Detectives cleared of homosexual’s death

Press, 7 October 1988, Page 14

Detectives cleared of homosexual’s death

NZPA-AAP Adelaide It took more than 16 years, a coroner’s inquiry, a secret Scotland Yard investigation and a series of trials that lasted more than two years. But the case of the controversial drowning of Dr George Duncan finally came to a sensational climax when two former vice squad detectives were acquitted of being involved in the death. A Supreme Court jury of nine men and three women deliberated for 71/2 hours and eventually found Michael Kenneth Clayton and John Francis Cawley not guilty of Dr Duncan’s manslaughter. The two men stood quietly in the dock as the foreman of the jury announced the verdict. In a unanimous decision, the jury cleared Clayton, while Cawley was acquitted on majority decision. A courtroom packed with supporters, journalists and interested onlookers greeted the verdict in silence, followed by an audible gasp and a smattering of applause. The trial had lasted 16 days, one day for each year since the death, before the jury retired to consider the evidence. George lan Ogilvy Duncan, aged 41, a homosexual university law lecturer, had been in Australia only 45 days before his death. He came to Australia from England at a time when homosexuality was illegal and when the vice squad spent much of its time policing homosexual activities and attempting to control sometimes vio-

lent Vietnam protest marches. Dr Duncan became a tragic victim of what was alleged to be a popular sport among vice squad detectives in 1972. The Crown prosecutor, Mr Paul Rice, told the hearing that throwing homosexuals into the River Torrens was a common practice among the vice squad at the time and was known as "poofter-bash-ing.” A police investigation and subsequent coroner’s inquiry failed to find those responsible for Dr Duncan’s death. Scotland Yard was called in to conduct an independent investigation but found no evidence to support the charges. The Scotland Yard report was not released to the public and successive state Governments have continued to keep its contents secret. The case was reopened in July, 1985, after another former vice squad detective, Michael William O’Shea, came forward with new evidence. Cawley and Clayton were arrested and charged with another former vice squad policeman, Brian Edwin Hudson, in February, 1986. But Hudson had the case against him dismissed after a committal hearing in the Adelaide Magistrate’s Court, while the other two were sent for trial. The Crown prosecutor, Mr Rice, alleged that Clayton and Cawley had been part of a group of four men who threw three people into the River Tor-

rens late on May 10, 1972. They had earlier been to a farewell party for a colleague at a city hotel, after spending the day at a Vietnam moratorium march. Police divers pulled Dr Duncan’s body from the river the next morning, but threw it back into the water so that television cameras could film the recovery, Mr Rice told the committal hearing. Counsel for Cawley and Clayton offered no defence during the Supreme Court trial. After the verdict was announced, a relieved Cawley and Clayton walked away from the court, surrounded by news media representatives but declined to comment. With a handful of supporters they headed for a nearby bar to celebrate the decision. The pair had endured a very difficult 16 years, said Mr David Smith, counsel for Cawley. “After 16 years, justice has been done,” he said. “In a way, they are glad all this has been brought to a head.”