Leigh Case Officers May Face Charges
Sun Herald
Sunday October 15, 2000
CRIMINAL charges could be recommended against six police officers involved in the investigation into the 1989 murder of Newcastle schoolgirl Leigh Leigh when a Police Integrity Commission (PIC) report is released on Wednesday.
Four other officers could face disciplinary action for their conduct during the investigation.
It will bring to a climax one of the longest and most sensational investigations into the way police conducted themselves after a callous murder by youths that shocked NSW.
The murder has been a constant source of controversy over the past 11 years.
Apart from the sensational trial there have been several court hearings over victim compensation for the family, two major inquiries, a play, a movie and a book.
At the close of PIC hearings last November, counsel assisting, Pat Barrett, recommended to Commissioner Paul Urquhart that charges be placed over the alleged assault and illegal detention of suspects during the investigation.
Mr Barrett also recommended that the PIC tell the Director of Public Prosecution that officers should be charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The police have denied the allegations against them.
Leigh Leigh, 14, was bashed to death on Stockton Beach on November 3, 1989.
She had earlier been pushed to the ground and surrounded by a group of boys who abused her, spat on her and poured beer over her.
Four months later Matthew Webster, 18, confessed to her murder and was jailed for 20 years with a 14-year non-parole period.
Another initial suspect, Guy Wilson, 19, was sentenced to six months' jail for assault.
A 15-year-old, codenamed NC1, was given six months for carnal knowledge, reduced to 200 hours' community service on appeal.
Years after the murder, NC1 claimed he had been bashed by police during questioning and denied access to his mother.
This was denied by the police.
The girl's mother, Robyn Leigh, campaigned for years that other boys had been involved in the murder and that Leigh had been gang-raped.
In 1996, Judge Joseph Moore raised doubts about the police investigation while hearing an appeal on victim compensation.
Judge Moore said there was forensic evidence that more than one person had sexually assaulted the girl and been involved in the murder.
Police said there was nothing to suggest any other person apart from Matthew Webster was involved in the murder and there was no evidence to suggest that she was gang-raped.
The doubts led to an inquiry by the NSW Crime Commission which found no evidence to support claims that others should have been charged in the murder.
But a confidential volume of the Crime Commission inquiry looking into police conduct during the investigation was handed to the PIC.
This week's PIC report will reopen the controversy. The police involved all have clean records and strongly denied to the PIC they had bashed anybody during questioning.
Justice James Wood, who heard the initial murder trial, praised police for their dogged pursuit to bring the culprit to justice.
© 2000 Sun Herald