.
Alongside Taylor in 1988, Craig Minogue received life with a minimum of 28 years and Rodney Minogue was jailed for eight years with a minimum of six in 1988.
Another man, Peter Reed, was found not guilty but was later jailed for 13 years, with a minimum of 11, of the attempted murder of police during the investigation of the bombing.
Craig Minogue will be up for parole by the end of this year.
As with all deaths in custody, Taylor’s death will be referred to the coroner.
28 July 1903, Page 7
* Taking their Lives in their Hands
Long List of Fatalities.
The execution of Digby Grand and Henry Jones in Sydney the other day for the murder of Constable Long at Auburn a few months previously gives a sad interest to the subjoined list of New South Wales policemen who have either been killed or seriously wounded by desperate criminals while endeavouring to preserve the public peace. When bushranging was rife many constables lost their lives in endeavouring to rid the country of its human pest.
Sergeant MaGinnity was shot dead by Morgan at Tumberumba on June 24, 1864;
Senior-sergeant Smyth was shot dead by the same miscreant on September , 1864, near Kyambra;
Sergeant Parry was killed by bushrangers who had stuck up the mail from Gundagai to Yass, on November 15, 1864;
Constable McHale was seriously wounded by Dunn when the bushranger was captured at Marthaguy Creek, on December 14, 1865.
Morgan was himself shot near Wangaratta (Victoria), while Dunn was executed at Sydney on March 19, 1866.
A particularly brave single-handed attack upon its party of bushrangers at Nerringundah on April 9, 1866 by a young constable named Miles O’Grady, led to the policeman being shot dead by Clark and Connell, two of the gang.
Constable Raymond on April 14, 1866 was shot dead by James Crookwell, a prisoner of Berrima Gaol, who with 10 others made a desperate attempt to escape. Crookwell was hanged at Sydney on the following July 2.
At Binnie Creek, a few miles from Cowra, Sergeant Sutherland was shot dead by two armed men on May 1, 1872.
In the Warren district, on September 20, 1878Senior-sergeant Thomas Wallings was shot by Thomas Law, alias “Midnight,” who was himself pursued and shot by Constables Hatton and Gray.
Constable Bowen was shot dead by an armed gang, which stuck up the Wantabadgery Inn on November 16, 1879.
On March 12, 1885, two prisoners named Angel and Thurston, in Coonamble gaol shot Constable John Mitchell, the gaoler, and effected their escape. The offenders stuck up a store Slashers Flat, near Gulong in which Constables McKinlay and Day were awaiting them. They shot Charles Stewart, the storekeeper dead, but were themselves both shot by the police.
On August 13, 1885, Constable William Hird stopped two men at Canterbury, near Sydney early in the morning and interrogated them as to the contents of a parcel they were carrying. One of the men struck Hird with an axe and killed him. One of the pair was sentenced to imprisonment for life and the other to 15 years.
Sergeant Beatty of Penrith was stabbed to death in February, 1890 by a native of India. He also stabbed John Zahnliter who endevoured to apprehend him and save Beatty. The Indian was shot by Constable Mosdey.
On August 6, 1898, Constable McLean of Liverpool, had two men in custody; one of them, George Peisley, fired at the policeman (shooting him) and escaped, but was recaptured after a prolonged hunt in the bush, and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. ( Pursued by Police around Oatley, Mortdale and shooting to avoid apprehension. Eventually arrested at Arncliffe ).
Among the more important of recent cases are those of the late Constable David Sutherland shot by a burglar named James Morrison, in Rockwall Street, Potts Point, early on June 3, 1889;
Constable Slater, shot in the shoulder and thigh by burglar three weeks later;
Constable Pearce, shot in the shoulder while endeavouring to arrest a man in the grounds of Mr Oxbenham’s residence at Randwick on June 7, 1897;
Constable (now Detective) E.G. Ward, shot in the head by a man whose object, was to rescue a prisoner in Oxford Street, city, on October 22, 1900;
and the brutal murder by George Shaw, the coiner, in Shepherd Street Redfern, on July 19, 1902 of Constable Denis Guilfoyle, which occasioned a great sensation, owing to the escape of Shaw and his companion.
Constable Sutherland, who was only 28 years of age, was on duty in Rockwell Street at about 2.30 on the morning of June 3, 1883 ( 1889? ), when he saw Morrison, a noted burglar, slip out of a yard and walk hurriedly away. The constable, as Morrison would not stop, caught hold of him and the two fell to the ground. As they were struggling, the criminal drew a revolver and shot Sutherland in the groin. The dying constable struck him over the eye with his baton, inflicting a serious wound ; but Morrison, after firing another shot escaped, and throwing the weapon into a garden, ran down to Victoria Street where blood-stained and excited, he attracted the attention of Sergeant Hogan (now of Burwood) and Senior-constable Robinson, who arrested him. Constable Sutherland died some hours later in Sydney Hospital and Morrison was subsequently executed at Darlinghurst Gaol.
Mr Justice Stephen was awakened between 1 and 2 a.m. on June 25, 1889, by hearing two shots fired in his garden at Paddington. The judge ran out and discovered Constable Henry A Slater in his garden in the pouring rain, fainting from weakness and shot in two places, the shoulder and the thigh. Slater had seen a man entering the place, and endeavoured to arrest him, when two other men sprang out of the darkness, one of whom struck him on the head with a tomahawk, and the other fired at him. A tomahawk was found with a revolver, of which two chambers had recently been discharged. Slater recovered. Two men were arrested, and twice tried in connection with the affair, but they were not convicted.
The man who shot Constable Pearce was never discovered ;
but the assailant of Constable Ward received a sentence of seven years hard labour for his crime. Ward recovered, the bullet having only grazed his skull. This officer (says the Sydney Evening News) was one of the party that arrested Digby Grand.
Police Dog TITAN – stabbed to death during a siege at Seven Hills, NSW.
Police Dog Titan. (Beychief Magic Return) Titan was tragically stabbed to death during a siege at Seven Hills, December 23rd, 2004.
His slaying caused new laws to be passed giving higher prison sentences for killing or injuring Police Service Animals. Titan‘s handler was Snr Const Sean McDowell.
Memorial Location: NSW Police Memorial Wall – Police Centre, Sydney – details were added to Wall at the 2nd dedication ceremony on Sunday 25 September 2016
Ray SCHUBERG
[alert_blue]RAY is NOT mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_blue] * NOT JOB RELATED
[divider_dotted]
Senior Constable Ray Schuberg died about 5.30pm on the 24 November 1997 when life support was turned off at Wollongong Hospital after being bashed by Christopher O’Rourke who is a football coach for Figtree, during the early hours of Sunday morning, 23 November, 1997, in Crown St, Wollongong.
Ray was Off Duty at the time of the event and struck his head on the footpath after being punched by O’Rourke.
