Police accused of planting gun in 1988 shooting

The Ombudsman is reinvestigating the 1988 police shooting of armed robbery suspect Graeme Jensen after new claims by a suspended detective that crucial evidence was planted at the scene.

Jensen was shot dead by police in Narre Warren on October 11, 1988.

The day after, two police were shot dead in Walsh Street, allegedly as a payback over Jensen's death.

Police maintained they fired on Jensen in self-defence when he threatened them with a rifle as he tried to escape in his Commodore station wagon.

An unloaded sawn-off .22 rifle was later found at the feet of Jensen inside his car after he was shot dead. A coronial inquest found that Jensen had possession of the gun when he was shot.

But a policeman facing serious drug charges, Detective Sergeant Malcolm Rosenes, now claims the gun was planted by police.

By John Silvester - The Age

Killer scoops cash for bets (Herald Sun)

Triple killer Gregory John Brazel has sweet-talked an elderly woman into putting up to $30,000 into his TAB telephone betting account.

The benefactor was Brazel's religious counsellor before she retired from volunteer prison duties.

The "donations" happened while Brazel and the woman maintained their friendship in a series of phone calls the murderer made from Barwon Prison, near Geelong.

Brazel, a convicted double killer awaiting sentence over a third murder he has confessed to, is said to have received up to $30,000 from the woman over four years.

The TAB account is operated by another female friend.

Bikie sues over drug conviction (The Age)

A bikie gang leader is suing the Victoria Police claiming he was set up on drug charges in a violent police raid on his house and wrongly sent to jail.

Robert Kim Sloan, 45, a Bandidos Motorcycle Club national secretary, has 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, psuedoephedrine and amphetamines police allegedly found were planted in his Geelong home in an early morning raid almost three years ago.

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

Peter Allen charged over armed robbery - (The Age)

A member of Melbourne's most notorious underworld family appeared in court yesterday charged with the armed robbery of a post office in Melbourne's inner east.

Peter John Allen, 49, of Richmond, represented himself during yesterday's filing hearing and lively bail application in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Mr Allen, who once ran a heroin ring from prison and has often defended himself in trials, is the son of crime matriarch Kath Pettingill and the brother of the late Dennis Bruce Allen, drug dealer and murderer.

Mr Allen is charged with one count of armed robbery, one count of the theft of a motor vehicle, and a count of possession of a firearm.

Before his arrest Mr Allen had been on bail for a previous armed robbery.

Police allege that Mr Allen, wearing a balaclava and armed with a sawn-off shotgun, went to the Australia Post building in Toorak Road, Hartwell, about 2pm on January 8 this year. He demanded cash from an attendant, and was followed by a witness when he fled the building, the court was told.

The witness prodded Mr Allen with a club lock and smashed the back window of the car in which Mr Allen and another man drove off, the court was told.

Mr Allen is alleged to have said to the driver of the getaway car: "Just shoot him," referring to the witness. The court was told the number plates on the car belonged to Mr Allen.

When Mr Allen told the court that he was applying for bail, Mr Jones said to him: "Geez, you're pushing your luck."

Mr Jones adjourned the hearing, saying that the bail application was a "bit premature".

Mr Allen told the court: "I'll stay in jail a few days, angry."

Wendy Peirce questioned over gun-toting

Police have questioned the slain gangster Victor Peirce's widow over an incident in which a gun was produced at a hotel.

Detectives arrived at Wendy Peirce's Port Melbourne home and took her took her to the South Melbourne CIU offices.

They wanted to talk to her about an incident at the Price Alfred Hotel in Port Melbourne in which a gun was produced last November (2002).

A bottle was smashed over the bar and a gun brandished after a woman and a group of young men at the hotel exchanged words. No firearm has been found.

Farrell dead

In another amazing coincidence, another of the accused in the Walsh Street Shootings, Anthony Farrell, was reported to have been found dead.

