Stephen Andrew Paton

Paton is a former drug squad senior detective who was charged with drug trafficking and possession in August 2001.

Whilst in the drug squad Paton was involved in several very large amphetamine and cocaine related busts which gave indications of how big, and widely spread, the drug problem had become.

In 1979 Paton joined Victoria Police as a cadet.

He was 17.

In April 1980 Paton graduated from the police academy.

He worked city traffic and the City West station but went to the Bureau of Criminal Intelligence as a junior while recovering from a motorcycle accident.

He worked on a taskforce investigating the underworld murder of Ian Revell Carroll, shot dead in Mount Martha in January 1983.

The suspect in the case was Australia's most wanted criminal, escaper Russell "Mad Dog" Cox.

During the operation Paton helped raid the homes of some of Victoria's most notorious gangsters.

He worked in the crime cars, Russell Street CIB, and the gaming and vice squads.

In 1996 he worked at a northern suburban CIB and became involved in an amphetamine investigation.

When the drug squad took over the job in December 1996 he was seconded there for a month.

He was invited back the following March.

Once in the drug squad, Paton saw a chance to build his own little empire.

He realised that occupational safety had been ignored, and began to study the problems of raiding amphetamine labs where unstable chemicals were stored.

After some raids police couldn't sleep for days - they had been unwittingly inhaling amphetamine fumes, and were high on speed.

When one lab was found at Sunbury, police had to evacuate the area for three days.

In 1999 he was put into frontline investigations.

His targets included members of the Moran family, including Mark, murdered in June 2000 but, for reasons that have never been explained, police removed surveillance only hours before he was shot.

During the investigation into Mark Moran, police became aware of another man seemingly on the periphery of the drug industry.

He would appear in the background of surveillance photographs, but no one knew his connections.

He was a businessman with a TV celebrity girlfriend, who thought nothing of spending $5000 on one night out.

Police profiled him and found he had spent $80,000 in 12 months on hire cars, and $150,000 on air fares.

He had 30 aliases, and was one of the biggest drug movers in Melbourne.

He was arrested with two kilograms of cocaine in August 2000, and Paton turned him into an informer, questioning him in a motel room for a month.

He later confessed to his girlfriend he had a problem with drugs.

She thought he was battling addiction, and promised to stand by him during rehabilitation, unaware he was a major dealer.

The cultivation of the informer was considered a coup, but he eventually became a source for internal investigators and helped set up one drug squad detective who is now facing serious drug charges.

Patron would later tell the Age that before Fraser's September 1999 arrest, he was approached by a senior member of the drug squad and told to plant cocaine in the suspect's home "as insurance".

"I was told to load up Fraser. I was no white knight, but I was livid: we had him cold, there was no reason to do it. We had enough on him."

He says he refused to plant the evidence and it was one of the reasons he first tried to resign, planning to join the Queensland police.

He was later persuaded to withdraw his resignation with the promise he would be able to work on high-priority targets.

The Fraser case had given him the start of a media profile and he liked the attention. "They (his superiors) appealed to my ego. I decided to stay."

But his attempt to leave was noted. "My resignation letter was pinned up at the squad with a spelling mistake circled."

Paton later told the Age that in October 1999 he sold one kilogram of pseudoephedrine to an informer for $10,000, then left the cash in a padlocked kitbag inside a squad locker.

When he returned from leave weeks later, he says, the two padlocks were cut and the money missing.

It was never reported.

Detective Sergeant Stephen McIntyre, of the drug squad, told Melbourne Magistrates Court that 100 grams of pseudo-ephedrine, found in Sloan's freezer, and about 90 grams of ecstasy tablets were seized during the raid on his home. 

A small quantity of cannabis was also found.

Police claimed that they had found drugs in a freezer and in an urn while they raided the kitchen of Sloan's house.

Sloan maintained from that day that he had been set up on the possession and trafficking charges and that evidence had been planted while he was in the custody of Stephen Paton.

Paton was a member of unit two of the drug squad, the group assigned to investigate amphetamine syndicates.