IT will be mate against mate on Sunday when the Wollongong branch of the NSW Police Association holds its second annual charity rugby league match in North Wollongong.The match, for the Chief Inspector Graham Donnelly Memorial Cup, pits the Wollongong Police Station Falcons against the Lake Illawarra Police Station Lions to help raise funds for NSW Police Legacy and local PCYCs.
Several trophies will be presented on the day along with the Chief Inspector Graham Donnelly Memorial Cup.
They are for the Sergeant Nick Skomarow Player of Match, Senior Constable Ray Shuberg Memorial Touch Game and the Sergeant Colin Stevenson Memorial Tug of War.
All trophies are named after police officers who had died in the last decade.
Part of the proceeds of the day go to help the families, widows and children, of these officers.
Recent wet weather meant the game has been moved to the soccer ground near the PCYC in North Wollongong. The gates will now open at 2pm on Sunday with the main game starting at 3pm.
Sergeant Robert Minns said it was also a family day with activities for children and a display of new and vintage police vehicles.
“Last year we raised $6000 with the goal of $10,000 this year.
“It is a gold coin donation to come and watch,” Sgt Minns said.
He said PCYC did great work in the community and the NSW Policy Legacy helped hundreds of people each year.
He said it helped a lot more people than many realised.
WOLLONGONG and Lake Illawarra police officers battled it out during a sports day to honour fallen comrades and raise funds.
The Graeme Donnelly Memorial Cup Fund-raiser for Police Legacy (Police Bushfire Appeal) and PCYC on October 22 drew more than 800 spectators and raised almost $6000.
The event was a fitting memorial day for Kiama’s Chief Inspector Graeme Donnelly, Sergeant Nick Skomarow and Senior Constable Ray Schuberg.
It involved a fierce tug-of-war won by the heavyweight Wollongong team, which had three members weighing more than 120 kilograms each. The Wollongong team also won the Senior Constable Ray Schuberg Memorial touch football game.
Senior Constable Schuberg died in 1997, and a memorial trophy was made in his honour for touch football between the emergency services, but hasn’t been played since 2002.
The main game of rugby league featured Wollongong recruiting guest player, former Australian representative Paul McGregor, while the Lake Illawarra team turned to former Australian halfback John Simon.
Both teams had a few other ring-ins and the game was played hard, like police football used to be played.
The Wollongong Falcons did well to hold out a strong Lake team and win the game by only two points. The Sergeant Nick Skomarow Man of the Match award went to Fletcher Wyver.
Inspector Donnelly and Sergeant Skomarow‘s families attended and presented the awards.
Publication: Wollongong Advertiser
Section: Sport
Page: 39
Wollongong and Lake Illawarra police officers battled it out during a recent sports day to honour fallen comrades and raise funds for worthy organisations.The Graeme Donnelly Memorial Cup Fund-raiser for Police Legacy (Police Bushfire Appeal) and PCYC on October 22 drew more than 800 spectators and raised almost $6000.The day was a fitting memorial day for Kiama’s Chief Inspector Graeme Donnelly (Wollongong Local Area Command), Sergeant Nick Skomarow (Wollongong LAC) and Senior Constable Ray Schuberg.The fun included a fierce tug-of-war competition won by the Wollongong team, which had three members weighing more than 120 kilograms each.
The Wollongong team also won the Senior Constable Ray Schuberg Memorial touch footy game.
Senior Constable Schuberg tragically died in 1997 and a memorial trophy was made in his honour for touch footy between the emergency services but it hasn’t been played for since 2002.
Organisers were “thrilled” to use the trophy again and remember “a good copper who loved his touch footy”.
In the main game of rugby league Wollongong recruited former Australian representative Paul McGregor, while the Lake Illawarra team turned to former Australian halfback John Simon.
Both teams had a few other “ring-ins” and the game was played hard and tough, like police footy used to be.
The Wollongong Falcons did well to hold out a strong Lake team and win the game by only two points.
The Sergeant Nick Skomarow Man of the Match award went to Fletcher Wyver.
The families of Inspector Donnelly and Sergeant Skomarow attended the event and were presented awards.
On 22 October the Wollongong and Lake Illawarra Branches of PANSW conducted a sports day. The day was fitting memorial day for C/Insp Graeme Donnelly, Sergeant Nick Skomarow as well as the late S/Cst Ray Schuberg. The captains of the teams were Phil Bunker for Wollongong and Paul Winston for Lake Illawarra. Both members did a great job in putting the teams together and playing their part in organising the event.
There were close to 800 spectators on the day when the main game started with approximately $6000 dollars raised. Most of this money went to Police Legacy and moved into the Police Bush Fire Appeal. An amount was donated to the local PCYC club as well. There were some great local sponsors of the day including H.Parsons Funeral Directors, Collegians Rugby League Club, PANSW Panel Solicitor Chris Nikolovski Lawyers, Cleary Bros, West Wollongong Rotary and other local companies.
The day involved a Tug a War competition. The Wollongong team stacked with nine members who were all over the 100kg mark. The Wollongong team made the tonne and some more on top. The Lake team had no chance with an average weight of about 85kg except a couple of their team but they know who they are. Wollongong team defeated the Lake team in record time but when it was suggested it should be the best of five attempts both teams walked off exhausted. The Captain of the Wollongong Team Anthony Collier, when he received the trophy, acknowledged the good fight the Lake team put up but they had no chance against the big Wollongong Team.
The next part of the day was the S/Cst Ray Schuberg Memorial Touch Footy Game. Ray worked at Wollongong. He was a great street Police Officer and a good bloke who loved his touch footy. Ray tragically died in 1997 and a memorial trophy was made in his honour for touch footy between the emergency services but hasn’t been played since 2002. This was a great time to use the trophy again and remember a good copper that Ray was.
Again this was a hard fought game with a speedy Brain Rice and Pete Roncato the standouts for the winning Wollongong Team. Daryl Smith formed Lake and now PTC and Cate Johnston from the PCYC were the standouts for the Lake Team.
The game was won by Wollongong with all members again looking pretty exhausted. The captain of the winning team Darrell Buckman, who wasn’t working at Wollongong when Ray died but was informed of the tragic circumstances of his death, stated it was a great honour to play in the touch footy game and to honour and remember Ray.
The main game of rugby league was one tough game with some massive hits ups which got the emotions of both teams boiling over at times. It was played like rugby league of old, nothing fancy. The Wollongong Team’s guest player was former Australian centre Paul McGregor who has still got it. The Lake Illawarra Team had former Australian half back John Simmon who still has the ball skills. The coaches were Commissioned Officer Delegate Brian Wyver who was the patron on the day and Life Member of the Wollongong Falcons Police Rugby League Club. Wollongong also had Former Sgt Barry Doherty as manager and Joe Davidson as head masseur who is the father of two NSW Police Officers, Jackie and Matt. Lake coach was Det/Sgt Steve Worthington who was a tough second rower in first grade for the Illawarra Steelers in his youth.
