Veteran homicide cops clash over murder 'confession'
Two veteran homicide detectives are at loggerheads over a so-called murder confession that appeared in a draft statement unearthed by the Lawyer X inquiry.
The clash between the two retired policemen, Ron Iddles and Steve Waddell, centres on whether lawyer and informer Nicola Gobbo told them she heard a confession to the murder of Shane Chartres-Abbott, also known as the vampire gigolo.
Former Victoria Police homicide detective Ron Iddles leaves the Royal Commission on Thursday.Credit:AAP
Both men were adamant their version was the truth in their evidence to the royal commission investigating Ms Gobbo's conduct on Thursday.
Mr Waddell said he had no doubt “whatsoever” that Ms Gobbo told them about the confession when they took a statement from her in Bali in May 2009.
Mr Iddles said: “I have no recollection of that confession whatsoever” and he would have done “a handstand” if it occurred as it would have been the “first bit of direct evidence” against their suspect Mark Perry.
Former homicide detective Steve Waddell outside the inquiry on Thursday.Credit:Eddie Jim
Ms Gobbo’s evidence to the commission about the statement has shifted. At first she said the confession never happened, implying police doctored her statement. But under cross-examination from Victoria Police she conceded it was possible it happened, but she couldn't remember it.
The statement was never signed nor was it used or disclosed in the court case against Mr Perry, who was acquitted of Chartres-Abbott’s murder in 2014.
Mr Waddell, who is represented by lawyers for Victoria Police, said Ms Gobbo’s statement was worthless because she never told them about the confession when they first spoke to her a year earlier.
“I had very grave reservations about that so-called admission that was made to her,” he said.
Ms Gobbo told Mr Waddell and Mr Iddles in her chambers in 2008 that fellow lawyer Jim Valos said to her that one of his clients knew who had killed Chartres-Abbott.
The detectives flew to Bali in May 2009 where Ms Gobbo was in hiding with her police handlers because she had received death threats.
Mr Waddell said both he and Mr Iddles took turns typing out the statement on the same laptop and both were in the room when she talked about the “confession”. He couldn't remember who was typing at the time.
Mr Waddell said the confession was typed into the statement in Bali and it was “impossible” that it was added later.
“Is that just because of your very clear memory of it?” Commissioner Margaret McMurdo asked.
“It is,” Mr Waddell replied.
Mr Iddles, represented by high-profile QC Robert Richter, said if the confession occurred: “I would’ve used it, I would’ve wanted to have used it.” He said if the confession happened, the date Ms Gobbo claimed it occurred was months before the murder in June 2003.
The inquiry heard there were no records kept by Ms Gobbo’s handlers of her telling them Mr Perry had made admissions to her.
Mr Iddles' evidence continues on Friday.