In 2009 The Crime & Misconduct Commission (CMC) furnished a report into Allegations of Misconduct by Queensland Police appropriately called Dangerous Liaisons. It is a very interesting and damning but lenghty (140 pages) read. There are many instances of “Removing Prisoners from Custody” discussed. One of the alternate suspects in the murder of Leanne Holland was “removed from custody” on numerous occasions by detectives. Ostensibly, it was to assist with ongoing criminal investigations. This suspect however bragged it was to spend conjugal time with his wife, and “go to the pub”. The detective involved in the Holland murder was then transferred to another police district and the removal of prisoners from custody continued at his next posting. Pages 70 – 82 of ‘Dangerous Liaisons” refer to activities investigated by the CMC relating to that matter where ‘The General’ as he was known had his own locker at the local police station. The locker was marked “The General”. This man was serving life imprisonment for murder. He would be removed from prison, taken to the police station where he changed his clothes and released into the community for the day. Charges were laid against the detective but dismissed when his diary, which was part of the evidence, went missing. He later resigned from the police before disciplinary charges could be laid.
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PETITION FOR CORONIAL INQUEST
There has NEVER been a coronial inquest into the death of Leanne Sarah Holland. We believe an Inquest will help identify Leanne’s killer and we ask you to sign the attached petition.
To that end we are petitioning the Queensland Attorney General to order an Inquest into her death. The AG has previously refused applications by Graham Stafford and others to hold an Inquest. She deemed it was ‘not in the public interest’.
It is a requirement by law in Queensland that every unexplained death goes to the coroner. There is an ‘out’, usually where someone is arrested in relation to the death as happened in this case. Graham Stafford’s conviction for her murder was quashed therefore no one has been held accountable.
GREG CARY MEMOIR
We recently had the pleasure of having Greg Cary on the Podcast. If you live in Queensland you would definitely know of Greg; and possibly if you live in Australia also. Greg had a career with radio 4BC spanning some 30 years. Whilst on radio he became aware of the Leanne Holland murder. He interviewed many people regarding the murder and subsequent investigation and jailing of Graham Stafford. One of the more notable callers to his radio programme was the jury foreman on the murder trial of Graham Stafford. Greg has release his memoir called “An Absence of Certainty”. He devotes one chapet to two crimes he followed during his murder career – The Holland murder was one of them.
I highly recommend his book. It is an excellent read. You can purchase the book at http://www.gregcary.com
Cost is A$29.99 postage included.
PROFILE OF A KILLER
Criminologist Ann McMahon contacted us and offered to work up a profile of the killer. We gladly accepted. We provided her with all the relevant material. She had no prior knowledge of the case. She had no knowledge of the alternate suspects we had discovered.
Here is her report.
PODCAST – CHAPTERS 1-10
Chapters 1 – 10 of the Podcast “Who killed Leanne Holland” are available now at Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. Here is a link:
NERVOUS ONLINE TROLLS
It appears there are some VERY nervous people out there who are extremely upset about our forthcoming podcast. We have received some 30 emails threatening legal action if the podcast proceeds. Most of the comments are too offensive to display here. As the emails are all originating from the below IP addresses we can only conclude there are 2-3 people who are VERY concerned with the matter being put under the microscope in a podcast. These persons have concealed their identity and used false email addresses in their posts.
The contacts are all coming from the following IP addresses:
103.217.166.(240), 103.217.166. (19), 103.217.166.(224)
49.181.164.(61)
49.181.188.(97)
49.195.135.(172)
49.180.147.(144)
One email reads:” If you had bothered to read the police review you would know (name deleted) has an air tight alibi.”
The only known persons who have had access to the police review are (very) senior Qld police officers and some staff of Channel 7. As you may or may not know, the police review was illegally and unlawfully leaked to Channel 7 to enable them to use for commercial purposes. However, the Qld Police Service made no effort to investigate the leak. As only a handful of very senior police had access to the review I guess we know why no investigation was commenced.
In many of the other emails, the same unnamed person threatens defamation lawsuits if the podcast proceeds.
One comment that we can report reads as follows:”Dear Graeme just so you know Stafford groped and assaulted several of Leanne’s friends at the rental house in Alice street.”