Both teams had a few “ring ins” along the way, which made the game even more interesting. The score went back and forth over the three quarters of 20 minutes each with Paul and John weaving their magic for both teams. Due to the high intensity and the average age of both teams there were a lot of bench changes. In the end the Wollongong Falcons won by two points which showed how close the game was.
The Sgt Nick Skomarow Man of the Match award went to Fletcher Wyver. Captain Phil Bunker took possession of the Graeme Donnelly Memorial Cup and thanked all the players for their efforts and for the big turnout by the spectators.
The families of Graeme and Nick were in attendance with Graeme’s son Brad Dean playing a good strong game. Graeme’s wife Kerry was presented with Graeme’s Police Board and Nick’s wife Coralie was presented with a framed “Wall to Wall” board. It was great game and a great day for a great cause.
The second annual Graeme Donnelly Cup will be held on Sunday the 10th of August 2014 and will no doubt be bigger and better than last year.
[blockquote]As you pass by, remember
William Henry Street will never be the same.
Constable Peter Forsyth
died whilst serving the community he lived in, doing the job he loved.
15 May, 1969 – 27 February, 1998[/blockquote]
PETER IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance
Memorial: William Henry Street , Ultimo, 2007
Grave Stone, Toowoomba, Qld
About 11.25pm on 27 February, 1998Constable Forsyth was walking to his home in Ultimo with Constables Jason Semple and Neville when they were approached by a young male selling Ecstacy tablets (an illegal drug), which was later found to be a simple Panadol tablet. After speaking with this person and a second offender, Constable Semple informed them that they were police officers and attempted to make an arrest. One of the offenders, Murray Walter HEARN, then produced a knife and stabbed Constable Forsyth and Constable Jason SEMPLE before running off. They were pursued for a short distance by Constable Neville before he quickly returned to assist his injured colleagues. The injured police were soon conveyed to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, however Constable Forsyth unfortunately died of his wounds at 12.14am. Constable Jason Semple underwent surgery and later recovered.
The constable was born in 1969 and joined the New South Wales Police Force in 1995. At the time of his death he was stationed at Leichhardt.
Freed after killing a cop, Murray Hearne married his jail psychologist
February 15, 2017 2:22pm
Murder Uncovered: Officers down
HE KILLED a cop, left another one critically injured, and now is free and married to the prison psychologist he started an affair with in jail.
Murray Hearne, the man who stabbed unarmed and off-duty police officer Peter Forsyth is on parole, and free to rejoice in the birth of his son with prison mates on Facebook.
Details of Hearne’s post-prison life are detailed tonight in Channel Seven’s true crime show Murder Uncovered.
The show finds Hearne, released from jail in March 2014 after 16 years behind bars, to Wagga Wagga where he lives with his wife, Bobbie Bergmeier, and their son.
The show reveals the pair met when she was an intern and he was an inmate, in Junee prison.
And while Hearne refuses to talk to Murder Uncovered about his life now, he has no such qualms on Facebook, where among those congratulating him on the birth of his son is another convicted killer: axe murderer Keith Schreiber — who spent more than a decade in jail for killing Jack Van Krevel at the request of his former lover.
“A new life added to this world,” Hearne posted on Facebook when baby Micha was born.
Peter’s daughter, Brodie — cheated of her own father thanks to Hearne — struggles with the news.
“I’d tell him (Hearne) every day when he looks at his child and thinks about all the love he has for his child, he can think about us (she and her brother Mitchell),” Brodie says.
“Think about my dad and think about how he (Hearne) has taken all that away … the school assemblies, the sports award … everything.
“He gets to have that and we don’t. It’s selfish.
“I want him to take care of that child and keep it in the back of his mind that he gets to go through that. We had to do that without our Dad.”
“IT HURTS IN MY CHEST”
For those that loved Constable Peter Forsyth, the pain is ever-present.
It lurks there, just beneath the surface, still raw, bubbling over when memory stirs it.
It’s the pain of a husband, father and mate snatched away while his killer walks free.
It’s almost two decades since Peter and his colleagues, Jason Semple and Brian Neville, went for few quiet Friday night beers, and Peter never came home.
The trio was unarmed, and off-duty when offered of a drug deal by a group of teenagers.
When they tried to arrest Murray Hearne, Peter wound up dead, Jason critically injured, and Hearne went on the run.
Jason rarely speaks of the night his mate tried to save him and wound up collapsed on top of him, stabbed, never to see his beloved wife Jackie and children Mitchell and Brodie again.
All speak at length of the night Murray Hearne turned cop killer, and of the painful nights ever since, on Channel Seven’s Murder Uncovered tonight.
“You can’t plan for this …. I miss him”, says Peter’s widow, Jackie Reimer, wiping tears as she relives that night.
Watching back old videos of Peter with their children gives her a “physical pain. It hurts in my chest. It’s a real pain, it’s not just a feeling.”
‘I was only pretending. I wasn’t strong,’ Jackie says of her battle to keep it together after her husband was murdered. Picture: Channel 7 Source: Channel 7
Peter’s daughter, Brodie now 20, acutely feels the absence of a man she loves, but never knew.
“I feel like I know so much about Mum. I can tell when I walk in if she’s had a good day or a bad day, she doesn’t need to tell me,” Brodie says.
“And then I don’t know one thing about Dad.
“I don’t know how he carries himself. I don’t know his sense of humour. I don’t know … just the little things you should know about your dad. I don’t know those.”
THAT NIGHT
Jason Semple is a mountain of a man — of a size that if he told you to get stuffed, you’d probably start making arrangements.
A man not easily given to tears. A man, who, when Hearne stabbed him, didn’t feel the knife. “It felt like a soft punch,” he says.
Constable Peter Forsyth. ‘She’ll be right mate’, were his last words of comfort to his stabbed mate.Source:News Corp Australia
But on February 28, 1998, he was the new kid on the block — “the full rookie” invited by Peter with another officer, Brian Neville, for a few post-work ‘welcome drinks’ in Sydney’s inner-city Ultimo, not far from where Peter lived.
“It wasn’t meant to be a last catch-up,” says Brian, fighting tears..
The trio had finished at the pub and were walking along Harris Street when a young male in a group of four yelled “do you want some E’s?” (the drug, Ecstasy).
Suddenly, three off-duty cops were on duty.
Realising Murray Hearne was the one with the product, called him over to them asking to see the drugs. Then they grabbed him and walked him down the road, to search him.
When Hearne rose out of a crouch, the night took a fatal turn.
“I felt a couple of blows … first to my chest and stomach … but I thought I was getting punched,” Jason remembers.
“It felt like weak punches … like ‘is that all you’ve got?’.”
Hearne made a break and bolted. Jason felt like he was ‘leaking’, lifted his shorts, and realised he’d been stabbed.
As Brian went in pursuit of Hearne, Jason watched blood spray from his stomach.
Peter came to his aid, laid him in the gutter, started shouting for help.
It wasn’t meant to be a last catch-up’. Brian Neville and Jason Semple. Source: Channel 7
‘NOBODY KNEW HE’D BEEN STABBED’
“Peter was calm, he was single-minded on getting me help. … Pete was so normal, nothing to indicate he’d been injured,” says Jason.
