Parole Board says SA Pathology contaminated drug sample taken from murderer Jonathan Bakewell, leading to his parole breach arrest

A mistake by SA Pathology falsely put a murderous rapist back behind bars for a parole breach, the Parole Board says – and caused distress for his victim’s sister.

Murderous rapist Jonathan Bakewell was arrested and accused of breaching his release conditions for a fifth time because a contaminated drug test returned a false positive, the Parole Board says.

On Tuesday night, the board cleared Bakewell of an alleged fifth breach of parole that saw him arrested last month and accused of taking drugs.

On Wednesday, Parole Board chair Frances Nelson QC said Bakewell had done nothing wrong – but SA Pathology had.

Anne-Marie Culleton in 1985.

“We test Bakewell regularly because he has used cannabis on parole in the past, which we do not condone,” she said.

“(Last month) he returned a positive test for methylamphetamine and was brought into custody … he said he had never taken meth in his life and had no idea how that could be the result.

“SA Pathology retested the sample and it was negative … they have reported to us that they inadvertently contaminated the testing process of the first sample.”

Ms Nelson said the incident was “greatly concerning”, and that the board had reported it to the State Government.

“It’s of concern to me that we have added to the Culleton family’s distress, we understand the effect that has, and we have locked someone up for a report that was wrong,” she said.

“It’s now a matter for the government to pursue, but it’s quite distressing.”

Jonathan Bakewell, right, following his arrest for Anne-Marie Culleton’s rape and murder.

In February 1988, while affected by cannabis, Bakewell – now 59 – raped and murdered Anne-Marie, 20, in her Northern Territory flat and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

He was released on parole in 2016, having served 28 years, but breached his conditions by using cannabis and was taken back into custody.

Over the next three years, Bakewell was released three more times and breached his parole three more times, usually by using cannabis.

That prompted Anne-Marie’s sister Eileen Culleton to break her decades-long silence and call for his parole to be cancelled permanently.

The Parole Board, however, released Bakewell a fifth time, saying his chronic health conditions meant he “does not present a threat” to the community.

Last month, The Advertiser revealed Bakewell had been arrested again and accused of a fifth parole breach, further angering Ms Culleton.

Anne-Marie Culleton’s sister, Eileen.

On Wednesday, Ms Nelson said Ms Culleton had been “informed before anyone else” of the false positive and of the board’s decision.

However, she said Bakewell would remain in custody for the time being.

“As a matter of complete transparency, there was no doubt Bakewell was negative for cannabis when we went into custody (last month),” she said.

“Five days after his arrest, he was tested again and returned a very, very low level of cannabis.

“He says he was put in a cell with a prisoner who was smoking cannabis heavily, and this was a result of passive smoking.”

The board, she said, would “not leap to one conclusion or another” and would keep Bakewell in custody until further testing had been carried out.

An SA Pathology spokeswoman confirmed the false-positive result.

“Once the false-positive result was identified, SA Pathology immediately sent an amended report to DCS to advise of the findings,” she said.

“We are currently retesting all samples that were processed at the same time as the sample in question to verify their results.

“A formal review to establish the cause of the false-positive result is underway.”