"What the police did not realise, is that another man killed Pamela Lawrence that day. It was Simon Rochford A few weeks before that he had killed his girlfriend the same way. He was caught for the first murder and was serving a life sentence. Both murders occurred in the same area within weeks of each other, with the same MO and similar matching evidence being found at both scenes, yet Detective David Caphorn remained ignorant and did not connect the dots. He was later promoted. What happened then defies belief. A bloody palm print from the Laurence scene had been lifted and recorded and then filed and never checked or investigated. When they did finally find it and it was purposely hidden by police it was found it matched Simon Rochford. Before police could interview him, he killed himself in Albany Prison."
TREVOR DUNEN:
Trevor Dunen's self-description: "Trevor Dunen is an accomplished singer/musician/songwriter and started writing stories seriously in the year 2000, although he has written most of his life. He is currently studying journalism at university. In 2006 Trevor won a $13500 grant from the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art for his teleplay "Sight Unseen", the story of the history of racism against Aborigine's in the rural town of York, Western Australia. He became well known as a writer all around Australia for his postings on blogs regarding convicted Australian drug smuggler Shappelle Corby and still continues to be well read on his blogs today. Trevor now lives with his 19 year old twin sons in Geraldton West Australia. He is studying Journalism at Griffith University and is currently writing another book based on his life."
---------------------------------------------------------TREVOR DUNEN:
Trevor Dunen's self-description: "Trevor Dunen is an accomplished singer/musician/songwriter and started writing stories seriously in the year 2000, although he has written most of his life. He is currently studying journalism at university. In 2006 Trevor won a $13500 grant from the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art for his teleplay "Sight Unseen", the story of the history of racism against Aborigine's in the rural town of York, Western Australia. He became well known as a writer all around Australia for his postings on blogs regarding convicted Australian drug smuggler Shappelle Corby and still continues to be well read on his blogs today. Trevor now lives with his 19 year old twin sons in Geraldton West Australia. He is studying Journalism at Griffith University and is currently writing another book based on his life."
BACKGROUND: WIKIPEDIA;
Andrew Mallard is a Western Australian who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released from prison in 2006 after his conviction was quashed by the High Court of Australia. Mallard had been convicted of the murder of Pamela Lawrence, a business proprietor, who was killed at her shop, on 23 May 1994. The evidence used in Mallard's trial was scanty and obscure, and it was later revealed that police withheld vital information from his defence team. Almost twelve years later, after an appeal to the High Court, his conviction was quashed, and a re-trial ordered. However, the charges against him were dropped and Mallard was released. At the time, the Director of Public Prosecutions stated that Andrew Mallard remained the prime suspect and that if further evidence became available he could still be prosecuted. In 2006 police conducted a review of the investigation and subsequently a cold case review. As a result they uncovered sufficiently compelling evidence to charge convicted murderer Simon Rochford with the murder of Pamela Lawrence and to eliminate Andrew Mallard as a person of interest. After being publicly named as a suspect, Simon Rochford was found dead in his cell in Albany Prison, having committed suicide. The Western Australian Commission on Crime and Corruption investigated whether there was misconduct by any public officer (police, prosecutors or Members of Parliament) associated with this case and made findings against two policeman and a senior prosecutor. A book about the case, "Murderer No More: Andrew Mallard and the Epic Fight that Proved his Innocence" was written by Colleen Egan, the journalist who campaigned on Mallard's behalf for eight years. It was published by Allen & Unwin in June 2010;
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"This book is investigative journalism at its best. Author Colleen Egan tells the complete story of a man named Andrew Mallard who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent 12 years in jail, only to be exonerated in spectacular fashion," the book review begins under the heading, "Murderer no more: Andrew Mallard and the epic fight that proved his innocence - by Colleen Egan.
"Andrew Mallard was a lonely forlorn figure. At 30 he didn’t have much going for him. He was homeless, suffering from mental illness, and addicted to marijuana. He was hanging around, and sleeping rough in an outer suburb of Perth Western Australia, Mosman Park," the review continues, under the sub-heading, "He spent 12 years in prison befre they realized his innocence."
"Andrew Mallard was a lonely forlorn figure. At 30 he didn’t have much going for him. He was homeless, suffering from mental illness, and addicted to marijuana. He was hanging around, and sleeping rough in an outer suburb of Perth Western Australia, Mosman Park," the review continues, under the sub-heading, "He spent 12 years in prison befre they realized his innocence."
"A quite leafy suburb only a few minute from the beach and Fremantle some of the wealthiest people in Australia lived the by the river, including Alan Bond and Lang Hancock. It also housed low income earners and public housing. It had a reputation for the fact that it had many eclectic shops and cafés in the area, selling high end art and jewellery.
On 23st May, 1994, Mallard was seen in the area when jeweller, Pamela Lawrence, a vivacious, bubbly, fun loving woman, aged 48 was found bashed unconscious, on the floor of her fashionable costume jewellery shop.
The police arrested Mallard after witnesses saw him in the area. They couldn’t get a confession out of him so they got an undercover cop to befriend him. He bought him dope and a bong and planted crucial evidence from the murder scene on him.
A corrupt Detective named David Caphorn then set about coaching Mallard into telling him a fictitious account of what he thought happened to the murdered jeweller. Once the cops got Mallard to recite this dream scenario to their satisfaction, they convinced him to recite the false confession on video. They then charged him with murder and amazingly, with the aid of some very dodgy forensic evidence, they convicted him of murder and he was jailed for life in 1995.
It didn’t take interested parties long though to realise that the police had set Mallard up, including high profile lawyer and ex-police Union lawyer Quigley. The irrepressible, and enthusiastic John Quigley. Quigley set about pulling the police case apart and eventually proved Mallard’s innocence.
It all worked like this. The police needed a quick arrest to tidy up the matter, as the Premier of West Australia was putting pressure on the police to get anyone they could for the crime. There had been at least ten unsolved murders in the area in the past decade, including a serial killer who took and murdered at least four girls. None of these crimes were ever solved and the public had had enough.
Mallard and his many talented supporters set about getting new evidence, which they did quite successfully, yet the arrogant and bloody minded West Australian judiciary refused to listen. They continued to frustrate every attempt to prove the truth, and sent Mallard back to jail, no matter what evidence they had.
What the police did not realise, is that another man killed Pamela Lawrence that day. It was Simon Rochford A few weeks before that he had killed his girlfriend the same way. He was caught for the first murder and was serving a life sentence. Both murders occurred in the same area within weeks of each other, with the same MO and similar matching evidence being found at both scenes, yet Detective David Caphorn remained ignorant and did not connect the dots. He was later promoted.
What happened then defies belief. A bloody palm print from the Laurence scene had been lifted and recorded and then filed and never checked or investigated. When they did finally find it and it was purposely hidden by police it was found it matched Simon Rochford. Before police could interview him, he killed himself in Albany Prison.
No police were ever charged with any crime. Caphorn resigned but was given a plumb high paying, administrative job with FESA, Fire and Emergency Services Administration.
Mallard was exonerated and released by the courts twelve years after first being jailed and was eventually given an ex-gratia payment of $4 million for his time in jail, he moved overseas to escape unwanted attention.
I always research any book I might read quite extensively before I read it. I do not waste my time on rubbish. This book was riveting and dramatic with plenty of twists and turns,. and highs and lows, but the ending is a happy one."
http://wildchild1962.hubpages.com/hub/Murderer-No-More
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
