NEWS > 08 October 2008

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The Australian - Sydney,Austra
08 October 2008

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Western Australia Police Servi

WA police, deputy DPP face sac

TWO senior West Australian police officers and the state's deputy Director of Public Prosecutions face the sack after the Corruption and Crime Commission found the three had "engaged in misconduct" in the wrongful murder conviction of a mentally ill man.

But Andrew Mallard and his family are bitterly disappointed that the long-awaited report released yesterday did not recommend criminal charges against officers involved in the case.

Mr Mallard served 12 years in jail for the murder of Perth jeweller Pamela Lawrence after he was convicted in May 1994. He was freed after the High Court quashed his conviction in 2005.

The report recommended Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan and DPP Robert Cock consider disciplinary action against Assistant Commissioners Mal Shervill and Dave Caporn and Deputy DPP Ken Bates over their role in the initial murder investigation and subsequent prosecution. Both Mr O'Callaghan and Mr Cock had reasonable grounds to sack the men under the Public Sector Management Act, the commission found.

Last night Mr O'Callaghan acted, standing down Mr Shervill and Mr Caporn on full pay. The officers have 21 days to provide Mr O'Callaghan with evidence why they should not be dismissed. Mr Cock said he had began examining whether action should be taken against Mr Bates.

The CCC report said Mr Shervill had caused witnesses to alter their statements, made false entries on police running sheets, asked a chemist to delete all references to saltwater testing on Mr Mallard's clothing in a report provided to the defence, and had kept statements and forensic reports away from Mr Mallard's defence team.

The commission found also that Mr Caporn, who led the unresolved Claremont serial-killing investigation in the 1990s, had written a letter to the police prosecutor containing misleading information about the suspect, and caused witnesses to alter statements. Mr Bates was accused by the CCC of conducting the 1995 wilful murder trial on the basis that a wrench, drawn by Mr Mallard during questioning, was the murder weapon, but made no attempt to prove that Lawrence's injuries were consistent with the use of the wrench, while keeping results of forensic testing from Mr Mallard's legal team.

Police conducted a cold-case review of the murder in 2006 and concluded that another man, convicted murderer Simon Rochford, at the time serving a life sentence in Albany, was most likely the killer. Rochford committed suicide after being named in an ABC TV report as the key suspect in the Lawrence killing.

The CCC was damning of the entire investigation, from the way Mr Mallard's so-called confession was gained to the inability of detectives to see the similarities between the injuries inflicted on Lawrence and on Brigitta Dickens, Rochford's girlfriend, who was murdered by Rochford seven weeks after Lawrence died.

Mr Bates said he was "bitterly disappointed" by the report. "To suggest that I acted deliberately in breach of my duties as a prosecutor is wrong and contrary to the evidence," he said.

Mr Mallard's sister, Jacqui Mallard, said: "They imprisoned a man wrongfully by altering witness statements and deleting parts of reports and to my mind that's criminal." She said her brother was disappointed by the report. A compensation case was being prepared and would be sent to Attorney-General Christian Porter. Labor MP John Quigley, a Mallard supporter, said the state would have to pay at least $10million compensation.

Ms Mallard said the case was an example of police officers preying on the vulnerable. Her brother suffered from a mental illness and was subjected to an eight-hour interview directly after being released from a psychiatric hospital.

CCC commissioner John Dunford recommended that special provision be made for the interviewing of mentally ill suspects.

The report also acknowledged the work of Sunday Times journalist Colleen Egan, formerly with The Australian, Mr Quigley and Malcolm McCusker QC, who had been "instrumental in securing justice" for Mr Mallard.

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Article sourced from

The Australian - Sydney,Austra08 October 2008

WA police, deputy DPP face sac

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The Australian - Sydney,Austra
08 October 2008