3AW's Neil Mitchell reported that Anthony Farrell had been found dead in a Templestowe house. This was apparently the result of an over-dose.

The report was later changed to "Farrell's father was found dead.""

Anthony's father was a former boxer known as "Mushie".

The possibility of a forced over-dose, or hot-shot was also bandied about on the radio show. Several members of the Farrell family were known heroin users.

Plan for book on police killer ( The Age)

The brother of police killer Bandali Michael Debs has appointed a solicitor to negotiate a book deal to tell the story of Debs' blighted childhood and early crimes.

Robert Rutherford said he had been contacted by at least two publishers interested in his life story and the unique perspective he could put on Debs' background.

"No one knows Ben like I do. He is a very volatile person if you hurt him," Mr Rutherford said. He claimed Debs' first crime was an armed robbery on a shop that he committed with a friend when he was just nine years old.

More on the Silk-Miller murders

It's life for police killers (The Age)

Police killer Bandali Debs was sentenced to life in prison with no minimum term and his accomplice Jason Roberts sentenced to life with a minimum 35-year-term.

Applause filled the courtroom as Debs received his sentence. Both men were dressed in dark suits and betrayed little emotion as they took notes throughout.

Justice Cummins said the pair had acted together, had shown no remorse for their crime and had little prospect of rehabilitation.

"These killings were calculated, deliberate and callous," he said, describing how Mr Debs had executed the wounded Sergeant Silk with a cold-blooded shot to the head from close range.

Justice Cummins told a packed courtroom that the killing of the Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller had been a calculated act aimed at preventing the officers from apprehending the convicted men.

More on the Silk Miller Trial

Police killer Jason Joseph Roberts broke down in a fit of depression and was put on suicide watch during his first night in prison after being jailed for at least 35 years.

Roberts - the younger of two men sentenced on Monday over the murders of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller - is said to have lost the plot as the realisation of his fate hit home.

"He was in the admissions area and he broke down," a prison source told the Herald Sun. "It finally hit home that he's in the big boys' camp now."

More on the Silk Miller Trial

Two men who admitted helping supply a drug squad detective with ecstasy were jailed for at least 4 1/2 years.

Claude Vanounou and Shemeul Ohaion were linked to a Holland-based Israeli crime syndicate that had identified Australia as a target, the County Court heard.

Police found 52,500 tablets worth up to $4.4 million after arresting the pair on July 29, 2001.

The court heard the arrests followed a police informer's co-operation with detectives who were investigating apparent corruption in the drug squad involving Sergeant Malcolm Rosenes.

Mr Rosenes allegedly claimed on July 2 to be able to supply the informer with 100,000 tablets at $18 each and gave him six tablets as samples.

The informer bought 2781 tablets from Mr Rosenes for $40,000 over the next few days and on July 26 told him he could be interested in more, the court was told.

Police killer a VIP in jail (Herald Sun)

One of the killers of Gary Silk and Rodney Miller was made an official role model and counsellor to young inmates by prison authorities.

Jason Joseph Roberts, 22, is serving 35 years for his part in the brutal murders of Sgt Silk and Sen-Constable Miller.

But the Herald Sun has learned Roberts was rewarded with special responsibilities inside Port Phillip Prison while on remand in March 2001.

His duties as a peer educator included counselling impressionable new inmates aged between 17 and 19.

The job allowed him to move more freely in the prison, talk regularly with inmates in his care, assist in writing documents and compile weekly reports for the unit co-ordinator. Sources said it also gave Roberts hero status among inmates.

Magistrate Lisa Hannan found there was a real chance Strawhorn might attempt to interfere with witnesses.

The father of three was arrested at home on seven charges, including conspiring to traffick a commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine and making threats to kill.

His body was found in the street beside his black, late-model Mercedes.

Police said the man had been talking to two other men just moments before the shooting.

The victim and a companion were travelling in the Mercedes in company with a third man, who was driving behind them in a silver Toyota.

