Police negligence imprisons the wrong man in Australia

POLICE working on the Leanne Holland murder case in 1991 ignored a vital lead: a blood-stained man acting strangely not far from where her body was dumped. The person who saw the man was never interviewed, and no attempt was made to find him. A note on the crime investigation log two days later said the information was "no longer relevant", as Graham Stafford had been arrested for the schoolgirl's murder.

Stafford was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the brutal sex slaying of his then-girlfriend's 12-year-old sister at Goodna in Ipswich. Police zeroed in on Stafford almost from Day One of the investigation because they believed he was the last person to see her alive. But other suspects have since emerged. Stafford, now 44, strenuously denied murdering Leanne. He was released from jail last year, four months short of the minimum 15-year term he was supposed to serve.

His legal team is about to present a petition containing new evidence to Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce seeking a pardon. Stafford's battle to clear his name will feature in two episodes of the ABC's Australian Story, starting tomorrow night. A new Sunday Mail examination of the 1991 police crime investigation log reveals what might have been a key clue to the murder mystery, which was inexplicably dismissed.

Leanne's battered body was dumped in bushland off busy Redbank Plains Rd on the morning of September 25, 1991. Police received information from an Ipswich computer store worker, who said that between 2pm and 3pm that day a man came into the shop and asked for $15. "He is said to have bloodstains on his hands and on his trousers and acted in a peculiar manner," the crime investigation log said. A detective sergeant directed that the witness be interviewed and a statement taken in relation to the incident. But that never happened. A log entry on September 28 dismissed the lead. Stafford, who had lived in the Holland family home, was arrested that day and charged with murder.

The spot where Leanne's body was found was about halfway between her home and the store where the blood-covered man was seen. Earlier investigations by The Sunday Mail and former Queensland policeman-turned-private eye Graeme Crowley, who wrote the 2005 book Who Killed Leanne?, found other leads that were ignored by police. These included sightings of Leanne alive the day after police claimed Stafford murdered her, and a vehicle other than Stafford's near where the body was dumped. Australian Story producer Caitlin Shea said Mr Crowley was among their interviewees.

Report here



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