“Nobody knew he’d been stabbed. Least of all him.”
Until Peter collapsed onto Jason’s chest.
“Pete’s talking to me, then next thing he’s basically laying on top of me … it was like he’d just fainted on top of me … I remember looking down watching the blood, thinking ‘what’s wrong with Peter?’,” says Jason.
The tears come.
“And the last thing he ever says to anyone on earth is ‘she’ll be right mate’.”
Peter was stabbed twice in the heart. Jason was taken to hospital and surgery.
Peter was pronounced dead not long after midnight.
And Hearne was on the run.
THE HUNT
Initially, police had no idea who the cop killer was that they were hunting for.
But Hearne couldn’t resist bragging to friends. Within 24 hours they had a name, and two properties under surveillance. Now they needed evidence, or a confession. Preferably both.
By Monday, they’d spotted him, and had his phone intercepted, and had to endure listening to him watch a news report about the injured Jason.
As he watched, Hearne told someone he was on the phone to: “that’s the big c*** … that’s him … I dropped him on his arse”.
When the story of the hunt appeared that night on the TV show Australia’s Most Wanted, the crack came.
His own stepfather contacts police: “I’m nervous. because it’s one of my kids that did it,” he said. “His name is Murray Hearne”.
Arresting officers tell Murder Uncovered Hearne cried when he was caught. And he wet himself.
Meanwhile, those that loved Peter, buried him.
Jason was told he was too sick to attend. He went anyway, ditching the wheelchair and walking into the service.
Jackie tried to keep it together for the children.
“My time for me was late in the middle of the night, when nobody else was around,” she says.
“I had to hold it together and pretend that I was strong (for the kids), but I was only pretending. I wasn’t strong,” she says.
Convicted murderer Murray Hearne is led from court in 1999. Picture: Marc McCormack Source:News Corp Australia
FACE TO FACE WITH A KILLER
Jackie wanted answers, and hoped Hearne’s trial would give them.
Until he changed his plea the morning it was to start, pleading guilty to the murder of Peter Forsyth, and to a lesser charge for stabbing Jason.
“I was shocked and disappointed all over again,” she says. “I was ‘you’re not going to say anything … you’re not going to tell me anything. I’ve got nothing again now. Nothing.”
Hearne was sentenced to 27 years jail. It was reduced on appeal.
Another blow to those grieving Peter.
From jail Hearne asked to see Jason. Jason told him “to stick it”.
But eventually, Jackie looked her husband’s killer in the eye.
“I thought ‘this is going to be my only opportunity to get some answers’,” she says.
“He was very nervous … hyperventilating. Shaking. Sweating,” she says.
“I looked at the person he was now, years later. He was not some thought kid any more.”
He was looking for forgiveness, but he didn’t get it.
“I think so, that’s his problem. Not mine,” she says.
Peter Forsyth’s son, Mitchell is now 22.
Asked what he’d say to his father’s killer if he got the chance, Mitchell’s voice drips with contempt.
“What would I say to him? Nothing. I wouldn’t give him a second of my life.”
Murder Uncovered airs at 9pm tonight on Channel 7
Peter’s son, Mitchell, pictured with sister Brodie, wouldn’t give his father’s killer ‘a second of my life”. Picture: Channel 7 Source: Channel 7
A COP KILLER who served 16 years jail for the murder of a Sydney police officer is living in Wagga with his former Junee prison psychologist wife and their infant boy.
Convicted murderer Murray Hearne, now 37, was the focus of a Channel Seven investigation on Wednesday night exploring his brutal murder of Constable Peter Forsyth.
It has now been revealed Hearne works locally as a cabinet maker and is on parole.
The then-18-year-old fatally stabbed Peter Forsyth and seriously wounded fellow officer Jason Semple after approaching the off-duty policemen and offering them drugs.
Constable Forsyth, a father-of-two, and rookie Mr Semple were unarmed when they left drinks at an Ultimo hotel in inner-Sydney.
They detained him and tried to check Hearne’s ID, when the 18-year-old pulled out a knife.
He fatally stabbed Constable Forsyth twice in the heart, and his colleague Jason Semple twice in the stomach.
While the murderer is enjoying his new life as a dad, the widow of the slain policeman has told of her anger towards her late husband’s killer.
“You don’t think this is going to happen in your life. You can’t plan for this,” Constable Forsyth’s widow, Jackie Reimer said.
“It hurts in my chest. It’s a real pain. It’s not just a feeling.”
She shared details of the harrowing moment she came face to face with Hearne.
“He was hyperventilating and shaking and sweating,” she said.
“He was really very nervous.
“I looked at him as the person that he was now all these years later. He was not some tough kid anymore.
“He told me where he threw the knife, in a garbage bin.”
In June 1999, Hearne was sentenced to 27 years’ jail for killing Constable Forsyth and seriously wounding Jason Semple.
However, he was released from prison eleven years early.
In his time at Junee Correctional Centre, Hearne met a young psychologist, Bobbie Bergmeier.
Four years before he was released, the convicted killer and the psychology intern began a relationship.
In 2014, the year of Hearne’s release, Bergmeier was disbarred as a psychologist.
In a rare interview with Channel Seven’s Murder Uncovered crew, officer Jason Semple has told of what the policemen went through that night, before Constable Forsyth’s murder.
“I rarely speak openly about things, but it’s important to share my story,” he said.
“I don’t want people to forget my mate and colleague, Peter Forsyth, and what we went through that night and what he did for me.
“It’s also for the thin blue line that we’re a part of.
“So much has happened since then, but I’ll never forget his sacrifice.”
Detective Inspector Wayne G. Hayes was OIC of the investigation.
Mead Drive.
On the 2/3/98 the step father of Hearne phones Triple zero and names Murray Walter Edward Hearne as the offender.
On the 3/3/98 HEARNE was interviewed by Detective Inspector Wayne Hayes whereby Hearne refused to answer any questions and was then charged with the Murder of Peter Forsyth and Attempt Murder of Jason SEMPLE.
22 April 1999 Murray Walter Edward HEARNE appears in Court for a Plea of Not Guilty but ultimately pleaded Guilty, on that date, to the Murder of Peter Forsyth but the lesser charge of Malicious Wounding Jason Semple.
On 4 June 1999 HEARNE was Sentence to 27 years gaol which was later reduced on Appeal.
Hearne asked to meet SEMPLE whilst serving his sentence at Junee Gaol. SEMPLE declined. Hearne also wanted to meet Jacqui Forsyth. She met him in Gaol a few years before his release. She sat face to face with HEARNE who was shaking, sweating and very nervous.
He told her that he threw the knife into a garbage bin.
HEARNE met his Prison Psychologist, Bobbie Maree Burgmeier, 4 years before his release from gaol. She is now his wife. He married the young female Psychologist who was helping him in the Goal. She was eventually ‘struck off’ for having a sexual relationship with the murderer and falsifying records.