The Mercedes parked at the side of Queen St about 25m from the intersection of Reynard St and the Toyota pulled up next to it.

The three men then got out and began talking by the roadside.

Korean ''Drug Ship'' seized.

The Pong Su was seized by SAS troops, the navy and police off the NSW coast after allegedly dropping the high-grade heroin off Boggaley Creek, 14km west of Lorne, a week earlier.

About 50kg, worth $80 million, were seized from a van on the Great Ocean Road on April 16 after the body of a drowned courier was washed up on the beach.

Police also found 75kg of heroin hidden in bushland off Great Ocean Road on May 7.

Another 25kg is believed to have been lost at sea.

DNA links police killer to teen's murder (Herald Sun)

DNA has linked police killer Bandali Debs to the rape and unsolved murder of a teenage girl.

A DNA profile of semen taken from the body of Kristy Harty has been matched to Debs.

Ms Harty was raped, shot dead and dumped in scrub at Upper Beaconsfield in June, 1997.

Debs, 49, is serving a life sentence for the murders of Sgt Gary Silk and Sen-Constable Rod Miller at Moorabbin in 1998.

Detectives are believed to be close to completing a brief of evidence against Debs in relation to Ms Harty's murder.

Police sources say the DNA link places Debs with the 18-year-old shortly before her death, but is not enough to prove he killed her.

Detectives believe Ms Harty, a rebellious, itinerant teenager, was abducted while hitchhiking on the Princes Highway near Dandenong on June 17, 1997 – less than a fortnight after her 18th birthday.

More on Debs and the police shootings

Controversy hits Big Brother (The Age)

Big Brother was last night standing by the first housemate in the new Gold Coast compound after revelations he had resigned from the Victorian police force in disgrace.

A spokesman for Big Brother confirmed former policeman Benjamin Archbold was arrested 17 months ago for offensive behaviour and exposing himself but was not convicted and served a good behaviour bond.

Barry Perry ill

State Ombudsmen Dr Barry Perry is recovering in hospital after collapsing will taking a walk in a friend's Daylesford paddock.

Dr Perry has recently over-seen inquiries into the activities of the drug squad and has led every major inquiry into the police since 1988.

Underworld murders task-force introduced.

Victoria Police has announced the formation of a task-force to investigate Melbourne's growing list of unsolved, underworld related murders.

These include the shootings of Mark Moran, Dino Dibra and Victor Peirce and came on the heels of Nik Radev's murder earlier in the month.

Chopper Read got his head on Nine News saying: ''If you shoot someone in 1938 in Melbourne, their great-grandchildren will walk up to you in a pub in Collingwood and blow your brains out.''

Standover man's killer remains a mystery (The Age)

An inquest into a brazen Melbourne underworld execution has revealed that the killer stared directly at an eyewitness immediately after the shooting.

But despite Andrea Louise Davies' close encounter and a $100,000 reward, the slayer of notorious standover man Richard "The Lionheart" Mladenich (pictured in Site Map button - top left) remains a mystery.

Coroner Phillip Byrne will deliver an open finding after the inquest into the death of Mladenich, 39, from a bullet to the head in a St Kilda motel on May 16, 2000.

A homicide squad detective told the inquest Mladenich, who also called himself King Richard, "had an inflated view of his position" and attracted many allies and enemies.

One of the latter, at about 3.30am, entered room 18 of the Esquire Motel, a haunt of prostitutes, heroin dealers and addicts, and shot Mladenich.

Ms Davies was in bed beside her sleeping boyfriend, Gabbi "Rocky" Jabbour, talking to Mladenich as another man slept in a chair.

Mr Jabbour told police he suspected a man named Rocco Arico of the murder.

Arico was jailed in June 2001 for nine years with a minimum of seven over a near-fatal road-rage shooting in July 2000.

In December 2001 his minimum sentence was increased after he admitted to a daylight kidnapping that netted him and his co-offenders who included executed drug dealer Dino Dibra, a $5000 ransoms.