While the rest of the squad struggled to deal with heroin rings, unit two managed to arrest many of its top targets.

Their secret to success was a tactic known as controlled chemical deliveries.

In short, the unit bought chemicals that could be used to make amphetamines then, using a network of informers, sold them to suspects to try to follow the trail to the labs and manufacturers.

The drug squad bought so much of the anti-cold medication Sudafed, a drug that can be used in amphetamine production, it became the manufacturer's biggest national client, and was eligible for discounts.

According to Paton the system was out of control.

"It was not used as the last resort. It was used as the first and only resort."

Ombudsman Dr Perry estimated the amount of chemicals lost at 40 per cent to 80 per cent.

Paton says it was more like 90 per cent.

Between May and December 2000, Paton allegedly made at least 14 unauthorised purchases from three companies under the guise of police investigation work. 

A court later heard that Paton lied to a company where he was buying pure pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in speed, saying it was an operation involving the National Crime Authority.

In another allegedly unauthorised purchase, Paton and another drug squad detective facing unrelated drug trafficking charges, Malcolm Rosenes, allegedly duped a Mitcham chemical company into selling them illicit chemicals.

On March 31, 2001, Stephen Paton resigned from the police force. 

In later court hearings, Paton's legal representatives said that he'd left to join Queensland Police.

In May 2001, Robert Sloan appeared in court and pleaded not guilty on charges of trafficking and possessing pseudoephedrine and methylamphetamine. 

He pleaded guilty to other minor drug charges. 

Stephen Paton's evidence had been critical in the case and Sloan was convicted and jailed receiving a maximum sentence of four years and four months. 

A court was later told that in 1999 and 2000 Paton was the drug squad's liaison officer for chemical companies, which supplied the squad for legitimate stings.

The court heard Mr Paton bought more than 500,000 Sudafed tablets, as well as quantities of other chemicals used to make amphetamines and once told the chemical company not to put it on the drug squad's usual account because the drugs were for an investigation into corrupt police officers.

The value of the drugs, none of which have been recovered, was estimated in court to be worth in excess of $1.2 million on the black market.

He was remanded to the highest security wing of the Port Phillip Prison, locked away with some of the worst prisoners in the system.

Three days into his stint in maximum security, inmates began to yell out his wife's name and his unlisted home number.

Paton was granted bail on August 10, 2001.

His solicitor Joe Gullaci, told the Magistrates' Court that his clients life had been threatened after he was remanded into custody the previous week. 

"After twenty years in the police force there are a lot of people in jail who would like to get their hands on him", Gullaci said.

At Paton's hearing, the court heard that two detectives bought chemicals used in illegal drug manufacturing on the pretext they were investigating corrupt police.

It was alleged that Paton abused his position in the drug squad to buy chemicals worth millions of dollars on the black market, none of which has been recovered.

The court heard that Paton could have easily used his expertise gained in the squad to produce and distribute huge quantities of amphetamines.

A Police Corruption detective accused Paton of illegally buying more than 500,000 Sudafed tablets and copious amounts of other chemicals while he was the liaison officer between the drug squad and chemical companies.

On August 31, 2001, Bandido's motorcycle Club National Secretary, Robert Sloan successfully appealed to the states highest court after Paton and Malcolm Rosenes were arrested.  

Sloan was freed from jail when the Court of Appeals took the rare step of releasing a prisoner whose convictions for serious drug offences were based on the evidence of a drug squad officer recently charged of similar crimes.

The evidence of Paton and other arresting drug squad officers was seriously queried by the Court of Appeal.

Sloan's barrister, Len Harnett, said if he and the rest of Sloan's legal team had known that Paton was then under investigation for serious criminal conduct, he would have used that to attack the credibility of Paton, a very important witness.

The Crown reversed its decision to oppose Sloan's bail.

Sloan was bailed on $5000 surety and other conditions to appear at a later date for an application for lave to appeal against his conviction and sentence.

During the bail hearing for Malcolm Rosenes the previous day, it was claimed that Sloan had threatened that he'd taken out a jail house contract on the life of Rosenes.