How does this person know this? No women have come forward and made a complaint against Graham Stafford, to my knowledge. None gave evidence at his trial or in any of the appeals, about this type of conduct. Channel 7 made no mention of it when they broadcast various findings of the review. We have not had access to the police review but we believe Ch 7 would have made a big issue of this allegation if it were contained in the review. Would the Qld Police not investigate Graham Stafford if they had received such allegations? We believe they most certainly would! This case remains a continuing embarrassment to them.
If you are wondering why Graham Stafford nor his solicitors have not seen the police review we can say that the Qld Police have vigorously resisted the review being released for the past 6 years. In October 2019 the matter was finally resolved through the courts that the defence were entitled to receive the review. However, the review is yet to be released.
What is held in the review that the Qld Police found the need to fight so hard to prevent its release. When the review was initially announced, it was going to be transparent and available to all. They found a need to move the goal posts obviously.
I wonder what the REAL reasons are why these anonymous individuals do not want this podcast to proceed? After all, the podcast is only pursuing the truth about Who Killed Leanne Holland and to pressure the Qld Government into holding an inquest into the death of Leanne Holland. An inquest has never been held, despite it being a requirement of law in this state that an inquest be held in a death of this nature.
The podcast will be launching early April 2020.
Stay tuned.
STILL CHASING THE ELUSIVE POLICE REVIEW
You will recall I previously wrote an article titled “What is Happening” regarding the QCAT application to obtain the elusive Police Review. Graham Stafford’s lawyers initially applied to the Queensland Administrative Appeals Tribunal (QCAT) in March 2016 to set aside the decision of the Information Commissioner refusing access to the Police Review with a hearing into the matter in September 2016. There is a Practice Direction in the Qld Supreme Court that judgments should be delivered within 3 months. However, the system obviously doesn’t always work that way. Judgement was finally delivered in May 2019. More than 3 years after lodging the application!
Even two newspaper articles about the delay by David Murray of The Australian did not appear to have any impact on the timing of the delivery of the verdict.
QCAT found in favour of the applicant (Stafford) but in a bizarre twist, rather than order the Review to be handed over Judge Sheridan ordered the matter be remitted to the Information Commissioner in case there were other grounds for exemption!
You will find the actual decision attached.
However, in the meantime the QPS appealed the decision. The matter has been referred to the Court of Appeal which in Queensland means the Supreme Court. The matter is set down for hearing on Friday 18 October 2019. The QPS have engaged a Queen’s Counsel to appear on their behalf so to say they are defending the matter vigorously would be an understatement. We can only hope we do not have to wait 3 years for a decision.
Why do I have the feeling the QPS do not want the Police Review released under any circumstances? If they are confident of their investigation and findings what do they have to hide? Do they forget that police commissioner Atkinson, when announcing the review stated publicly the review would be open, accountable and available to all upon completion. Who overrode that directive? And on whose authority? And what was the pressing need that required an otherwise straight forward review to be closed, unaccountable and available to no one? And finally, what is the pressing factor that they have to defend release of the review so aggressively?
I am very keen to know how they dealt with the matters I alerted them to in the lead up to the review including the time of death, other possible suspects, police fabricating evidence and committing perjury and various other matters as raised in the book “Who Killed Leanne Holland?”.
I have been told only very brief snippets of the review. One such snippet was a group of some 12 forensic scientists reviewing the scientific evidence concluded Stafford could not have acted alone. There has NEVER been any suggestion of an accomplice. So based on that result alone, why hasn’t the QPS reopened the investigation to identify and prosecute the accomplice? So many questions, so few answers.
We can only hope that obtaining the Police Review will answer so many questions.
HAS LEANNE’S KILLER BEEN ARRESTED?
In December 2018 on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland a 66 year old male was arrested and charged with four counts of Rape and one count of Indecent Treatment of his 11 year old granddaughter. He was held in custody but eventually granted bail. We cannot identify this man due to Qld legislation, so I shall call him Pedo.
Pedo appeared in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court in April 2019 and was committed to stand trial in the Maroochydore District Court on all charges. No date for the trial has yet been set. We shall watch with interest when it does.
At his committal hearing we were able to take photographs of him leaving court.
Pedo has a lengthy criminal history dating back to at least 1970. He has convictions for many offences, including sexual offences and has served several terms of imprisonment. He was sentenced to, and served 8 years imprisonment for the incest of his two daughters in 1998.
During my investigations into this murder I nominated three persons who were, in my opinion, more likely to have murdered Leanne Holland than Graham Stafford. Pedo was one of those persons I nominated.