Gun find linked to Moran murder plot

Kevin Andrew Farrugia, a convicted kidnapper who was serving a four-year-and-nine-month sentence, was caught by prison guards with a loaded .22 revolver in his cell, at the time Lewis Moran was in custody.

Cannabis, 11 vials of steroids, four syringes, a mobile phone, a file and a screwdriver were also found.

Police later investigated allegations the gun was meant to be used to kill Lewis Moran, and that Roberta Williams (left), wife of Carl, owned the gun found in the cell of Farrugia.

Roberta Williams was questioned by police over then alleged conspiracy to murder Moran while he was in custody.

On November 10, 2006, detectives investigating Melbourne's gangland killings took her in for questioning at St Kilda Road Police headquarters, over allegations she attempted to plan the murder.

Roberta Williams was released from police headquarters without charge.

ABC radio's PM program reported that it understood Kevin Farrugia had also been interviewed over the alleged conspiracy, and had not been charged.

Police arrested on heroin charges

Four serving and former police officers - including three ex-drug squad detectives - have been charged with serious heroin and other criminal charges.

They were arrested by ethical standards department police working on a special anti-corruption taskforce and charged in relation to an alleged $1 million heroin trafficking syndicate.

Charged were:

• Detective Senior Constable Ian Ferguson, 34, of the Crime Department and based at Corio, with trafficking a commercial quantity of heroin, conspiracy to traffic heroin, perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to money launder.
• Sen-Det Ferguson's police officer wife, Senior Constable Joanne Ferguson, 36, a uniformed officer from Corio, with conspiracy to traffic heroin and conspiracy to money launder.
• Detective Senior Constable Glenn Sadler, 37, stationed at Fitzroy, with trafficking heroin, conspiracy to traffic heroin, conspiracy to money launder, perverting the course of justice, blackmail and bribery.
• Former Detective Sergeant Stephen Cox, 39, no longer in the force, with trafficking heroin and conspiracy to traffic heroin.

The court heard that the trio became involved in a heroin and bribery ring in April 1999 while they worked in the former drug squad investigating heroin trafficking in the CBD.

Prosecutor Julian Leckie, SC, said that the three policemen began their association with an alleged heroin trafficker when he was granted bail in May 1999 after agreeing to become a drug squad informer. More

A secret witness to the murder of Jane Thurgood-Dove was revealed, as a $1 million bounty was posted on her killer.

That person saw the Niddrie mother gunned down in front of her three children outside their home in 1997.

The witness has identified a serving police officer, who is the prime suspect.

But detectives said the witness's identification alone was not sufficient without other evidence to lay charges.

Triple murderer scolds magistrate (The Age)

Notorious triple murderer Gregory John Brazel castigated a Melbourne magistrate as he faced court on charges of assaulting a corrections officer.

Brazel, 44, was jailed for 27 years in March after confessing to a third murder committed almost 20 years ago.

He was already serving a 34-year term for the murder of two prostitutes in 1990.

Brazel represented himself in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday on four charges relating to the assault of a corrections officer in the Port Phillip Prison hospital on July 24 last year.

After formal procedures, magistrate Lisa Hannan asked Brazel, who is ineligible for parole until 2030, if he wished to apply for bail.

"Do you know who I am?" Brazel answered.

Former drug squad officer pleads guilty to trafficking (The Age)

A former Victoria Police drug squad detective today pleaded guilty to trafficking commercial quantities of pseudoephedrine after buying the drug without authority from a chemical supplier.

The county court heard Stephen Andrew Paton, 41, 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.

$1m bounty on supergrass (Herald Sun)

Australia's supergrass – the informer who brought down Victoria's drug squad – says he is not being properly protected despite a $1 million underworld contract on his head.

The informer, who has worked for corrupt police, honest police and some of the state's biggest drug dealers, says he fears for his life.