The former drugs squad detective said that he was told by Sloan that he was going to kill him, "I don't care where or when", Sloan was alleged to have said.

These claims were dismissed by the bikie as being "incredulous and pathetic."

"Rosenes had nothing to do with my case, I don't know the man, it's an absolute lie" Sloan also said.

Paton appeared at the County Court hearing for Andrew Fraser in early October 2001.

He said that the claim he and Malcolm Rosenes had planted 5.5kg of cocaine was a blatant lie.

This was in response to barrister George Trakzyk's accusation that his client, Werner Roberts, had been blackmailed into smuggling cocaine into Australia and then supplying them to barrister Andrew Fraser who was later arrested.

Later, Stephen Paton who was second in charge behind Rosenes, told the court he was disappointed when Trakzyk informed him of his clients defence.

"It sounds like a fairly desperate ploy by someone who is saying everything they can to keep out of jail," Paton told the court.

Mr Trakczyk accused Paton of giving Mr Roberts eight African cocaine filled wall plaques after he arrived back in Australia.

"That is a blatant lie," Mr Paton told the court.

Roberts' defence alleged that during an overnight stay in Sydney before Mr Roberts drove back to Melbourne, Mr Paton, in a pre-arranged meeting, left his own motel nearby and put the plaques in the boot of Mr Roberts hire car.

Mr Paton denied the allegation and said he slept all night in a room with fellow drug squad officer Det Sen Sgt Wayne Strawhorn at a local pub.

The plaques containing the cocaine were seized when Mr Roberts returned to his St Kilda flat the following night.

It was later revealed that Paton and Rosenes gave their evidence to a jury who were unaware the pair were on bail after having each been charged with unrelated drug offences.

In evidence before the trial started, Bill Stuart for Ubanec, said police ethical standards department summaries against Paton and Rosenes proved they were guilty of high level corruption.

However Judge Hart refused to allow the pair to be questioned about the charges they faced after they both indicated in the absence of the jury they would not answer questions on the grounds they might incriminate themselves.

On April 9, 2002, it was reported in the Herald Sun that Sloan planned to sue police as the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions indicated in the County Court in Geelong it would not be pursuing Mr Sloan's case.

After an application the previous December by Sloan's solicitor Michael Coghlan, the DPP announced a nolle prosequi - the permanent discontinuation of the charges - in that matter.

In a letter to the DPP, Mr Coghlan argued that "complications could arise if the Crown sought to call Mr Paton in Mr Sloan's re-trial.

As Sloan was being told he was a free man, Paton faced Melbourne Magistrates' Court, where he waived his right to a preliminary hearing and reserved his plea on his own charges.

In doing so, Paton opted not to test immediately the allegations.

Mr Paton was bailed on a $100,000 surety to appear in the County Court where he was to face four charges of trafficking and possessing commercial quantities of amphetamines.

Mr Sloan told the Herald Sun he was very relieved but also a little disappointed with the DPP's decision.

"I thought they might say sorry," said the father-of-three. "I always said I was set up and now I have been vindicated."

Asked why he thought police would plant drugs on him, he replied: "Probably because I am in a motorcycle gang."

Sloan told The Age that he was pleased the matter was over. "It's been a long haul," he said. "It was obvious that someone put the drugs there but it certainly wasn't me.

Sloan said he would take civil action against the Victoria Police. 

On April 29, 2002 it was revealed in the Age that several cases involving Malcolm Rosenes and Stephen Paton would be reviewed.

A special police taskforce re-opened up to 12 drug squad cases after allegations that evidence had been fabricated and that some convictions could be unlawful.

Cases being checked included long-running prosecutions against suspects accused of trafficking large quantities of amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy and hashish.

The re-investigation included some investigations where suspects have been found guilty in jury trials.

All cases involving the two men are now being re-examined by the Ethical Standards Dept. task force to check if evidence they gathered was legitimate and can be corroborated.

All pending cases where the two detectives were key witnesses are being checked by a taskforce, codenamed Ceja.

On June 26, 2002, the Herald Sun reported that corruption claims against the former Victoria Police drug squad may lead to the release Tony Mokbel, a wealthy businessman arrested on massive drug importation charges in August 2001.