Hearne only served 16 years of his 27 year Gaol sentence before he was released on Parole in March 2014.
Now ( 2017 ) lives in Wagga Wagga with his wife and baby and he is employed as a cabinet maker.
Murray Hearne is on FB and is a Friend of Keith Schreiber – axe murdered.
Hearne has a full tattoo sleeve down left arm and tatts on his right leg. Is of a solid build.
Jason Semple eventually left NSWPF after a good career and is now retired with PTSD.
Prison psychologist struck off for sexual relationship with murderer
Louise Hall
A young female psychologist has been struck off for having a sexual relationship with a convicted murderer she was treating in jail and falsifying official records to cover it up.
Bobbie Maree Bergmeier met the inmate – known for legal reasons as Client A – when she began working as an intern psychologist at the Junee Correctional Centre in April 2010.
Client A was serving a 21-year-sentence for murder and malicious wounding and had been in jail since he was 18.
Ms Bergmeier and Client A met monthly as part of her work with prisoners managed by the serious offenders review council (SORC). Around April 2011 Ms Bergmeier and Client A began having intimate telephone conversations which became sexualised.
The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) alleged Ms Bergmeier told Client A she “loved him and couldn’t wait to be with him”, “she missed him and never had a best friend like him”, “that he was sexy and she wanted him forever”, “she was having a house built for both of them” and “she wanted to start a family with him”.
On Wednesday, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Ms Bergmeier used “forethought, planning and subterfuge” to conceal the relationship from her colleagues and supervisors and “flaunted the security system for the purpose of her own personal gratification”.
She used a colleague’s password to enter false information into Client A’s case notes and altered the SORC allocation list to falsely show another psychologist as Client A’s treating practitioner.
She also used the false name Briony Watts to take around 300 Skype calls from him during the time she worked at the prison.
She resigned from the job in August 2011 but continued to stay in contact with him, visiting him at Mannus Correctional Centre, having close, personal relationships with his family and friends, and applying to be his sponsor for weekend and day leave.
She continues to be in a relationship with Client A, who was paroled in March this year and lives with Ms Bergmeier’s mother. She is working as a behaviour support practitioner at the Mercy Centre and is studying to be a primary school teacher.
The tribunal reprimanded Ms Bergmeier in the strongest possible terms, cancelled her registration as a psychologist and banned her from providing health services in both the public and private sectors.
Although Client A was serving time for murder, he had been in jail all of his adult life and was “needy and dependent and psychologically vulnerable”, the tribunal heard.
In addition to being a “serious violation of professional boundaries”, Ms Bergmeier had been “unmindful or insensitive to the consequences of her actions for Client A”, who had had no opportunity to develop relationships outside prison.
Ms Bergmeier said she accepts responsibility for her actions and acknowledges her wrongdoing.
However, the HCCC told the tribunal her decision to maintain her relationship with Client A despite the ramifications for her professional career “indicates an ongoing decision to prioritise her personal relationship over her professional obligations”.
Ms Bergmeier graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a bachelor of psychology in 2008. She became a registered psychologist in April 2011, around the time she says the relationship with Client A became personal.
Plaque commemorates Constable Peter Forsyth who was killed in the line of duty.
Constable Forsyth was stabbed in Ultimo by a man he was trying to arrest for drug dealing. Murray Walter Hearne was jailed for 27 years for the murder of Constable Forsyth and the stabbing of Constable Jason Semple. But the sentence, imposed by Supreme Court Justice James Wood, was reduced by a third in 2001 on appeal.
Address:
William Henry Street , Ultimo, 2007
State:
NSW
Area:
AUS
GPS Coordinates:
Lat: -33.877996
Long: 151.19816 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
NATIONAL POLICE REMEMBRANCE DAY 29th SEPTEMBER 2013
DEDICATION to GLEBE POLICE OFFICER KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY.
Constable Peter FORSYTH was an officer that was stationed at GLEBE POLICE STATION. He was well known in the area for his passion for working with youth in the housing estate area of Glebe.
The auditorium at Broadway is dedicated to his efforts in working in and living around the Glebe area. The auditorium is referred to as the PFA ( Peter FORSYTH Auditorium ).
Constable Peter FORSYTH was stabbed in the chest while arresting a drug dealer in inner-city Ultimo on February 28, 1998.
Post by Cameron P
NSW Police Constable Peter Forsyth, tragically murdered when confronting a drug dealer whilst off duty in 1998. Pete was a Qld boy whom I had the pleasure of knowing and working Security with at Broadbeach Qld before he joined the Police. He was an absolute champion bloke, great husband, father and mate to all of us lucky enough to know him, he always bought a smile to our faces and knew how to lighten up any situation. The depth of his courage and sense of doing the right thing by people knew no bounds. Gone but never forgotten, R.I.P Pete.
Post by Nifty N
I will never forget Pete Forsyth‘s contagious laugh! The cheeky work antics and his dedication as a father of two beautiful children which he adored and his dedication to duty and his community!! The night he died will haunt me forever with memories I can’t erase, but the times we worked together and socialised will forever be memories I cherish! I am glad that those great memories of some 13 and more years ago still seem like they were yesterday!! I think of you often mate!!!
Support Aussie Cops* There is an Auditorium named in honour of the Constable in Glebe
Megan WilsonWhat a tragic set of circumstances. Cst Forsyth looks a warm, caring soul and a guy it would have been a pleasure to know. My thoughts go not only to his family but also to the other cops there that night for what they experienced.
Craigaroo ElliottSitting on the side of an interstate highway running laser with a tear in my eye. Pete the Queenslander was one of the funniest, easy-going blokes I ever met. Shared a floor with him at the academy, had a beer or two with him off-duty.
I’m proud to call my mate and will always honor his memory.
Brodie Forsythputting your life on the line to protect the community… im so proud of you dad, ill never forget you or your beautiful smile, we all miss you x
Sheryl Lee MoleALWAYS a LITTLE BIT MORE THAN JUST PETE. Just a little bit more interest in other folks welfare, Just a little greater showing that he really did care. Just a little more kindness to those he meet each day And a little greater effort to aid them on their way. Just a little more determined to do the best he could. To help some other fellow and prove a friend who would. Just a little bit more sunshine along life wary road. And a little bit more ready to ease another’s load. Just to work a little harder for other people’s good. And to show a bit more friendship MY FRIEND PETE could. !!!! I miss you each and every day .
Const Peter Forsyth was stabbed whilst affecting an arrest ( posthumously awarded the Commissioner’s Valour Award ).
This photo recalls that tragic event.
The monument reads,
“As you pass by, remember William Henry Street will never be the same. Constable Peter Forsyth died whilst serving the community he lived in, doing the job he loved. 15 May, 1969 – 27 February, 1998”
“Constable Forsyth was stabbed in Ultimo by a man he was trying to arrest for drug dealing. Murray Walter Hearne was jailed for 27 years for the murder of Constable Forsyth and the stabbing of Constable Jason Semple. But the sentence, imposed by Supreme Court Justice James Wood, was reduced by a third in 2001 on appeal.”