A Victoria Police taskforce, which has charged five police with drug-related corruption, was formed as a direct result of his work as a double agent.

The informer, who cannot be identified because of court orders, is soon to be released from jail after serving a sentence for drug offences.

Once a big-spending jetsetter with a TV celebrity girlfriend, he says his life will never be the same.

"My life is in danger because I exposed police corruption," he wrote in a letter sent from jail and seen by the Herald Sun. More

Witness in drug case 'fears for life' (The Age)

Star" prosecution witness against alleged drug baron Tony Mokbel said during a failed bid for a secret court hearing yesterday that his life was at stake.

Mark Banda, 40, now in Port Phillip Prison, sought an in-camera hearing of a dispute with Commonwealth prosecutors over his assets.

Jeanette Morrish, QC, for Banda, described him as a star witness in a case that involved one of Victoria's biggest cocaine importations.

Banda gave evidence to support the secrecy and suppression applications, which The Age and the Herald Sun opposed.

He said Mokbel - with whom he was allegedly involved in importing 2.9 kilograms of cocaine from Mexico in November 2000 - was a wealthy man.

Gangster's widow gets bond on two charges (The Age)

The widow of slain gangster Victor Peirce yesterday pleaded guilty to hindering police after a car crash and to criminal damage over an incident in which she smashed a neighbour's windows.

Wendy Margaret Peirce, 46, escaped conviction and was granted a good-behaviour bond in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Corrupt cop jailed

Stephen Andrew Paton, the first corrupt Victoria Police drug squad officer to be sentenced will spend three years in jail after a judge said 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, 41, can expect 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 have 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 have goaded Paton with taunts such as, "You're dead, dog. You're f---ed."

It can now be revealed that Paton will give evidence against the former head of the drug squad, Senior-Sergeant Wayne Geoffrey Strawhorn.

Mr Strawhorn was charged in March with seven offences, including conspiring to traffic a commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine and making threats to kill.

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

Officer suspended in drug corruption probe (The Age)

Another former member of Victoria's disbanded drug squad has been suspended on the recommendation of the anti-corruption Ceja taskforce.

A police spokesman confirmed the senior constable was suspended from duty today "as part of the investigation conducted by the Ceja taskforce".

The detective had recently returned to uniform duties after working with the drug squad on some of the state's biggest drug busts.

He helped investigate prominent Melbourne solicitor Andrew Fraser, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence over cocaine importation.

He had also been involved in investigating Tony Mokbel, who has been accused of heading a $2 billion drug syndicate.

The suspended officer was named in September 2003 as Paul Firth.

St Mary's Star of the Sea hosts Moran's funeral.

Parish priest Father Joe Martins led Jason Moran's funeral and said every person who had their funeral service at the church was treated the same way.

"Any funeral presents a challenge. Obviously, the church does not make judgments about the person. They need the prayers and whatever the church can do for them," he said.

"They have to answer to God. We will not deny them."

Drug case ex-cop claims: "I'm innocent" (Herald Sun)

Former drug squad detective Russell Geoffrey Bassett has been charged over missing drugs with a street value up to $27 million.

Bassett, 43, claimed he was the victim when 175kg of pseudoephedrine he was transporting was stolen in Australia's biggest drug hold-up in August 2001.

But today he faced court charged with stealing and trafficking the chemicals, which are prized in the black market for making amphetamines.

"There's no way known I'm going to run away from these charges when I'm 100 per cent innocent," Mr Bassett told Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

"I just want an opportunity to prove there has been a travesty of justice."

The former policeman of 20 years' service, who left the force in 1999, had allegedly boasted to a friend of a job worth $17 million that would be "the biggest in Australia".

The court heard he was hired to drive seven 25kg drums of pseudoephedrine, lawfully used in cold and flu tablets, from the airport to a chemical company on August 1, 2001.

Pay or I'll sue, says informer (Herald Sun)

A drug squad informer who helped bust one of Australia's biggest amphetamine gangs is threatening to sue Victoria Police for money he claims is owed.