I have been told that in the Police Review, Pedo was exonerated and eliminated as a suspect in the murder. I have also been informed I was criticized for even suggesting he may have been involved. Channel 7 used Pedo as their start witness and go to person to show Graham Stafford was the rightful offender.
I also claimed that Pedo was at the body dump site dressed as and in the company of detectives. A claim QPS strenuously denied, despite one of the detectives on the Police Review team telling me personally that Pedo had been at the crime scene. In a podcast presented by Channel 7, Pedo claimed he attended the home of the deceased on the morning the police investigation started, at the request of detectives, to ‘see what he could find out’. QPS have stated this was the murder site. So we now have a career criminal with a lengthy criminal history at a crime scene and body disposal site.
A photo is in existence of the male accompanying police at the body disposal site in 1991. We were able to have an expert compare that photograph to the photograph of Pedo taken outside Maroochydore Magistrates Court in 2019. Although there is a gap of some 28 years between photographs, we were told there is a ‘strong’ resemblance between the two person depicted in the photographs.
I have asked this question before and must ask it again:” What is a criminal doing attending crime scenes and seemingly involved in a murder investigation?”. The question becomes particularly relevant when a NUMBER of persons believe HE was involved in the murder of Leanne Holland.
The presumption of innocence aside I have prepared two profiles.
GRAHAM STAFFORD- 56 years of age. No criminal history. No history of sexual offending. No motive presented for him killing Leanne Holland. No witnesses to him killing Leanne Holland. No direct evidence of him killing Leanne Holland. Forensic and circumstantial evidence only connecting him to the crime which has been heavily criticized and contested. Does not smoke and never smoked. He only knew Leanne for approx 3 months. Has not offended since his release from prison in 2005. His conviction for the murder was quashed but he remains the only suspect. Continues to campaign his innocence of the crime.
PEDO – 66 years of age. Lengthy criminal history including sexual offences. Has served several terms of imprisonment including 8 years for incest of his daughters. His daughters claimed he burnt them with cigarettes. Leanne Holland had similar marks on her body. He did smoke at that time. Her lived next door to the Hollands for some years and lived at the Holland house for a few weeks before the murder.It has been claimed he took Leanne on trips with him in his truck. His daughters claim he had sex with them in the same bush spot where Leanne’s body was found. his daughters claimed he told them they would end up like Leanne if they told anyone what was happening between them. Other close family members support claims made by his daughters.
There has never been an inquest into the death of Leanne Holland, despite this being a requirement under Queensland legislation. Graham Stafford and a number of other persons have written to the Attorney General requesting an inquest. The AG’s official position is that ‘it is not in the public interest’.
The above and many other matters need to be explored by a coroner to get to the real truth behind the murder of Leanne Holland.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
I am asked this question many, many times by people following the Stafford case. What can I say? I explain that we are patiently awaiting the next step in the legal process. Why is it taking so long, they say! Where are we at? Currently the matter of Graham Stafford V The Information Commissioner & The Queensland Police Service is before the Queensland Civil & Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) (APL 092-16).
To recap how we arrived at this point. In 2010 the QPS agreed to hold a review of the original police investigation into the murder of Leanne Sarah Holland. It was to be open, accountable and available to all upon completion. The review was completed in December 2012 but regrettably it was not open, there was no accountability and access to all was refused. Several requests to access the review were made but all eventually refused.
In September 2014 lawyers for Graham Stafford made an application to QPS for Right to Information to gain access to the review. This was refused in February 2015 by QPS. The lawyers then turned to the Information Commissioner who upheld the QPS position in February 2016.
Following that decision the lawyers then filed a claim in QCAT seeking an order to obtain the elusive police review. A hearing was held before Judge Sheridan in September 2016. She reserved her decision.
In March 2017 Channel 7 went to air with a story called Murder Uncovered. The world was told they had a copy of the 500 odd page police review completed in 2012. The same report no one had been able to legally obtain to that time. QCAT held a further hearing in June 2017 to determine the relevance of that information. It will be shortly two years since the initial hearing and Judge Sheridan is yet to hand down a decision on the Application.
There is a Practice Direction in the Qld Supreme Court that judgments should be delivered within 3 months.
In desperation, the lawyers wrote to the President of the Qld Law Society in May 2018 to intervene. A letter was written to the President of QCAT. The response?