‘He will be missed by all. My mate, our mate, is gone.’
Date Fri Mar 06 1998
Publication Sydney Morning Herald
By KENDALL HILL and TIM JAMIESON
As Constable Peter Forsyth‘s cortege paused for a final goodbye to colleagues outside Glebe Police Station in Talfourd Street, young Mitchell Forsyth clutched his dead father’s bravery award.
Minutes before, Mitchell had been waving to mourners lining Glebe Point and St John’s roads while they tossed proteas, daisies and gladioli onto the roof of the hearse. The crowd, struggling for some way to mark its appreciation of the 28-year-old officer, broke into applause.
Then the three-year-old was handed the memento of his dad by a funeral assistant who reached into the car and tousled his hair.
His mother, Jackie, clutched him under one arm, and 15-month-old Brodie Rose under the other, as they caught a moment alone to remember the husband and father killed a week ago in a senseless stabbing at Ultimo, and the extraordinary public mourning his death roused.
There were many in tears, or fighting them back, among the NSW and Queensland police honour guard flanking the Forsyths. Locals wept openly beside them. Relatives in cars behind clutched their mouths with grief.
Constable Peter Justin Forsyth was farewelled by family, colleagues, friends and dignitaries yesterday in a funeral service with full police honours at St Mary’s Cathedral. It was attended by 2,600 inside and 500 outside.
In their ranks was Probationary Constable Jason Semple, 25, stabbed in the stomach during Friday’s fatal assault, who arrived in a wheelchair but walked with help up the cathedral steps.
Constable Brian Neville, who escaped injury and chased the youths allegedly responsible for the attack outside the Ultimo Community Centre, acted as a pallbearer for his dead mate.
More than 1,500 police officers attended from across the country and New Zealand. So, too, did the paramedics who attended to him.
His colleague, Constable Shane Forsyth (no relation), told mourners: “Memories of Pete will live forever. I only wish that I had known him for a longer time. A lot was fitted into a life that was so short.”
And to the Forsyth children: “Mitchell and Brodie, you will always know your Big Bear. The memories of him will never die.”
The Police Commissioner, Mr Ryan, delivered a valediction to the “well-liked lad“, born in Goondiwindi, Queensland, in 1969, and who joined the Police Academy in Goulburn in 1994.
“Peter was a brave man,” Mr Ryan said. Constable Forsyth was awarded a regional commander’s citation in 1996, while still on probation, for his role in arresting an armed offender.
“He was conscientious and proud to be a policeman. He had no hesitation, even while off duty, in tackling crime and criminals head on.”
The Premier, Mr Carr, Opposition Leader, Mr Collins, Police Minister, Mr Whelan, and the Lord Mayor, Councillor Sartor, also attended.
Eulogies by Constables Craig Elliot and Guy Flaherty, colleagues and friends from the Leichhardtlocal area command, revealed Constable Forsyth as a cheerful, mischievous young man.
Constable Flaherty recalled the day his mate was returning from the races by train with his mother, Joan, when he politely asked a crowd of rugby players to keep their language down.
“Well, this bloke came over full as a boot, flipped the seat back and sat opposite Peter and his mum,” Constable Flaherty said.
“He said `Is this your mum?‘ Pete said, `yeah‘. He said, `Ya know, your son has just stood up and told a heap of blokes to shut up just for you. You must be so proud of him to be that loyal‘.”
Constable Forsyth‘s widow, comforted by the Dean of the cathedral, Father Anthony Doherty, wept as Constable Flaherty finished his address.
“Peter used to say to me there are bad men and then there’s us. He was a policeman who would serve the community for which he was part of, keen to help and do the right thing.
“He offered safety, security to his community, love and loyalty to his family as well as to his friends. He will be missed by all. My mate, our mate, is gone.”
Local residents confirmed Constable Flaherty‘s words. Many had met him through his policing duties or his work with the police community and youth club. Forty Glebe High School students, each grasping a white rose, also waited to say goodbye.
One of the mourners, Ms Fran Campisi, cried as she recalled how the young constable helped her during a prolonged domestic dispute.
“He used to ring me up to see if I was OK,” she said. “The day before he died he rang me to see if I was still being harassed. It’s just devastating; he was so lovely, so caring and so sincere.”
At Glebe police station the counter was lined with cards and flowers and the public had left more than $500. Donations to the Peter Forsyth Memorial Fund may be made at any NSW or ACT Commonwealth Bank branch.
Constable Forsyth will be buried in Toowoomba, Queensland, on Monday.
Iris May Vanden BergIt’s so hard to believe so many years have gone by since this fine young Officer lost his life, in the line of duty.
A tragedy and heartbreak.. . RIP..You will never be forgotten.
AAP General News (Australia) 04-27-1999
NSW; Teenager admits murdering policeman
By Margaret Scheikowski
SYDNEY, April 27 AAP – A teenage labourer almost broke down today as he pleaded guilty to murdering policeman Peter Forsyth, who was stabbed last year in inner Sydney.Close to tears, Murray Walter Hearne answered in a trembling voice “guilty” to charges of murdering constable Forsyth and to maliciously wounding his colleague Probationary Constable Jason Semple.The 19-year-old’s trial was about to start in the New South Wales Supreme Court and a jury panel was in waiting.Const Forsyth, 28, Const Semple, 25, and another colleague were off-duty as they walked from a hotel at Ultimo at about 11.25pm on February 27, having gone there after work.An earlier court hearing was told Hearne was one of three passing youths who allegedly offered to sell drugs to the officers, who then tried to arrest them.But Const Forsyth, who was only metres from his Ultimo home, was fatally stabbed while Const Semple was stabbed in the chest and abdomen.Hearne, from Prospect in Sydney’s outer west, was originally charged with the attempted murder of Const Semple, but today pleaded to the lesser charge of malicious wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.Justice James Wood put the matter over to Thursday to hear submissions on sentence.Outside the court, the constable’s widow Jacquie Forsyth expressed mixed emotions at the guilty plea.While she was surprised and relieved, the mother of two young children said she was sad she would not have the opportunity to have a trial because she wanted answers.”Every morning I wake up and the first thing I think of is why, why did this happen, and I was really hoping for some answers.” She said it did not matter what the sentence was.”It is not going to change; it’s not going to make my situation or my family’s situation any better,” she said. “It is not going to bring Peter back.”She said she was glad to hear the guilty plea from Hearne but she wondered why it had taken so long for him to admit the crime.”I think his emotion and his sadness were for himself,” she said. “I am sure he was not thinking about my family or my husband.”Ms Forsyth was accompanied by a large number of relatives, friends and colleagues of her husband.”I have got a lot of support but the person who I want most isn’t there for me,” she said.