The informer, who wants to be known as Mr Smith because he cannot be identified, claims he is owed about $50,000 after helping the former drug squad as an informer and secret operative on six investigations.

His biggest scalp was the cook of arguably Australia's biggest amphetamine gang that allegedly provided slain gangster and drug kingpin Jason Moran with a lot of his speed. More

Stolen shotgun haul may fuel underworld war (The Age)

Police fear eight shotguns stolen from a Footscray firearms shop may have been taken specifically for use in the underworld war that has claimed 17 lives in the past five years.

Thieves stole eight "under and over" style shotguns from McDonald's Gunshop in Barkly Street, Footscray, just days after underworld figures Jason Moran and Pasquale Barbaro were murdered on June 21 in Essendon North as they collected children from a football match.

The stolen guns, worth $12,500, have two barrels, one on top of the other, and are similar to the gun used to kill Moran and Barbaro.

Mallia found dead

The charred body found in a drain was that of the 18th victim in Melbourne's gangland wars, Mark Mallia, a low-level criminal and close associate of murdered stand-over man, Nik Radev.

Mallia is thought to have been identified by a distinctive tattoo found on the body's left shoulder.

The body was discovered when fire-fighters were called to a fire in a storm water drain in Ralph St, Sunshine West.

After the flames were extinguished, the body was found along with the remnants of a council wheelie-bin.

Channel Ten's evening news suggested that Mallia had once employed Radev as a body-guard.

State gets earful over Chopper portrait (The Age)

The Victorian government has been accused of supporting ex-criminals while ignoring their victims after the State Library bought a painting by felon-turned-celebrity Mark "Chopper" Read.

The library purchased a Read self-portrait, called Tast Ful Old Criminal, for $1,450 during a Melbourne exhibition of his work earlier this month.

The painting compares Read with bushranger Ned Kelly.

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said it was "disgraceful" government money was going to a convicted criminal.

"I am quite surprised that the government could let money go to ... I suppose you'd call it a fund for old criminals," Mr McNamara said.

"The nearest Chopper comes to Van Gogh is he cut his ears off."

Suspended former detective named (The Age)

It was revealed former senior detective Paul Firth, who led the prosecution of millionaire businessman Tony Mokbel and former criminal lawyer Andrew Fraser was suspended on full pay in July after earlier returning to uniform duties.

He is suspected of having committed a jailable offence.

Mr Firth was named in a Melbourne court by barrister Geoff Chettle, who was appearing for Mr Firth's former boss, Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne Strawhorn (awaiting trial on charges including drug trafficking and threatening to kill fellow officers.)

Mr Chettle told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that Mr Firth had been suspended, but that it was not clear whether he had been charged.

Zayat ambushed in fifth gangland murder this year

I was a dealer, says drug squad cop (Herald Sun)

Suspended detective Malcolm Rosenes today admitted dealing drugs.

Rosenes used a police informer to buy 10kg of hashish from the father of slain gangster Jason Moran and two ecstasy tablets linked to accused crime boss Tony Mokbel, a court heard.

The County Court was told Rosenes was on sick leave when arrested after receiving $50,000 to buy more than 15,000 ecstasy tablets from an Israeli crime syndicate.

Rosenes, 50, pleaded guilty to trafficking in a commercial quantity of ecstasy, two counts of conspiring to traffic in cocaine and one count each of trafficking in cocaine, cannabis resin and ecstasy and possessing ecstasy.

Bashed murderer wants compensation (Herald Sun)

A notorious triple killer and prison troublemaker is suing for hefty compensation for being bashed twice behind bars.

Gregory John Brazel, 48, claims prison officers deliberately or negligently exposed him to the risk of assault after other prisoners had threatened him.

His lawsuit exposes taxpayers to a potentially hefty payout, despite Brazel not being eligible for parole until 2030 when he will be 75.

