Murder by the Prosecution – first book review

Posted on September 22, 2018 by andrew

Book review extract, The Spectator Australia, September 22, 2018:
“Urban makes a powerful case that grandmother Neill-Fraser, who had run a successful horse-riding school and been involved in property development, was wrongly accused and prosecuted for the murder of Chappell, a radiation physicist, her partner of 18 years.

Murder by the Prosecution is engrossing and troubling. Back and forth, the reader is propelled, much as a jury is during the ‘test match’ that a murder trial resembles.

The later stand-alone chapters on other murder trials which have been found to have been unjust stand as sentinels fortifying Urban’s impassioned premise that Susan Neill-Fraser is serving a 23 year sentence for a murder she did not commit. The ethical prosecutor works not for a particular verdict, but for justice to be done. This must be the hope for Susan Neill-Fraser.” – Margaret Cunneen SC, Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor (NSW)

Posted in General articles | Leave a comment

Sue Neill-Fraser – questions, questions, questions …

Posted on September 19, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban.

Troubling questions remain unanswered eight years after the trial in which Sue Neill-Fraser (now 64) was convicted of murdering her partner Bob Chappell, which she has always strenuously denied; she is now seeking leave to appeal in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, under new legislation. Here are just five of those questions. And a sixth question: why not welcome a thorough new review of the case?

Continue reading →

Posted in Case 1 Sue Neill-Fraser | Leave a comment

Former Premier & AG calls for Criminal Cases Review Commission

Posted on September 13, 2018 by andrew

Former Tasmanian Premier Lara Giddings officially launched Andrew L. Urban’s, Murder by the Prosecution (Wilkinson Publishing) on September 6, 2018 at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart, calling for the establishment of a Criminal Cases Review Commission and stating that the provisions of new, further right to appeal legislation “set the bar too high” to be truly effective in delivering justice.

Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | Leave a comment

Murder by the Prosecution launched in Hobart

Posted on September 9, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban

Calling for the urgent establishment of a Criminal Cases Review Commission in Tasmania, former Tasmanian Premier and shadow Attorney General Lara Giddings officially launched my book on Thursday, September 6, 2018, to a full house at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart; Sarah Bowles (daughter of Sue Neill-Fraser whose case makes up the bulk of the book) spoke of the ongoing trauma endured by the entire family since her mother’s arrest in August 2009.

Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | Leave a comment

Gordon Wood v NSW: nearly malicious?

Posted on August 14, 2018 by andrew

In the wake of Justice Fullerton’s judgement (10/8/2018) that saw Gordon Wood’s claim for malicious prosecution against the State of NSW fail, Andrew L. Urban examines crucial parts of the judgement and finds them troubling.

It could be argued that Justice Fullerton’s judgement came as close as possible to a verdict for the plaintiff (Wood) without crossing the line to actually do so. Here is the argument for that view:

Continue reading →

Posted in Case 4 Gordon Wood | 1 Comment

Sue Neill-Fraser – a trying timeline 2009 – 2018

Posted on August 13, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban

In a cruel coincidence, Sue Neill-Fraser will attend the Supreme Court in Hobart for the final hearing seeking leave to appeal her conviction of murdering Bob Chappell, from Tuesday, August 21, 2018; a day after the ninth anniversary of her arrest. Whatever Justice Michael Brett’s decision, it will set off a chain of events impossible to foreshadow – and which will echo through legal history.

Continue reading →

Posted in Case 1 Sue Neill-Fraser | Leave a comment

Gordon Wood loses malicious claim

Posted on August 10, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban

Although Justice Fullerton offers serious criticisms of now retired Senior prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC’s ‘disingenuous’ behaviour at the 2012 trial, and the reasons for her decision at 500 pages make up the equivalent of a book, none of that will satisfy either Gordon Wood nor any of the critics of her decision to deliver a verdict in favour of the defendants, the State of NSW. Wood was hoping his malicious prosecution suit would further vindicate his successful appeal against his murder conviction. To complete the catastrophe for Wood, he has to pay all costs. Continue reading →

Posted in Case 4 Gordon Wood | Leave a comment

Murder by the Prosecution – pre-order now available

Posted on July 31, 2018 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban’s new book, Murder by the Prosecution, is now available for pre-order from Wilkinson Publishing Exposing some grave mistakes in Australia’s not-so-trustworthy criminal justice system, film critic-turned activist journalist Andrew L. Urban recounts how his life is changed when he is drawn into the field of wrongful convictions after reviewing a documentary about the case of Hobart grandmother, Sue Neill-Fraser, convicted of murder … without evidence.

Continue reading →

Posted in General articles | Leave a comment

Sue Neill-Fraser – what the jury didn’t hear

Posted on July 24, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban

By the evening of Australia Day 2009 in Hobart, the blustery wind was calming down and the fine day was turning into a balmy summer night. Helen set out for an 80th birthday party at a friend’s house. Her daughter’s splendid new yacht, Four Winds, was moored some 500 metres offshore in full view from the front windows of her house on Marieville Esplanade. By early next morning, Four Winds would be taking on water and her daughter’s partner was missing from the yacht.

Continue reading →

Posted in Case 1 Sue Neill-Fraser | 3 Comments

South Australia’s appeal court flouts the law

Posted on July 2, 2018 by andrew

Derek Bromley was convicted of murder in 1984, wrongfully, in the opinion of several legal experts; now, his latest appeal (June 2018) flounders when South Australia’s appeal court “fundamentally failed to pay due regard to the rule of law and to the well-established principles governing criminal appeals,” according to legal academics Dr Bob Moles and Bibi Sangha. “The principles espoused in the Bromley decision are not only contrary to established authority but have never before appeared in any legal judgment in Australia, Britain or Canada.”

Moles and Sangha have issued the following briefing note on this latest legal catastrophe in Adelaide, which amounts to a second wrongful conviction of Derek Bromley, already in prison for 35 years.

Continue reading →

Posted in Case 5 Derek Bromley | 4 Comments