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.
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 …
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.
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.
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%.
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
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.
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.
Andrew L. Urban.
In the wake of the Victorian State election on November 24, 2018, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party (probably with four shiny Upper House seats) will seek to make public on a website the register of sexual offenders currently kept by police, including the photo and address of each offender. What is the objective of this policy? Is it wise?
Andrew L. Urban.
Giving explosive evidence before the Budget & Finance Committee of the South Australian Legislative Council (November 5, 2018), Dr Bob Moles outlined why he believes a Royal Commission is needed into the State’s several failures in allowing the unqualified and discredited forensic pathologist Dr Colin Manock to continue his work – unchecked for decades.