In the first assault, at Barwon Prison, Brazel was beaten with a sandwich maker, an exercise bike seat and a vacuum cleaner pipe after prisoners broke down a window to get at him.

During the trial of the five maximum security prisoners charged with bashing Brazel, the County Court heard it took them 45 minutes to break the window, using a rowing machine as a battering ram.

The second assault happened after Brazel was transferred to Port Phillip prison, after several weeks in hospital. There he was slashed with a broken bottle.

Personal injury lawyers yesterday said if Brazel's claim was successful he could win a payout of up to $100,000.

Policeman cleared of murder (Herald Sun)

A policeman who was the prime suspect in the Jane Thurgood-Dove murder mystery has been cleared by police.

The man, who had a relationship with the slain mother of three, was yesterday dismissed as a suspect in the 1997 murder.

Mrs Thurgood-Dove, 35, was killed in the driveway of her Muriel St, Niddrie home about 4pm on November 6, 1997.

Family members rushed to the Wildwood Rd property after the bodies were found at 12.20pm. on Monday October 20.

One neighbour said she saw Mrs Gulyas return late on Sunday to the property, which is on a quiet stretch of road nestled in the hills to the north of Sunbury.

The house is surrounded by a high wire fence and has what appeared to be an electronically operated steel gate.

Det-Insp Bernie Rankin, of the homicide squad, said the couple were last known to be alive on Sunday night.

Det-Insp Rankin would not say whether the bodies were found in the same room.

He said it was too early to speculate on the circumstances of the deaths as specialists combed the property for clues.

The wealthy couple helped run an international dating agency.

Their agency, Partner Search Australia, specialises in linking Victorian men with Russian and Asian women.

Mrs Gulyas, a Thai-born mother of three, held a senior position with the agency, which is based in Sydney Rd, North Coburg.

The dating agency is suspected of doubling as a brothel.

The Herald Sun believes Consumer Affairs Victoria twice investigated Partner Search in the past 12 months over accusations it ripped off lonely hearts.

In the most recent case, the agency was forced to refund a dissatisfied client $6250, with another $3000 still in dispute.

Gulyas counted murdered gangster Nik "The Russian" Radev among his friends.

Partner Search has a bar and restaurant where stand-over man and drug dealer Radev often went for a drink.

A friend said Gulyas was devastated when Radev was shot dead in April.

Gulyas, a truck dealer, feared for his safety after a business deal turned sour in the months before his death.

He had been threatened in front of witnesses.

The Herald Sun has been told he took the threats seriously and beefed up security at his business, The Truck Man, in North Coburg.

Mr Gulyas, who claimed to have been a mercenary in his native Hungary, was said to have been livid after losing a six-figure sum in the deal.

"He was mega-sh. . .y. There was plenty of aggro. I don't know how he sorted it out," a colleague said. "Steve said, 'Don't worry, I'll get it back'."

Mr Gulyas regularly bought used trucks at Fowles Auctions and did them up for sale.

Those who knew the animal-loving Mr Gulyas said he was a hard businessman but a good friend in a crisis.

Fowles Auction Group truck manager John Davies said Mr Gulyas saved his life when he had a heart attack three years ago.

"He was the only one there. I was gone. I owe him my life," he said.

Gulyas had told neighbours he thought he was being watched and told a neighbour he thought his phone was being tapped.

The neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said he thought at the time that Mr Gulyas was "a bit paranoid... He was a bit concerned about people keeping an eye on him."

But six months before his death, Mr Gulyas installed what the neighbour described as a prison-like security compound with a metal fence around it and electronic gates.

"You couldn't get inside unless you rang him first," the neighbour said.

One of the couple's neighbours in Catherine Street, Coburg, where their main residence was, said Mr Gulyas bought three guard dogs several months ago, saying they were for the Sunbury property.

Mr Gulyas usually took them up to the Sunbury property on weekends but did not take them last weekend, he said.