Rosenes and Paton were controlling the police informer who secretly taped Mokbel during alleged drug deals.

Prosecutor Bill Morgan-Payler, QC, applied for the Mokbel case to be adjourned.

He told Melbourne Magistrates' Court the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Coghlan, QC, had reached a decision the previous Friday that it was inappropriate to proceed with the Mokbel case while other police investigations that may affect it were continuing.

Mokbel's committal was due to start on July 15.

His counsel, Nicola Gobbo, said she would be opposing the adjournment application and seeking bail for Mokbel.

Magistrate Phillip Goldberg said he would hear the adjournment and bail applications the following day.

On June 27, 2002, a hearing of charges against Mokbel was adjourned over the corruption claims.

Chief Crown prosecutor Bill Morgan-Payler, QC, applied for an adjournment of the preliminary hearing charges against Mokbel who was accused of heading a $2billion dollar drug syndicate.

Mr Morgan-Payler told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court that other police investigations were under way that might affect Mokbel's case.

Mr Phillip Goldberg agreed to adjourn the preliminary hearing for Mr Mokbel and four co-defendants from July 15 until November 25.

The Herald Sun later reported that police bugs captured Mokbel claiming he was "in sweet" with Stephen Paton.

Mokbel was also heard saying that he had paid $200,000 to police to help him with court cases.

ESD investigators were also probing corruption allegations made by alleged drug dealer David Steven McCulloch against three other former drug squad detectives.

Det-Insp Paul De Santo, of ESD's corruption investigation division, said in court in March 2002, that one of the accused officers, a detective-sergeant who McCulloch alleges fabricated evidence, had requested an immediate investigation because of possible impact on the Mokbel case.

McCulloch, 52, was freed on bail in May 2002 pending the outcome of the ESD investigation.

Police Association secretary Paul Mullett said those charged with offences serious enough for them to be in custody should not be given special treatment as a result of the ESD investigation.

"They should be treated as separate issues," he said.

"It would be in the community's interest to not have these people on bail with the prospect of them offending again.

The police ethical standards department submitted the review to Nixon, and suggested more than 80 charges be laid against officers who were mostly former members of the drug squad.

Offences investigated by the taskforce included the planting of evidence and cash on suspects, drug rip-offs, protecting drug dealers and the theft and resale of chemicals used in drug-making.

The police investigation, codenamed Operation Ceja, was growing as more accused drug offenders made fresh allegations.

On January 14, 2003 the Age reported that Robert Sloan had lodged a lawsuit against three drug squad members, Victorian police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, and the State of Victoria for unspecified damages.

The father of three said he had to endure the "unpleasant" experience of five months in Port Phillip Prison for something he did not do.

He said the ecstasy, pseudoephedrine and amphetamines police allegedly found were planted in his Geelong home in an early morning raid almost three years before.

"They completely altered my life. They should give me enough money to re-alter my life again," he told AAP.

Sloan, who had to borrow money to pay the $60,000 he has racked up in legal bills to date, is suing for damages, costs and interest.

Mr Sloan said his time in jail affected his children - now aged four, 15 and 17 - and his health.

He had to be taken to hospital once a week while in jail to receive chemotherapy for a nerve disease that is aggravated by stress.

"You can't get more stressful than being in jail for something you haven't done," he said.

"I want some form of satisfaction. I want compensation for the court costs and for what they did to me. They assaulted me and put a gun in my (then) two-year-old daughter's face."

The claim, lodged in the Geelong County Court, had yet to be served on the defendants, and a date for the case had not been set.

A spokesman for Ms Nixon, Kevin Loomes, said Victoria Police had not received a writ or summons.

He said it was inappropriate to comment before the details of the writ were known.

The county court heard Paton bought 5.5kg of pseudoephedrine in five purchases from a Melbourne firm between October 1999 and May 2000.

Paton paid $935 for the drugs which were worth up to $110,000 on the illicit drugs market, the county court was told.

At the time, Paton was a detective at the drug squad's chemical diversion desk which ran a controlled delivery program in order to uncover clandestine amphetamine laboratories.

