Lawyer to sport stars takes on Jarrod Mullen’s drug supply case

He kept retired NRL player Ben Kennedy out of jail after he was found in the Australian Customs’ Sydney base following a prescription drug mishap. Now lawyer Paul McGirr is taking on former Knights star Jarrod Mullen’s drug supply case.

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Former Newcastle Knights star Jarrod Mullen has called in leading Sydney lawyer Paul McGirr to defend him on cocaine supply charges.

McGirr is no stranger to defending league identities in trouble. Last year he kept retired NRL superstar Ben Kennedy out of jail after the ex-Knights player was found in the Australian Customs’ Sydney sniffer dog base after a prescription drug mishap.

McGirr also represented Parramatta flyer Michael Jennings who had no conviction recorded in 2016 for swearing at police and offensive behaviour.

Jarrod Mullen faces cocaine supply charges. Picture: Tony Feder/Getty

Ben Kennedy (right) with his then-lawyer Paul McGirr. Picture: Nick Hansen

He also acted for player agent Paul Sutton who was found not guilty of manslaughter after a 2013 pub fight where jockey Shaun Miles died.

Mullen was arrested on Wednesday at a home in Tarrawanna, near Wollongong, by officers from Strike Force Castlestead.

The investigation also netted Les Mason, the brother of former NRL star Willie Mason, who was arrested and charged with commercial drug supply.

‘TELL THEM I’VE GONE TO THE BEACH’

She started her policing career as a probationary constable out of Goulburn’s police academy and Superintendent Deb Wallace will finish it there.

After more than 30 years in the force, Supt Wallace has officially chosen her finish date.

At the end of the year, the boss of the Criminal Groups Squad hopes to mark her last day in blue at a marching-out parade at the NSW Police Academy.

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As forecasted by The Snitch last year, her departure will come not long after her 60th birthday and she will leave big heels to fill.

“I will miss the team I work with and the broader police family,” Wallace said this week.

“The decision has not been easy but I think it is the right time.”

Superintendent Deb Wallace will retire from the Police Force later this year.

Wallace, whose vivacious personality and impressive collection of vibrant suits can brighten the bleak halls of any Sydney police station, has spent much of her career in criminal investigation.

She has locked up drug dealers in Cabramatta at the height of the heroin crisis and led the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad when the Brothers for Life gang were wreaking havoc across Sydney.

But 2020 will be the start of a quieter chapter, with the top cop hoping to invest more time in her rescue dogs and charity work (she is a big supporter of a homicide victims’ support group and a friend of Youth Off The Street’s founder Father Chris Riley).

“I don’t have any plans for the future but the sign on my door will simply say ‘gone to the beach’,” she said.

STATION MESS

A culture of “he said, she said” is causing all sorts of strife at Mt Druitt police station. Sources say there’s been something of a complaint war raging within the station with all kinds of allegations being thrown around.

An internal investigation started about a year ago with the original complainants later becoming the targets of reprisal complaints.

It’s understood a number of cops have taken leave due to the situation. According to an insider, the station’s workforce is firmly divided.

“It is a mess,” one observer remarked.

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Originally published as Lawyer to sport stars takes on Jarrod Mullen’s drug supply case