The Sunbury neighbour said Mr Gulyas came over to visit him at his house and to introduce himself when he bought his secluded weekend property in Wildwood Road two years ago.

He described the Hungarian-born Mr Gulyas as "affable as you would expect from a used truck salesman".

Mr Gulyas gave the impression that he had a Russian connection and travelled overseas often, he said.

He said when Mr Gulyas and his partner were at the Sunbury property they were often accompanied by a heavily built man who may have been a bodyguard.

He said neighbours often heard target shooting from the property on weekends.

Two days after the couple's bodies were found detective Inspector Bernie Rankin said that the couple were not known to police and there was nothing to link the murders with Melbourne's recent gangland slayings.

It was too early to say if there was a brothel industry connection to the murders, but the police investigation would cover any links the couple may have had to the sex industry, he said.

Slain man said he was being watched
By Andra Jackson, Ian Munro
The Age
October 22, 2003

Wealthy dating couple executed
By Mark Buttler and Paul Anderson
Herald Sun
October 21, 2003

Family denies role in gangland killings (Herald Sun)

A family suspected of organising up to five of the murders in Melbourne's underworld wars has denied being behind the carnage.

A man who is the older half of an accused father-and-son amphetamines dealing team made the denials after Melbourne's 20th underworld killing of the past five years.

A close associate of the clan, Victor Brincat, faced court charged with killing Michael Ronald Marshall, 38, an amphetamines dealer and former kickboxing champion.

The father and son were at Melbourne Magistrates' Court and spoke briefly to detectives from the Operation Purana taskforce investigating underworld killings.

But the father -- awaiting trial on a major amphetamine trafficking charge -- said yesterday he and his son had nothing to do with any of the violence.

"I can say categorically . . . It's rubbish. It's nothing to do with me," he said.

The family has also been investigated over the gangland murders of:

DRUG dealer Mark Moran outside his Aberfeldie home in June 2000.

MARK'S brother Jason at a children's football clinic in June this year.

SMALL-TIME criminal Pasquale Barbaro, who was sitting beside Moran in the van.

WILLIE Thompson at Chadstone in July.

The father admitted he had been questioned by homicide squad detectives investigating the murder of Jason Moran, an amphetamine dealer and standover man.

Brincat is a suspect in the killing of Moran and his mate Barbaro.

The father, whose son was shot in the stomach by one of the Morans several years ago, said he was not involved in the deaths of either brother.

Marshall, 38, suffered fatal gunshot wounds after being ambushed near his Williams Rd,

South Yarra home on Saturday night.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he knew Brincat well. "I know Victor. He's a nice fellow. If I know (Prime Minister) John Howard, does that make me a better person?" he said.

On Marshall, he said: "Never met the bloke Don't know what he looked like."

The father said he might have once met amphetamines dealer Willie Thompson, who was gunned down after leaving a martial arts class at Chadstone in July.

Thompson was a close associate of Marshall.

The man denied he had made a fortune dealing drugs, pointing out he had a modest brick home in Melbourne's outer northwestern suburbs.

"Do I look like a drug kingpin? There's no gold statues here. I'm not a millionaire or anything. I've got nothing to hide," he said. "I wouldn't be paying for that (a contract killing)."

An underworld source told the Herald Sun some of the recent deaths had been part of a "program of elimination" orchestrated and financed by criminals out to control the amphetamine trade.

Brincat, 43, of Southbank, and Thomas Hentschel, 41, of Cheltenham, faced court over Marshall's death amid tight security.

The pair appeared briefly in the prisoners' dock of Court 12 at Melbourne Magistrates' Court charged with the murder.

They were surrounded by nine prison officers and two police during the short hearing.

Lawyers, police and members of the public entering the courtroom had to give their names and show identification.

Brincat, who wore a navy tracksuit top and grey track pants, signalled to someone in the court to bring him clothes as he was led from the dock.

Both men were remanded in custody until February 2.