Paton's roll was to liaise with chemical companies which supplied the drugs for the sting operations.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Bill Morgan-Payler QC told the court the program was strictly regulated and all purchases had "to be specifically related to formally-organised operations of the squad".

But when Paton bought the bulk pseudoephedrine there were no operations running, Mr Morgan-Payler said.

"None of these five purchases were authorised," he said.

And in a second lot of 12 purchases between May and December 2000, Paton bought more than 400,000 cold and flu tablets for more than $70,000.

The tablets can also be used to make amphetamines and were worth up to $25 for a packet of 90 tablets on the black market, the court heard.

None of these purchases were lawful either, Mr Morgan-Payler said, although the chemical supply firm believed the purchases had been properly authorised by the Victorian police.

Paton later admitted to receiving "sums of between $20,000 to $30,000" for the drugs he illegally bought, the court heard.

Paton pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking not less than a commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine.

His plea hearing continues before Judge Michael McInerney.

On June 20, 2003 a judge announced that Paton would spend three years in jail after saying his actions had demeaned the force.

Paton's malicious crimes had been conducted for the "sole purpose of monetary gain", County Court Judge Michael McInerney said.

Paton expected a tough time in custody after being jailed for six years with a minimum non-parole term of three years.

Inmates in Port Phillip Prison's high-security Charlotte unit had already taunted Paton this week in the lead-up to his sentencing.

Jail sources said death threats had been flying at the disgraced former detective.

Inmates had goaded Paton with taunts such as, "You're dead, dog. You're f---ed."

Paton pleaded guilty in the County Court to two charges of trafficking in a commercial quantity of drugs.

In five unauthorised purchases, he paid $935 for 5.5kg of pseudoephedrine from a chemical company.

He then made 12 purchases of more than 400,000 cold and flu tablets, valued at $70,000.

The drugs had a black market value of about $230,000.

Judge McInerney said Paton's claim that he had received no more than $30,000 for his trafficking "beggars" reality, given the risks he had taken.

He said Paton's offending was aggravated by the abuse of his position.

"To make matters worse, he was a member of the squad specifically charged with preventing just this sort of crime," he said.

Paton admitted his offences to a police informer on June 13, 2001, saying: "The things I was doing may have crossed the border."

"To say the least, that was an understatement by Mr Paton," Judge McInerney said.

Judge McInerney said he totally rejected the argument that the culture of the drug squad was somehow responsible for Paton's criminal activity.

"To accept that argument demeans all the police officers who do not become criminals," he said.

"He was in those dealings for the obvious reason, and that reason was money."

Judge McInerney said a small cell within the drug squad created a "culture of dishonesty" that had nothing to do with good policing or "the vast majority of the police force".

But Paton's assistance to the Ceja taskforce had been "pivotal in rooting out corruption" in the drug squad, Judge McInerney said.

Paton, who sat stony-faced throughout the sentence, was led away as friends comforted his wife.

If Paton is taken to Port Phillip Prison, he can look forward to a choice for dinner of chicken salad, spaghetti or battered fish and chips.

Paton could be transferred to a special protection unit at Ararat jail, where high-profile prisoners -- including police officers and politicians -- are held.

"If they throw him in with other coppers he's still going to be in trouble because of what he's done," a prison source said.

"Wherever he goes, he's going to be in solitary. He might have a few rock spiders (pedophiles) as friends, but that will be about it."

Paton was interviewed several times by The Age in the year leading up to his trial on the condition his story would not be published until he appeared in court.

"I don't want anyone thinking I'm trying to put pressure on the judge," he said.

Paton told John Silvester he was standing in the small evidence room of the drug squad when a senior colleague said, "There's something for you in the top drawer", and walked out.

Paton opened the metal filing cabinet and saw a green drop file. Inside was $5000.

The 21-year veteran detective pocketed the money.

Years later, he wondered why.

"I didn't need the money," he says.

He had just received about $30,000 from the sale of land, and was not burdened with debt.

