Supreme Court lifts suppression on fugitive John Malcolm West, former SA Liberal Party president and lawyer charged with fraud

After 34 years on the run in exotic locales, former president of the SA Liberal Party and lawyer accused of fraud John Malcolm West is back in custody in Adelaide.

SA lawyer and former State president of the Liberal Party, John Malcolm West, then 37, at Police Headquarters City Watchhouse, after arriving in Adelaide to face a fraud charge, 28 Feb 1985.

After 34 years on the run in Africa and Europe, former SA Liberal Party president and lawyer John Malcolm West is in custody in South Australia on four decade old fraud charges.

Mr West fled South Australia on the first day of his trial on 27 counts of fraudulent conversion on July 9, 1988.

On that day the Supreme Court issued a warrant for his arrest which would not be enforced until March this year when Mr West’s daughter made a request for Medicare on his behalf, alerting authorities to his return to Australia.

The former lawyer is accused of misappropriating $87,000 – equivalent to about $360,000 in 2022 – from clients and partners at his Adelaide law firm.

At least one of the charges is alleged to have related to Mr West siphoning money intended for a trust fund.

The offences allegedly occurred between August 1981 and December 1984. He was SA Liberal Party president in 1984.

On Monday, Supreme Court Justice Sandi McDonald revoked a suppression order on Mr West’s absence from South Australia and remanded the 74-year-old in custody.

Stephen Ey, for Mr West, told the court that his client had returned to Australia after decades spent variously in Botswana, Zimbabwe and France to see his elderly, ailing mother and mother-in-law.

Mr West had been travelling on an Irish passport, but applied for an Australian passport at the consulate in Paris. He had been working as a flight trainer.

Mr West married former Olympic sprinter and PE teacher Verna Burnard, who competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

SA lawyer and former state president of the Liberal Party, John Malcolm West, escorted by police in 1985. Picture: Brisbane Courier

He flew into Townsville in late March and was living with his daughter, a medical practitioner.

“She became concerned when seeing him on his return and organised a medical appointment and to try and get Medicare documents together for her father,” Mr Ey said.

Mr Ey presented a report to the court which diagnosed Mr West with Alzheimer’s disease or early onset dementia.

“I have grave concerns about my client’s ability to stand trial given his health,” he said.

“This matter is going to take some time, even then given his deterioration it is doubtful a trial will ever take place.”

The court heard that Mr West had been arrested in Townsville on the Supreme Court warrant and appeared in the Townsville Magistrates Court where he was released on bail to travel to South Australia. The magistrate ordered Mr West surrender his passport before being released.

Last Monday he appeared in the Supreme Court where Mr Ey applied for his client to live with his sister at Mt George while awaiting trial.

John Malcolm West, then 37, sitting in the back seat of an Adelaide CIB motor car flanked by detectives in 1985.

Mr Ey said he had multiple guarantors including his daughter who would put money on the line to secure his release.

The court heard that logistic difficulties plagued the case, which included the prosecution having to retrieve the allegations against Mr West from storage. It also heard some witnesses may have passed away or now be unwell.

Justice McDonald ordered a home detention report, but on Thursday said she sought more information about Mr West’s time overseas and an extradition attempt from South Africa.

On Monday, prosecutors told the court they had been reviewing diplomatic documents between the governments of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Australia discussing Mr West’s activities in 1991.

Mr Ey said he did not abandon the application for bail, but asked for it to be adjourned for two months as he made his way through voluminous evidence disclosed by prosecutors.

He will return to court in July.