“I am aware that this decision is outstanding beyond the target date for the delivery of QCAT decision. Resourcing and personal pressures within QCAT have led to there being a backlog of outstanding decision. I have, within the resources available to me, put in place measures designed to at least alleviate the backlog, Those measures will, however, take some time to produce results”.
In the event QCAT find in favour of Graham Stafford the QPS can appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal. They have always stated the report was released unlawfully and they are the victim. The identity of the leaker is apparently unknown. It is understood only 10 copies of the report were ever printed. Each copy was supposedly encoded.
Which raises the question of what action has been taken to prosecute the leaker. The QPS has been very silent on what action, if any, has been taken to identify and punish the offender. No complaint has been made, it seems, to the Crime & Corruption Commission. The matter was referred to the CCC by the Attorney general but no action was taken. No search warrant has been executed on the offices of Channel 7 or the senior crime reporter who had possession of the leaked document. Interviews have not been conducted of those shown the review by Channel 7.
Now consider how the QPS treats other leakers. Take the case of Sgt Rick Flori who leaked video footage of officers bashing a handcuffed man in a Gold Coast police station in 2012. The QPS pursued him relentlessly for six years until he was finally found not guilty of misconduct in the Southport District Court in February 2018.
It is no secret there will never be a demand by the QPS nor the Qld Government to Judge Sheridan to present her much awaited judgement. This case has been a huge embarrassment for both parties since the 1990’s when it became very evident there were significant problems with the murder conviction. In 2005 Graham Stafford was given early release from prison after serving 14 years and 9 months. In 2009 the conviction was quashed. The DPP was quick to advise there would not be a retrial. Not in the public interest they said. More embarrassment followed when the chief prosecutor for the DPP publicly announced he refused to prosecute the original murder case as he believed Stafford was innocent. The first time he had refused a brief in a 30 odd year career. The brief was handed to another prosecutor.
The QPS are adamant Graham Stafford is the offender and acted alone. They point to the 2012 review to support their position.
Repeated calls by Graham Stafford for a Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Leanne Holland have been rejected. Not in the public interest they said. Despite it being mandatory in Qld for an inquest in a death such as this.
Waiting patiently.
RED FLAGS AND WHAT DO THEY MEAN
Wikipedia defines a red flag as follows:
- Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem
It is well known that many criminal and civil cases have been referred to the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia based on a single red flag identified in the court material.
So what do you do when you find some 50 red flags in a single case? As I did in my investigations into the murder of Leanne Sarah Holland. When the police refused to look at the material, the case ended up in the Court of Appeal and the High Court (twice). In 1997, over 14 years after those discrepancies were found, the murder conviction of Graham Stafford was overturned.
In 2010, after a LOT of pressure, the Qld Police Service agreed to review their original murder investigation. An impartial, unbiased, thorough review of the job done by their brother officers. The review was to be transparent and the findings were to be released to the public. Two years later assistant commissioner Mike Condon announced they were satisfied with the original investigation and the outcome. The review found Graham Stafford was the killer, he acted alone and the matter was closed. So what about the red flags identified? They did eliminate/clarify each and every issue raised, or at least some of them, right? Well, we do not know what they did or did not investigate. The QPS and/or the DPP have fought long and hard to stop the police review being released for all to see just how thorough, impartial and complete the review was. There has been finger pointing from both sides as to who is stopping the report being released. Five years on we are still awaiting a decision from QCAT as to whether the report will be released. Can we trust that the QPS at least looked at the major red flags including time of death, multiple sightings, and the other possible suspects? Given their appalling track record in relation to this case I believe that until the review is made public, justice cannot be seen to be done. To muddy the waters further, the QPS have advised the Qld Government an inquest is not necessary as the killer was properly identified. Not in the public interest. Does someone have something to hide here?
RED FLAGS IDENTIFIED WHEN REVIEWING THE ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION AND SINCE
- Murder investigation commenced the morning after Leanne Holland reported as a missing person.
- “Murder of Holland” and “Homicide” recorded on documents prior to body being found.
- It was evident Graham Stafford was only ever suspect.
- No motive determined for Graham Stafford to commit the murder.
- On duty detectives deemed not experienced enough to undertake missing person investigation. More experienced police bought in on overtime.
- Forensic examination of family home the same morning (the only home searched)
- Graham Stafford vehicle seized that day for forensic examination (the only car seized).
- Obvious frustration of forensic police that no blood found on Graham Stafford clothing in house.
- What was the collection day for the wheelie bin.