"I can't really explain why I did it. I am not looking for sympathy. I was a big, grown-up boy. I was a willing player, and I expect to go to jail for what I have done. I have been in a position of trust, and I have breached that trust."

He still struggled to explain how he turned from a detective with a reputation as an elite investigator to an opportunist who creamed off money with little hesitation.

There was no particular day he turned bad.

He said he slowly drifted, rather than consciously stepped over the ethical line of policing.

For years he saw and ignored police breaking laws, and eventually lost any perspective of what was right and wrong.

He said he went along with some illegal schemes because he wanted to be known as "staunch" - the police term for unquestioned loyalty to the Brotherhood.

"I just wanted to be accepted. If you weren't accepted you wouldn't get the good jobs and work on the good crooks. You would be one of the clock-watchers who walked out at 4.30 every afternoon and achieved nothing . . . did nothing.

"You had to be in with the right people to get on. Then you got the interstate junkets and the work cars. Your jobs were given a higher priority, and life was easier when you had someone with influence to look after you. The money was only part of it. It was secondary, really. It's just like when you're a kid, you want to be part of the cool gang."

Paton said that a few weeks after he took the $5000 in December 1999 he was given an envelope containing $2500 by a colleague who said: "This is how you make money around here." Again he accepted the cash with little thought of the consequences.

Over 12 months he admitted to receiving between $20,000 and $30,000, often in payments as small as $400.

The only lasting benefit was the battered 15-year-old sedan he bought with a few thousand of the profits.

"Where did the rest go? I really don't know. I've certainly got nothing to show for it."

Paton said he was no boy scout before he accepted money.

He had seen police in their attempts to convict suspects break laws they had sworn to uphold, but always he stayed silent - in his eyes he was being staunch.

He said he knows of two cases where evidence was planted on suspects in 1997 and 1998 as part of drug squad investigations.

But he told no one.

"You would see someone get a belting or see something snipped (stolen) and you wouldn't say anything. If I said, 'No, that's not right', I wouldn't have been accepted."

Ceja investigators gave evidence that Paton was threatened, including having bullets sent to his home.

With his guilty plea Paton will receive a discount on his sentence.

But he still has his doubts.

"Sometimes I think it would have been better to shut up and just do the time. At least I wouldn't have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life and worry about my wife and kids."

Surprisingly, Paton would still like to work for the police force he betrayed.

"I want to talk to young police after they have been in the job for a year. I want to tell them of the consequences.

"I have had to remortgage my home to pay legal bills. I have put my wife and children at risk. I have lost my job, my future and my respect. It nearly cost me my marriage. I couldn't see what I was doing was wrong.

"We were locking up crooks. You just forget where the line is."

No one would say anything about Paton on the record.

Many who worked with him feel betrayed now they know he was crooked. But one officer remembers him in the pre-drug squad days as a good detective, keen to make arrests. 

"I can't tell you why he went off the rails."

Another former policeman said he was "absolutely stunned" when he heard of Paton's arrest.

"He was the most charismatic bloke I ever worked with."

He sat in the box of the Supreme Court as a 12-person jury found him guilty of trafficking 2kg of pure pseudoephedrine to Mark Moran in May 2000 for $13,900.

On December 11, 2006 Strawhorn was sentenced to seven years' jail.

Strawhorn - who denied guilt - was stony faced as he was sentenced to a minimum four years inside.

Justice David Habersberger said Strawhorn's conduct undermined public confidence in the police force and betrayed police officers.

Strawhorn, a 29-year veteran of the force, stood stony-faced as the jury read out four "not guilty" verdicts before convicting him of the most serious charge.

The crucial witness in the case against him was former colleague Sen-Det Stephen Paton.

Paton told investigators he committed the crimes on Strawhorn's instruction.

He said Strawhorn ran a corrupt fiefdom at the squad in the late 1990s.

Strawhorn admitted during a covertly recorded conversation in 2003 that his whole team appeared to have spun out of control.

On December 11, 2006 Strawhorn was sentenced to seven years' jail.

Strawhorn - who denied guilt - was stony faced as he was sentenced to a minimum four years inside.