1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
AAP General News (Australia) 04-29-1999
NSW: Court told murdered cop had tried to help colleague
SYDNEY, April 29 AAP – Police constable Peter Forsyth had been stabbed once in the heart when he came to the aid of a colleague who had been knifed, a judge was told today.
According to the statement of facts which was read out in the New South Wales Supreme Court, a youth and Murray Walter Hearne had offered the two men and another officer an ecstasy
tablet for $40.
But Const Forsyth had said something like “you are bloody idiots, you know who we are don’t you”.
The constable also was heard to say “you are drug dealers, I live in the street, I have got kids who live in the street”.
The statement said during the ensuing struggle Probationary Constable Jason Semple was stabbed twice and he realised Const Forsyth was also knifed when he came to his assistance.
Hearne, 19, has pleaded guilty to murdering Const Forsyth, 28, and to maliciously wounding Const Semple, 25, on February 27, on a street in inner-city Ultimo.
Justice James Wood is hearing submissions on sentence, which are continuing.
JUDGES will be forced to hand down tougher sentences to murderers, following a campaign led by the widow of murdered police officer Peter Forsyth.
Premier Bob Carr ordered new sentencing guidelines for the State’s judges after a private meeting last Tuesday with Jackie Reimer and victims’ rights lobbyist, Martha Jabour.
They approached the Premier after Constable Forsyth’s killer had nine years cut from his sentence by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
“It has been put to us that there should be sentencing guidelines for murder,” Mr Carr told The Sunday Telegraph yesterday. “This is an issue I will take up with the DPP, the Bar Association and the Law Society.”
The Premier said he was prepared to look at amending “truth in sentencing” legislation if it was clear that sentences were not meeting community expectations. This followed investigations by The Sunday Telegraph which showed average murder sentences had fallen by two years since the legislation was enacted.
Bureau of Crime Statistics figures show average minimum terms for NSW since then has been 12.9 years. Previously, murderers served an average 14.5 year term, according to the Department of Corrective Services.
Mrs Reimer – who changed her surname from Forsyth when she remarried last year – said the moves were a “great step in the right direction”.
“It’s obviously too late for Peter’s case, and that’s just another thing that we will have to tolerate, but I am happy for the heartache it will save other people,” she said.
Sentencing guidelines would be issued by Chief Justice Jim Spigelman, through the Court of Criminal Appeal, to ensure uniform sentences for different categories of murder.
This would stop disparities such as that in the Forsyth case, said Martha Jabour, executive director of the Health Department-funded Homicide Victims Support Group.
“Justice Wood gave the right sentence initially. He had taken into account all of the objective factors: that the offender was young, that he had limited education,” she said. “The Court of Criminal Appeal then overturned the sentence and reduced it by a third because of the same factors.
“If there was consistency in sentencing, then we wouldn’t have any of these problems.”
Judicial education would also put an end to insensitive handling of victims by the courts.
The Forsyth judgment was handed down on the third anniversary of Const Forsyth’s death, adding greatly to the anguish of his family.
The three Court of Criminal Appeal judges defended the reduced sentence by stating that by the time murderer Murray Walter Hearne was released, he would be almost 35, and that he would not have a wife and child – which was punishment enough.
“The impact of that incarceration will not cease immediately on his discharge and he will thus have very substantially lessened opportunities of a career, wife and children. That is no minor punishment,” the judgment said.
Mrs Reimer said that victims of crime found such treatment “frustrating and bewildering”.
Sentencing guidelines have been in force for those guilty of fatal driving offences for the past 18 months.
The guidelines, which cover drivers who are drunk, on drugs, negligent and angry, have resulted in every prisoner found guilty receiving a jail term.
Muddy
3/12/01
About bloody time that there was equality within the sentencing of Murderers. It appals me that someone who can take a life gets only a handful of years. I am sorry but in cases where an adult is concerned (bearing in mind the childs matter above), whether or not he can start a family and lead a normal life is irrelevant and as for his education level……does a lower than normal education make a person unable to decide whether taking someones life is right or wrong? Is a person so morally and intellectually bankrupt that they cannot even comprehend the basic tennets of the communtiy they live in?
As for the court of appeal over turning Mr Woods ruling, once again, it brings into question, who IS watching and moderating the decisions of the powers that be within the legal system?
Jackie Reimer with her children Mitchell, 8, and Brodie, 5, widow of police officer Peter Forsyth. “At the end of the day it is not just for me, it is for everyone who is caught in this terrible situation.”
Jackie Reimer, widow of murdered policeman, Peter Forsyth, said last night it was high time police who performed the often thankless task of protecting the public knew they had the full support of the justice system.
“At the end of the day it is not just for me, it is for everyone who is caught in this terrible situation,” she said.
Ms Reimer, 31, had been widowed with two children on February 28, 1998, when Constable Forsyth was stabbed in Ultimo by a man he was trying to arrest for drug dealing.
Murray Walter Hearne was jailed for 27 years for the murder of Constable Forsyth and the stabbing of Constable Jason Semple. But the sentence, imposed by Supreme Court Justice James Wood, was reduced by a third in February last year by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The court substituted a maximum term of 18 years with a minimum of 13 and said the original sentence had been “manifestly excessive”. A furious Ms Reimer said at the time: “I am trying to work out what I am going to tell my children.”
Then, Ms Reimer and Ms Martha Jabour, executive director of the Homicide Victims’ Support Group, met with the Premier to explain to him what it was like for people affected by such brutality.
“This is what has come out of it,” Ms Reimer said last night. “When the appeals come to hand, these people are not going to get massive reductions in their sentences.”
Ms Reimer, now married to a former classmate of Constable Forsyth, Senior Constable Jason Reimer, said it would be comforting to families of victims to “sit in court and know there is a minimum sentence”.
“Now it is not just going to be a case of sitting there very vulnerable and hoping the trial judge will be realistic,” she said.
Ms Reimer, who now has four children, said she was getting over the trauma, preferring not to dwell on dangers of policing.
Awards: Queens Commendation for Brave Conduct ( Imperial ) – granted on 24 June 1977 – ( Cst ) – Apprehend an armed man
National Medal – granted 3 September 1985 ( SenCon )
1st Clasp to the National Medal – granted 3 October 1995 ( Sgt )
Born: Monday 26 June 1950
Died: Saturday 22 May 1993
Age: 42
Event Date: Saturday 22 May 1993
Event Location: Ashfield
Cause: Heart Attack during arrest
Funeral Date: 23 July 1993
Funeral location: Woronora Cemetery
Buried: Cremated
1/ Ashes: Henry Lawson Garden Walk
Section E, Plot 0012
2/ Memorial location: Woronora Cemetery, Police Garden
John with his son, Warren, PROOPS
John with his son, Warren, PROOPS
John Sidney PROOPS, Police National Wall of Remembrance touch pad.
On 22 May, 1993Sergeant Proops and Probationary Constable Katie Thompson went to a dwelling in Enfield to arrest an offender for a breach of a domestic violence order. During a struggle with the offender the sergeant is thought to have suffered a fatal heart attack.