- A forensic officer observed a live maggot in the boot of vehicle owned by Graham Stafford but did not seize it.
- Officer seized the maggot 24 hrs later from the boot, still alive.
- Three scientists refuted the maggot.
- Exhibit 27, a photograph of the boot contents contradicts this claim.
- The numbering of the exhibit bottles holding the maggots taken from the body.
- The discrepancy around the time of finding the maggot and the delivery of exhibits to forensic laboratory at 11.35am on Thursday.
- One scientist described the single maggot as shrivelled and desiccated; the second scientist described it as larger than the others with food in its crop.
- Two police were detailed to search for Leanne Holland, on motorcycles – a total of approx. 10 hours searching a potential area of several hundred sq kms to find the body.
- The evidence of the daughters of the convicted paedophile we call Pete.
- Pete acting as a police consultant and attending both crime scenes (since denied by Qld Police).
- Who owned the clothing the deceased was found in. Was it owned by a daughter of the man we call Pete?
- The Crown always claimed Graham Stafford acted alone.
- At trial, crown witness stated two vehicles were together at crime scene where body located. No effort made to locate second vehicle.
- The police review found more than one vehicle involved.
- Scientific review of the case concluded more than one killer.
- Witness sightings by 2 crown witnesses did not match Graham Stafford car.
- Graham Stafford was at home at time both witnesses saw car in the bush.
- Soil from the crime scene did not match soil taken from Stafford’s car.
- The tyres on Graham Stafford vehicle were said to be identical with the tyre impressions at the scene.
- Two tyre experts disputed the tyres on Graham Stafford’s car matched the tyre impressions found at body disposal dump site.
- The impact of the tyre evidence presented to the jury.
- The significant lack of ‘window of opportunity’ for Graham Stafford to commit murder.
- Lack of blood on property and clothing owned by Graham Stafford.
- Lack of blood in the house, despite evidence to jury to contrary.
- No evidence of blood in the bucket on back stairs; jury told otherwise.
- Lack of blood in Graham Stafford vehicle; evidence to jury to contrary.
- The missing (not missing) hammer owned by Graham Stafford.
- The impact of the not missing hammer presented to the jury.
- Lack of blood at body disposal site.
- Bizarre injuries found on deceased.
- Cigarette burns on deceased.
- Cigarette butts found at scene but not collected.
- Cigarette lighter found at scene
- Graham Stafford did not own a lighter
- Graham Stafford did not smoke.
- The queries surrounding the garbage bag found under the body.
- Evidence of next-door neighbour.
- The pornographic material found in Leanne Holland bedroom.
- Claims that Leanne Holland was seeing several young men ignored.
- By mixing up the day Graham Stafford attended the doctor, the Crown claimed that he was inventing an alibi for Monday. If that was the case, why did he not mention going to Redbank Plains shopping centre, Franklins, and the car wash.
- The time of death of the victim.
- The blood in the hair of the victim.
- The incorrect conclusions by police of the peroxide in the hair theory.
- The then chief Qld forensic officer concluded the murder did not occur in the house and the body was never in the boot of Stafford’s car.
- Other family members not eliminated as leaving blood found on items in car.
- Two forensic scientists contradicted blood transfer onto items in boot.
- The seemingly indisputable evidence of the bank teller.
- Conduct of the grandfather of deceased.
- The failure to produce the CCTV footage from the car wash.
- Actions of police upon approach by Graeme Crowley.
- The compelling sighting of a girl matching Leanne at 3.15pm on the Monday at the Goodna special school. (not known at trial).
- The compelling (but disputed) sighting of Leanne outside the Cecil Hotel at 4pm on the Monday.
- Sighting of Leanne Holland on the Tuesday.
- Crown prosecutor refused to prosecute case.
- The murderer Sean McPhedran.
- The Hobart murderer Mark Thomas Noble.
- The two profilers’ opinions.
- The marks on the underneath of car owned by Graham Stafford.
- The impact of video evidence presented to the jury.
- The conduct &background of Trisha Lynch & family.
- Undercover officer placed in cell with Graham Stafford concluded Graham Stafford was not the killer.
- Claims of innocence by Graham Stafford, even after release from prison.
- Request for coronial inquest repeatedly refused by Qld Govt.
- Startling claims made by son of nominated killer of Sharron Phillips.
- The police review – why do they refuse to release the report, ten years on.
- How did the police review team address all the above concerns; or did they?.
Who Killed Leanne Holland 