Detective calls for inquest into missing Queensland woman Allison Bernard
A detective has spoken of the “haunting similarities” in two cold cases where indigenous women were last seen alive leaving pubs with caucasian men.
QLD News
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A DETECTIVE haunted over the murder of an indigenous woman near Queensland’s border has drawn similarities to the cold case of missing mother Allison Bernard.
Former New South Wales police detective Greg Lamey has joined calls for an inquest into Ms Bernard’s suspected death after she vanished in 2013.
Ms Bernard, 23, was last seen alive after she left a pub in Coen in Far North Queensland with a local caucasian man.
The man told investigators they travelled to where he was living, at a quarry about an hour away, and that she later left.
Her body has never been found and, despite her family believing she met with foul play, police say there is no proof she was murdered.
Mr Lamey was the lead investigator in the murder case of Theresa Binge, whose bashed body was dumped in a culvert in Boggabilla in northern NSW in 2003.
The indigenous woman was last seen leaving a pub with a caucasian man in Goondiwindi in Queensland.
“It’s a hauntingly similar story,” Mr Lamey, now an investigator in Queensland, told The Sunday Mail.
“They should be insisting on an inquest.”
An inquest into Ms Binge’s death heard she left the pub with council worker Roy Birnie who told investigators the pair had sex and she left his home. Mr Birnie was not charged with any offence.
Her body was found in NSW eight days after she was reported missing.
Mr Lamey said he thought about the mother every day and feels guilt about the case despite leaving the force years ago.
“If she had been a white woman down in Rose Bay, Balmain, it doesn’t matter, there would have been far more resources put into it,” he said.
“There were resources put in at the start and then she basically became a nobody.
“If something like that happened in Brisbane or Sydney you can imagine the response
a woman who goes missing and ends up under a bridge, beaten to death, naked.”
His comments come as the family of Ms Bernard along with justice crusader Bruce Morcombe and Sisters Inside CEO Debbie Kilroy have demanded an inquest be held into her suspected death. A coroner examining the material is yet to decide.
An inquest into Ms Binge’s death ruled she had been murdered by one or more people. Police are yet to charge anyone.
“Did it help with us? Ultimately no, but it can sometimes give the family answers,” Mr Lamey said.
“If you don’t have an inquest how do you know?”
“I’d just say don’t give up, keep pushing.”
Originally published as Detective calls for inquest into missing Queensland woman Allison Bernard