Dead Wrong podcast: How it got cold case reopened
QUEENSLAND’S Attorney-General has detailed how a Courier-Mail true-crime podcast spurred her department to announce a new inquest into the death of Jeffrey Brooks.
Crime & Justice
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THE office of Queensland’s Attorney-General spent two months considering nearly 100 pages of documents, transcripts and forensic advice compiled by newspaper reporters before a decision was made to hold a new inquest into the death of scientist Jeffrey Brooks.
The formal submissions, made by prominent criminal lawyer Peter Boyce on behalf of Mr Brooks’s parents, summarised a year-long investigation into the shooting death of the 24-year-old.
Mr Brooks, an aquaculturist employed at the Beenleigh Crayfish Farm, was found dead in a work vehicle in 1996 from a shotgun wound to his chest.
Police determined he had shot himself by accident pulling an old, loaded shotgun from the car towards his body.
But Mr Brooks’s friends and family never accepted this, saying he was extremely careful around guns and had spoken about being in fear for his life after discovering a terrible secret at the farm.
Throughout the year-long investigation, The Courier-Mail, which told Mr Brooks’s story through the podcast series Dead Wrong, conducted ballistics tests and consulted with forensic pathologists.
Attempts to recreate the angle of the wound in Mr Brooks’s chest proved impossible and an international expert in gunshot wounds was highly critical of the police theory.
“His death has in recent times been the subject of a number of articles and podcasts in The Courier-Mail authored by Peter Hall and Kate Kyriacou,” Mr Boyce wrote to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath.
“The relevance of the work that has been undertaken by the above journalists is that the further investigation has uncovered many significant issues relating to the inadequacy of the initial investigation. “
The dossier was sent to Ms D’Ath on September 6. It is understood she sought specialised legal advice before making her decision to direct the state coroner to reopen the inquest.
Kate you & Peter should be proud. This is important investigative journalism that could make a real difference.
— Yvette D'Ath (@YvetteDAth) November 3, 2018
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