Constable Thompson attempted to revive the sergeant however she was unsuccessful. He was conveyed by ambulance to the Western Suburbs Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The sergeant was born in 1950 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 20 February, 1967 as a cadet.
At the time of his death he was stationed at Enfield.
Beyond Courage
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[alert_green]John IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance[/alert_green]
Note: It was also interesting to learn that Sergeant Proops while attending another domestic dispute some years earlier, survived a spear-gun wound to his chest. Apparently, the spear lost much of its penetrating force after striking the sergeant’s police notebook in his tunic pocket.
At just 10-years-old Warren became a NSW Police Legatee, when his father, Sergeant John Proops, passed away after suffering a fatal heart attack while on duty.
Warren has been part of the NSW Police Legacy family for 25 years and took part in the very first trek to Koko
da. Now, he’s returning to the track to help support the team through the physically and emotional journey that is Kokoda.
National Police Remembrance Day 29, September 2000
National Police Remembrance Day has been marked by a minute’s silence at services throughout Australasia.
Remembrance Day is held every year on St. Michael’s Day, the patron saint of police, for all officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
During the last 12 months, 10 officers have died in the course of their duties in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
233 officers have been fatally wounded while on duty in NSW since 1862. Their names are recorded on a memorial dedicated last December in the Sydney Domain.
The Sydney Service has been attended by Police Minister Paul Whelan, Commissioner Peter Ryan and senior members of the NSW Police Service.
During the service candles were lit by Warren Proops, son of Sergeant John Proops who died on 22 May 1996, Eloise and William Heron, son and daughter of Detective Sergeant William Heron who died on 6 January 1999 and Jessica Ede, daughter of Senior Constable Dallas Tidyman who died on 15 August 1994.
NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan said the day offers police and members of the public the chance to remember all officers who have lost their lives while serving their community.
“This important day gives us all the chance to pay our respects to these officers and to reflect upon the role in our society that police play,” he said.
“Police officers killed in the course of their duty must never be forgotten.”
The Canberra Times of 24 May, 1993 briefly reported the sergeant’s death.
“POLICE DEATH
SYDNEY: A police sergeant collapsed and died in a struggle with a man he had been questioning about a domestic dispute in Sydney on Saturday night.
Another police officer had broken his leg in a clash later with the man, who allegedly had breached a domestic violence order, a police spokesman said.
Sergeant John Proops, 42, collapsed in the struggle with the 32-year-old man at a house in Enfield.
The man was remanded in Central Local Court yesterday.”
A District Court judge launched an extraordinary attack on police yesterday, claiming they had been involved in the “evil” business of judge-shopping.
He said it appeared that many of those involved in the matter before him had lied.
Judge Phelan, hearing an appeal by Mr Stephen Smith in the District Court, said in a preliminary appraisal of the case that many police had followed a “screed” when giving earlier evidence before a magistrate and when they got beyond the screed their evidence lacked credibility.
There also appeared to have been an assault upon Mr Smith and that no police were able to explain his injuries.
Judge Phelan said if the matter proceeded, and the police witnesses were called against Mr Smith, it would be likely that he would refer a number of matters to the Attorney-General and the Ombudsman alleging that police had fitted evidence and then lied in court.
The Herald understands that staff from the Police Royal Commission had already shown an interest in the matter.
In May 1993, two police officers went to a house in Enfield where it was alleged Mr Smith had breached a domestic violence order.
It was alleged he had resisted arrest and one officer, Sergeant John Proops, had suffered a fatal heart attack.
Police alleged Mr Smith then tried to attack another officer, Sergeant Southam, and that Sergeant Southam suffered a broken ankle.
Mr Smith alleges he was tackled into Sergeant Southam by other officers and then beaten with a torch. He was later convicted of breaching a domestic violence order, resisting arrest and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Judge Phelan said yesterday that a doctor’s report indicated Mr Smith had an injury to his head, consistent with being hit with a torch, a cut on his forehead, bruises over his body, a broken rib and bruises to his legs.
“… the injuries can only be explained rationally and solely by a police attack upon the appellant which the officers have all denied and this leads to the conclusion that many of the police officers are lying,” Judge Phelan said.
He said that a small dog had apparently been kicked in the head and lost its eye during the arrest and that police could offer no explanations as to how this had happened. The dog later died. The judge also stated there had been behind-the-scenes moves to have him removed from the case when it came to an appeal.
“I find it obnoxious and suspicious that there have been police manoeuvres to change the prosecution person [assigned] to these matters,” Judge Phelan said.
“If judge-shopping is an evil, as it is, equally evil is prosecution shopping. I also find it obnoxious and suspicious that there have been manoeuvres to have another judge conduct the appeal.”
The matter will resume before Judge Phelan in the Downing Centre District Court this morning and it is expected that the Director of Public Prosecutions will then make a decision about offering evidence in the case.
SYDNEY, Tuesday. — A notebook in his breast pocket had saved a policeman’s life when a man had fired a spear gun at him, police alleged in Campsie Court today.
The police prosecutor, Sergeant A. Carter, told Mr Hayes. SM. that the constable had been trying to arrest the man when the spear was fired from almost point-blank range.
Before Mr Hayes was Mr Norman Warren Castle, 53, of Albany Road, Petersham, who was charged with shooting Constable John Proops at Belmore last Saturday with intent to murder.
Sergeant Carter said it was alleged that Mr Castle had smashed a door of a house at Belmore and had menaced the two occupants inside with the loaded spear gun.
Police had gone to the house and Mr Castle had allegedly turned on them.
It was alleged he had fired a spear at Constable Proops which had struck the officer’s regulation notebook in the breast pocket of his uniform.
Sergeant Carter said Mr Castle had been taken to Canterbury Hospital yesterday after allegedly swallowing glass.
“The doctors found he had consumed some plastic buttons ‘ — x-rays taken found no glass or other substances”, he said.
People involved in the case “feared for their safety”. Further charges could be laid.
Questioned by Mr Hayes. Mr Castle said he had been “communicating with my dead father”.
Asked how he had been communicating, Mr Castle replied, “In my mind … He has communicated with me before”.
Mr Hayes refused bail, adjourned the case for mention to June 15, and recommended that Mr Castle be physically, and mentally examined.
On 18 December, 1988 Constable Oakley was at the Wagga Base Hospital where he was involved in restraining a berserk offender.
During the struggle the constable was kicked in the face, causing injuries and swelling to his mouth, face and jaw.
When the swelling did not fully subside he was diagnosed as suffering from metastatic melanoma and was required to undergo surgery.
It was found that the condition had been aggravated by the injuries received on 18 December, 1988.
Although he later returned to full duties Constable Oakley died on 14 August, 1990.
The constable was born in 1964 and joined the New South Wales Police Force on 15 September, 1984. At the time of his death he was stationed at Chatswood.
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Detective Course # 21. 22 January 1990 – 2 March 1990
