Australia: Notorious wrongful conviction becomes further unglued

A key prosecution witness in the Leanne Holland murder is set to turn the controversial case on its head. Legal experts say astonishing new information could free convicted killer Graham Stafford after almost 15 years behind bars. Forensic scientist Angela van Daal gave crucial evidence that helped convict Stafford of the horrific 1991 sex slaying of the Goodna schoolgirl at his trial the following year. But she now says blood identified as Leanne's - a central piece of the police case - could have come from another family member.

At the time, Leanne's brother Craig had slashed his hand in a pub fight and had bled freely in the family home. Ms van Daal's testimony related to bloodspots found on "removable" items in the boot of Stafford's car. The blood found on a blanket, bag and cloth connected Stafford to the murder of his then fiancee's younger sister.

Ms van Daal, now an associate professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at the Gold Coast's Bond University, said key aspects were overlooked at the 1992 trial. "I did not receive any reference samples from any of Leanne Holland's relatives or from the defendant," she said. "It would seem that the blood ... could also be the result of blood from someone other than the deceased." Ms van Daal said it was "very significant" that although the frequency of the DNA type matching anyone in the general population was only about 1 per cent, it was as high as 25 per cent for relatives.

She was only asked to test if the blood was the same type as Leanne's. "But she had a father, sister and brother ... it could just as easily have been their blood," Ms van Daal said. It was a "glaring oversight" that she was not asked to check whether the blood found on items in the boot did not match Craig Holland's.

Sources said that police took blood samples from Leanne's dad Terry Holland, sister Melissa and Craig but they were not sent to Ms van Daal at the state forensic science lab in Adelaide where she then worked.

Ms van Daal said she was also never asked to comment on the amount of blood - just a few drops - that was found. She would have told the court it was not enough to support the police theory that Leanne had been bashed over the head at least 10 times with a hammer, stabbed numerous times, then stored in the boot for the next two days.

Former policeman Graeme Crowley, who has investigated the case and co-authored the book "Who Killed Leanne?", said it was time for an urgent, independent investigation into Stafford's conviction. "The human blood in the boot of Graham Stafford's car was the last unsolved mystery of this case," he said.

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