Juror: New evidence would have cleared convicted Australian child-killer

The jury foreman in one of Queensland's most controversial murder cases believes convicted child-killer Graham Stafford would have been found not guilty if all the evidence had been put forward. Brisbane truck driver Peter Hobbs told a radio station this week he now did not believe Stafford got a fair trial. Mr Hobbs felt "sick" about the verdict.

Stafford, then 28, was jailed for life for the brutal torture and sex slaying of Ipswich schoolgirl Leanne Holland, 12, in 1991. He strenuously denied killing Holland, the sister of his then-fiancee.

State Attorney-General Linda Lavarch has also thrown a new lifeline to Stafford, inviting him to apply for a pardon. "It is open to Graham Stafford and his legal advisers to petition for a pardon if they have matters over and above those that have already been canvassed by our courts," she said. "If it is compelling, then we will certainly make recommendations to the Governor."

Sensational evidence in a new book by criminologist Paul Wilson and former police detective Graeme Crowley has thrown doubt on Stafford's conviction. Mr Crowley spent more than a decade investigating the case as a private investigator. In their book, Who Killed Leanne? An investigation into a murder and miscarriage of justice, the authors say:

* A leading Queensland forensic expert disputed that Stafford could have killed Leanne at her home and hidden her body in the boot of his car for two days.

* Crucial evidence put forward to the jury about a maggot found in the car boot and those found on the dead girl's body, was significantly wrong.

* Tyre tracks at the crime scene did not match those from Stafford's car, as put forward as evidence by prosecutors at the 1992 trial.

* Leanne was seen alive after the time police said she had been killed.

Mrs Lavarch this week read the Crowley-Wilson book and described it as "quite a compelling read".

Mr Hobbs contacted Brisbane radio station 4BC after reading Who Killed Leanne? and spoke about the decision by 11 men and one woman to convict Stafford. "I actually felt sick . . . from the evidence in the book, I would have had a totally different perspective on the whole case," Mr Hobbs told presenter Greg Cary. "It is heartbreaking to know that Graham Stafford is in jail for possibly doing nothing wrong." Mr Hobbs said he was concerned by new evidence regarding the possible time of death. The authors say experts were given wrong temperatures to calculate the growth of maggots on the body - the correct figures would have put the time of death 24 hours later.

Leanne was allegedly bashed to death on the morning of Monday, September 23, 1991. Stafford had an air-tight alibi from 4pm that day onwards, with new evidence in the book suggesting she actually died on September 24. "Yeah, after that time he has an alibi. Just reading the book and seeing exactly . . . if she wasn't killed until Tuesday, then, hey, end of story - he's innocent," Mr Hobbs said. He said evidence put to the jury was that "there was a lot of blood in the house, a lot of blood in the boot of the car, a lot of blood everywhere". Mr Hobbs said: "But reading the book, it turns out there wasn't much blood at all. "After reading the book, it is laughable to say he got a fair trial. If that evidence was not 100 per cent, that's where the problem lies." Mr Hobbs was asked whether, if the new evidence had been put in the trial in 1992, he would he have come up with a different verdict. "Undoubtedly, undoubtedly, it would be just totally different."

In 1997, Court of Appeals president Tony Fitzgerald said an appeal by Stafford should be allowed after new evidence was presented, but his two colleagues disagreed and the majority ruled. Stafford will be eligible for parole next year, but is unlikely to be freed because he has not admitted his supposed guilt.

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