Wrongfully convicted accused cop killer Jason Roberts has settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit
Jason Roberts, who was wrongfully convicted of shooting two police officers, is understood to have received one of the highest payouts in Victorian history for a miscarriage of justice case.
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Wrongfully convicted accused cop killer Jason Roberts has settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit over the 22-years he spent in jail for the 1998 ambush shootings of police officers Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller.
After almost two years of pre-trial negotiations, it is understood the payout to Roberts is one of the highest in Victorian history for a miscarriage of justice case.
It is understood Roberts has signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of the settlement.
The settlement is believed to be in excess of $4m.
This masthead has confirmed the civil case was resolved on Thursday after a protracted fight with Victoria Police.
Roberts, 44, walked free after 8001 days in jail in July, 2022, following a retrial before a jury.
The case represents an Australian record for incarceration following a wrongful conviction.
Roberts Supreme Court writ claimed damages for economic loss, psychiatric injury, unlawful police conduct and medical and legal expenses.
The 32-page statement of claim alleged numerous police officers falsified, replaced, destroyed and withheld evidence.
It claimed up to 10 officers were involved in the misconduct.
Roberts was prosecuted alongside Bandali Debs – the serial killer father of Roberts’ then-girlfriend – in 2002 over the shootings in Cochranes Road, Moorabbin.
Both men were found guilty of the murders and jailed for life.
But the 2002 trial was later deemed to have been poisoned “to its root” after revelations unearthed by the Herald Sun that police had falsified a key statement in the case.
The corrupted evidence surrounded the words the dying Miller said which were manipulated to imply there were two offenders, not one.
In 2020, the Court of Appeal deemed Roberts’ trial a miscarriage of justice, quashed his convictions and ordered a retrial.
Roberts sued over 5627 of the 8001 days he spent in prison.
The claim deducted his 6½ year sentence for a series of armed robberies he committed with Debs in 1998, to which he pleaded guilty before his retrial.
In a similar case in Western Australia, Andrew Mallard, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1994 murder of a Perth woman, was awarded $3.25 million for the 12 years he spent in jail.
The corruption in Roberts’ prosecution sparked an anti-corruption inquiry by IBAC and an internal police probe titled the Clayton report.
No known disciplinary action has been taken.
Roberts’ statement of claim alleged a new police statement was made concerning Miller’s dying words, months after the original and made in the hours after the Cochranes Road ambush on August 16, 1998.
It alleged multiple police statements were replaced before the 2002 trial and the originals were never found.
Roberts claimed he was entitled to aggravated and exemplary damages because of the wrongful conduct of police.
“The misconduct of multiple Victoria Police members is demonstrative of a systemic and contumelious disregard for the plaintiff and his rights to a fair trial and are deserving of the court’s disapprobation and condign punishment,” his writ stated.
Police conduct surrounding the transcribing of bugged recordings of Debs and Roberts from about October 1999 to mid-2000, when the pair were arrested, was also cited in the writ.
Roberts has also alleged he was tortured in the back of a van by members of the Special Operations Group after they bundled him into an unmarked van from a worksite in Melbourne’s northeast.
Roberts states that inside the van he was hog-tied, had his pants pulled down and was struck multiple times with the butt of a rifle.
Robinson Gill principal lawyer, Jeremy King, who acted for Roberts, said he could not comment on the settlement.
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Originally published as Wrongfully convicted accused cop killer Jason Roberts has settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit
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