Police outraged at Coroner’s ruling

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 22

Police outraged at Coroner’s ruling

NZPA . Melbourne A second witness has been excused from giving evidence at the inquest into the death of the New Zealand couple, Douglas and Isobel Wilson, whose bodies were found in a shallow, grave at Rye, on Victoria’s Momington Peninsula, in-May last year. ;, The Melbourne Coroner. (Mr Kevin Mason. S.M.) excused Robert Trimbole, of Griffith. ' New South Wales, on the ground that his answers could implicate him in a serious crime surrounding the death of the Wilsons.

This followed a ruling by Mr Justice Grey in the Supreme Court last week, excusing Brian Alexander from giving evidence, on the ground that his answers could incriminate him. The second decision prompted an outburst-’by the head of Victoria’s police homicide . squad, Chief Inspector Paul Delianis, who said the; Supreme Court ruling . might have “impaired” the ability of the Coroner’s Court to find

out who did, kill the Wilsons. The Coroner said that when he had given his findings—-the inquest resumes on August 22—he would make some “comments about some difficulties experienced in conducting this inquest.” Mr Trimbole was excused 3f ter Mr Delianis read extracts from the transcript of a previous witness, a Miss X. Mr Delianis detailed. a series of alleged meetings between Miss X and a man who Miss X and Chief ln-spector-Delianis both allege is Robert Trimbole. One of the meetings is alleged to have taken place at a flat in London in J'l’y last year when Terrence Clarke, the alleged head of an international drug ring, also attended. According to Miss X. Clarke and the man alleged to be Trimbole spoke in the kitchen about the murder of the Wilsons. According to Miss X, Clarke had been annoyed that he had paid a lot of money for a job not properly done, and the man

said he thought the job would have been done another way, but could not locate the “hit man” to find out what went wrong. After Mr Delianis detailed a series of meetings involving Miss X, the man who is allegedly Trimbole, and Clarke, counsel for Trimbole (Mr Peter Capelin, Q.C.) asked the Coroner to prohibit the publication of further evidence, including the use of his client’s name. Mr Delianis responded by saying this was a belated, effort to- put censorship on the Court and asked the Coroner to reject the application. The Coroner rejected this application on the ground that the evidence was not against the public interest. Mr Capelin then argued in favour of last week’s Supreme Court ruling. The Coroner upheld his plea on the ground that Mr Trimbole, in answering questions relating to the evidence of Miss X, could implicate himself in a serious crime surrounding the death of the Wilsons.