Sue Neill-Fraser – Royal Commission to shine a light

Posted on January 28, 2019 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban.

In the wake of the Tasmanian Government’s dismissal today to consider a Royal Commission as urged by Civil Liberties Australia, we respectfully put forward this draft proposal for public discussion to form the basis of such a Royal Commission or an Independent Commission of Inquiry into the murder conviction of Sue Neill-Fraser, to shine a light on matters of public concern surrounding the entirety of the case. We do not share the Tasmanian Government’s ‘full confidence’ in the Tasmanian justice system.

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Sue Neill-Fraser author Colin McLaren to be silenced?

Posted on January 27, 2019 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban.

Why have prosecutors in the Office of the Tasmanian DPP insisted on referring to Colin McLaren, investigative author / documentary filmmaker working on the Sue Neill-Fraser case, as ‘an unlicenced private investigator’ – a criminal offence? Is he being intimidated to silence him?

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Sue Neill-Fraser – 10th anniversary of two catastrophes

Posted on January 26, 2019 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban.

January 26, Australia Day, 2019, marks the 10th anniversary of the disappearance and probable murder of Bob Chappell, a catastrophe to her partner Sue Neill-Fraser and the two Hobart families – and the beginning of the legal process that led to the catastrophic failure of the justice system in convicting her of his murder. 

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Sue Neill-Fraser case media frenzy coming

Posted on January 23, 2019 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban.

A veritable frenzy of media investigations into the Sue Neill-Fraser conviction is due to reach the public beginning on Australia Day, the 10th Anniversary of Bob Chappell’s disappearance, of whose murder she was convicted in 2010. And in the middle of it all, the February 5 Supreme Court hearing of her seeking leave to appeal …

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Tunnel vision and bad ‘science’ – a deadly mix in the justice system

Posted on December 29, 2018 by andrew

A year before Julie Rea’s exoneration for the murder of her 10 year old son, the National Academy of Sciences released a report that called into doubt the reliability of bloodstain-pattern analysis – exactly what led to Rea’s conviction, coupled with a tunnel vision investigation. This is a shocking case that condemns both, as reported by Pamela Colloff in The New York Times Magazine (Dec. 20, 2018).  Australia’s criminal justice system suffers from the same symptoms.

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Journalists, authors, filmmakers hunt the truth in Sue Neill-Fraser case

Posted on December 26, 2018 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban.

Two new books and a 6-part documentary series on the Seven Network – all investigating the murder conviction of Sue Neill-Fraser – will become available before and after the February 5, 2019, Tasmanian Supreme Court hearing into her seeking leave to appeal for a second time. None find evidence in favour of her conviction.

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What percent innocent?

Posted on December 26, 2018 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban.

A former heavy duty senior detective friend of mine (now a security consultant with a caustic sense of humour) and I have a standing joke: when he mentions a convicted criminal he grins, saying to me, ‘He’s innocent, too, right?’ The joke began when talking about cases I was researching for my book, Murder by the Prosecution(Wilkinson Publishing), and names came up, like Gordon Wood. Jokes aside, it is pretty certain that a percentage of people convicted of serious crimes (here and internationally) are indeed innocent. The latest figures being quoted hover around 6% -7%.

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Colin McLaren searches, finds, tells

Posted on December 24, 2018 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban.

‘Failure to search is failure to find’ goes the investigator’s mantra, and boy, does Ex-Detective Sergeant/Task Force Team Leader and latterly author Colin McLaren prove that to be true with his exhaustive and explosive book, JFK: The Smoking Gun (2013, Hachette). Now his new book is due out on January 29, 2019 – Southern Justice (Hachette), taking apart the tortured Sue Neill-Fraser case.  Continue reading →

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How do you solve a problem like Lawyer X?

Posted on December 12, 2018 by andrew

How does the State of Victoria mange a review of 380-odd criminal convictions in the wake of revelations about Lawyer X? As the law stands, the answer is ‘with enormous practical difficulty and delay’. Legal academic Dr Bob Moles and Associate Professor Bibi Sangha suggest how a fairly simple change in the law (as enacted by both South Australia and Tasmania recently) can resolve the problem created by Lawyer X.

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Sue Neill-Fraser – the ‘bias’ in my reporting

Posted on December 3, 2018 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban.

In the wake of the publication of my book, Murder by the Prosecution (Wilkinson Publishing, 2018), a few more people have muttered the word ‘bias’ in my direction, referring to the Sue Neill-Fraser case which makes up the bulk of the book. I say a few more because the word was invoked when I first started writing about the case. I think the suggestion is false; it has no merit.

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