ID :
23179
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 18:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/23179
The shortlink copeid
Top WA cops face disciplinary action
(AAP) Two of Western Australia's top cops and a senior prosecutor face disciplinary action over their handling of a high-profile murder investigation and trial.
A report into alleged misconduct by public officers in the investigation and
prosecution of Andrew Mallard for the 1994 murder of Perth jeweller Pamela Lawrence
was tabled in the WA parliament on Tuesday.
The inquiry, headed by former NSW judge John Dunford QC and undertaken on behalf of
the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), found Assistant Commissioners Mal
Shervill and David Caporn had engaged in misconduct during the murder investigation.
It also found Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Bates engaged in misconduct
because of way he ran Mr Mallard's trial.
Mr Mallard was sentenced to 20 years jail and spent 12 years behind bars for the
murder before his conviction was quashed by the High Court in 2005. He was released
from jail in 2006.
His sister Jacqui said a CCC officer had travelled interstate to brief her brother
on the report.
"He's probably a wee bit disappointed," she said, adding she had hoped the report
would "be a bit harder".
Mr Shervill and Mr Caporn were two of five senior police officers investigated as
part of the inquiry, but no action was recommended against the other three.
Mr Dunford said the two assistant commissioners, then detective sergeants, had
caused witnesses to change their statements.
"The commission is satisfied that the changes were brought about either by
persistent and repeated questioning and/or by deliberately raising doubts in the
witnesses' minds until they became confused, uncertain or possibly open to
suggestion, and demonstrates a pattern which cannot have been an accident or
coincidence," Mr Dunford said.
Mr Shervill was found to have changed police records which he claimed had been
altered to exclude hearsay and irrelevant material.
"But the material altered or omitted was not hearsay or irrelevant, and so the
entries were false and in the opinion of the commission, the making of such false
entries amounted to misconduct ...," Mr Dunford said.
Mr Shervill's failure to provide original witness statements, a forensic report he
had requested be altered, and details of failed attempts to find a weapon capable of
inflicting wounds found on Mrs Lawrence amounted to misconduct, the report said.
Mr Dunford said Mr Caporn had provided incorrect and misleading information to a
police prosecutor in relation to the care of Mr Mallard, who has bipolar disorder.
He recommended the police commissioner make special provisions for interviews of
mentally-ill suspects by officers.
Mr Dunford found Mr Bates engaged in misconduct by his running of the trial, saying
he had failed to question forensic pathologist Dr Clive Cooke as to whether Mrs
Lawrence's injuries were consistent with the use of a wrench, which police said Mr
Mallard had identified as the murder weapon during interviews.
The CCC had difficulty accepting that the fundamental omission by Mr Bates was an
accident or oversight and that "it constituted a fundamental flaw in the reliability
of his (Mallard's) so-called confessions", the report said.
He also failed to disclose the testing of weapons on a pigs head to defence lawyers
engaged in the case, Mr Dunford said.
Mr Bates said he had cooperated fully with the CCC and would use every legal avenue
to challenge the findings against him.
"I conducted the prosecution of Andrew Mallard under difficult circumstances and did
not fail to disclose any relevant evidence. To suggest that I acted deliberately in
breach of my duties as a prosecutor is wrong and contrary to the evidence," he said
in a statement.
Mr Dunford recommended Mr Mallard raise a complaint with the Legal Practitioners
Complaints Committee regarding Mr Bates' conduct.
A cold case review identified British backpacker and convicted murderer Simon
Rochford as a prime suspect in Mrs Lawrence's murder.
Rochford committed suicide in his Albany prison cell after being named by the media
as a suspect in Mrs Lawrence's death.
A report into alleged misconduct by public officers in the investigation and
prosecution of Andrew Mallard for the 1994 murder of Perth jeweller Pamela Lawrence
was tabled in the WA parliament on Tuesday.
The inquiry, headed by former NSW judge John Dunford QC and undertaken on behalf of
the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC), found Assistant Commissioners Mal
Shervill and David Caporn had engaged in misconduct during the murder investigation.
It also found Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Bates engaged in misconduct
because of way he ran Mr Mallard's trial.
Mr Mallard was sentenced to 20 years jail and spent 12 years behind bars for the
murder before his conviction was quashed by the High Court in 2005. He was released
from jail in 2006.
His sister Jacqui said a CCC officer had travelled interstate to brief her brother
on the report.
"He's probably a wee bit disappointed," she said, adding she had hoped the report
would "be a bit harder".
Mr Shervill and Mr Caporn were two of five senior police officers investigated as
part of the inquiry, but no action was recommended against the other three.
Mr Dunford said the two assistant commissioners, then detective sergeants, had
caused witnesses to change their statements.
"The commission is satisfied that the changes were brought about either by
persistent and repeated questioning and/or by deliberately raising doubts in the
witnesses' minds until they became confused, uncertain or possibly open to
suggestion, and demonstrates a pattern which cannot have been an accident or
coincidence," Mr Dunford said.
Mr Shervill was found to have changed police records which he claimed had been
altered to exclude hearsay and irrelevant material.
"But the material altered or omitted was not hearsay or irrelevant, and so the
entries were false and in the opinion of the commission, the making of such false
entries amounted to misconduct ...," Mr Dunford said.
Mr Shervill's failure to provide original witness statements, a forensic report he
had requested be altered, and details of failed attempts to find a weapon capable of
inflicting wounds found on Mrs Lawrence amounted to misconduct, the report said.
Mr Dunford said Mr Caporn had provided incorrect and misleading information to a
police prosecutor in relation to the care of Mr Mallard, who has bipolar disorder.
He recommended the police commissioner make special provisions for interviews of
mentally-ill suspects by officers.
Mr Dunford found Mr Bates engaged in misconduct by his running of the trial, saying
he had failed to question forensic pathologist Dr Clive Cooke as to whether Mrs
Lawrence's injuries were consistent with the use of a wrench, which police said Mr
Mallard had identified as the murder weapon during interviews.
The CCC had difficulty accepting that the fundamental omission by Mr Bates was an
accident or oversight and that "it constituted a fundamental flaw in the reliability
of his (Mallard's) so-called confessions", the report said.
He also failed to disclose the testing of weapons on a pigs head to defence lawyers
engaged in the case, Mr Dunford said.
Mr Bates said he had cooperated fully with the CCC and would use every legal avenue
to challenge the findings against him.
"I conducted the prosecution of Andrew Mallard under difficult circumstances and did
not fail to disclose any relevant evidence. To suggest that I acted deliberately in
breach of my duties as a prosecutor is wrong and contrary to the evidence," he said
in a statement.
Mr Dunford recommended Mr Mallard raise a complaint with the Legal Practitioners
Complaints Committee regarding Mr Bates' conduct.
A cold case review identified British backpacker and convicted murderer Simon
Rochford as a prime suspect in Mrs Lawrence's murder.
Rochford committed suicide in his Albany prison cell after being named by the media
as a suspect in Mrs Lawrence's death.
