Vincent O’Dempsey found guilty of murdering Barbara McCulkin and two daughters

UPDATE: The nephew of Barbara McCulkin has spoken following the conviction of Vincent O’Dempsey for her murder and those of her daughters in a 43-year-old cold case.

VINCENT O’Dempsey — a man once referred to as the ‘Angel of Death’ — has been found guilty of murdering the McCulkin family, ending a 43-year mystery.

It comes after his co-accused, Garry Dubois, was found guilty last year of raping and murdering Vicki and Leanne McCulkin and the manslaughter of their mother, Barbara.

Mrs McCulkin, 34, and Vicki, 13, and Leanne, 11, were allegedly murdered by O’Dempsey and Dubois when they went missing from their Highgate Hill home in January, 1974.

THE MCCULKIN MURDERS: Read award-winning writer Matthew Condon’s exclusive, in-depth report into the 43-year-old mystery in tomorrow’s The Courier-Mail

O’Dempsey, 78, pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to three charges of murder and one count of deprivation of liberty when his trial began on May 2.

But it took a jury little more than a day to find him guilty of all charges.

Outside court, Barbara McCulkin’s nephew, Brian Ogden, spoke on behalf of the family.

“The verdict received today has been a long time coming,” he said.

“For 43 years our families have longed for information and justice into the disappearance of Barbara, Vicki and Leanne.

“Over the years members of both families have had to endure endless rumours, victim blaming, mistruths and time wasters.

“Our parents knew Barbara to be an excellent mother to her children and she was regarded by many as a good and generous lady.

Brian Ogden (right) speaks following today’s verdict. Picture: Mark Calleja

“Vicki and Leanne were nice kids, who had many friends and were busy doing what kids do; going to school, attending dance lessons, going skating, knocking about with the local kids and playing with their cats.

“On the 16th January 1974 Barbara, Leanne and Vicki were lured from their home by people they considered friends and suffered unimaginable violence and cruelty resulting in their untimely and callous deaths.”

The family thanked the detectives who worked on the case over 43 years, and witnesses for their “bravery and personal sacrifices” in coming forward.

Jurors heard from more than 50 witnesses during the month-long trial.

The key witnesses were three people who said O’Dempsey sensationally confessed to them about his role in one of Queensland’s most notorious cold cases.

A prison informant emerged just months before O’Dempsey’s trial began.

The prisoner was on remand with O’Dempsey while he awaited trial, and contacted police in January this year to say the accused had discussed the case behind bars.

Court drawing of Vincent O'Dempsey earlier this week.

The informant, whose identity is protected, told police he asked O’Dempsey about the family’s disappearance and he replied: “I know they’ll never find them”.

The former prisoner bluntly asked O’Dempsey if he killed the children.

“’Look, in those days you got a job, you got paid to do a job, you did a job’,” was O’Dempsey’s reply.

“I never laid a hand on the two kids, Shorty (Dubois) did.”

The informant later wore a wire and spoke to O’Dempsey again, and the recording was played to the jury during the trial.

O’Dempsey also told a drug associate 20 years ago he killed the McCulkins and “they’ll never get me because they’ll never find the bodies”.

Warren McDonald worked with O’Dempsey on a cannabis crop in the late 1990s.

He had a conversation with O’Dempsey in 1996 or 1997, in which they discussed killing to gain respect.

“’You need a notch on your gun. You need a kill. When I was your age, I had several notches on my gun’,” O’Dempsey chillingly told Mr McDonald.

O’Dempsey went on to discuss the McCulkins, saying he killed them and “Shorty (Dubois) was nothing but a rapist”.

“They’ll never get me because they’ll never find the bodies,” he added.

A former lover of O’Dempsey’s gave evidence about a conversation the pair had about seven years ago.

Justice has taken 43 years to be delivered for Barbara McCulkin and her daughters.

O’Dempsey told Kerri Scully in relation to the murders that he was “good for it, but they’ll never get me ... I know they’ll never find them”.

Ms Scully told a police officer in a recording played at a 2015 committal hearing — but not during the trial — that O’Dempsey was a serial killer known as the ‘Angel of Death’.

“Back in those days there were real gangsters, and he was the top of the top,” she said.

“His nickname is the Angel of Death.”

She said he was responsible for 33 deaths, although there is no evidence of this.

Both Supreme Court trials were told Mrs McCulkin claimed to have knowledge of the Whiskey Au Go GO firebombing, which killed 15 people.

Crown prosecutor David Meredith said Dubois and three other men — dubbed the ‘Clockwork Orange Gang’ — were involved in an earlier, non-fatal firebombing of Torino’s Nightclub, and there were fears the two arsons would be connected.

“Now that may not seem much of a motive to kill three people — it isn’t — but there’s never a good motive for murder,” the prosecutor told the jury on day one of the trial.

O’Dempsey and Dubois were seen at the McCulkins’ Dorchester St home the night they went missing.

Despite attempts to pin the murders on Mrs McCulkin’s late husband Billy McCulkin, two juries have now determined O’Dempsey and Dubois are responsible.

Rape charges against O’Dempsey were dropped due to lack of evidence late last year, it can now be revealed.

Mr O’Dempsey had pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one count of deprivation of liberty in relation to the suspected deaths of Barbara McCulkin, and her daughters Vicki, 13, and Leanne, 11.

They were last seen at their Highgate Hill home on January 16, 1974.

Vince O'Dempsey leaves the Southport watchhouse in December 1989.

Timeline: 43 years to justice

February 25, 1973: Torino Nightclub burns down

March 3, 1973: Whiskey Au Go Go Nightclub burns down, killing 15 people. James Finch and John Stuart are found guilty of murder the same year

January 16, 1974: The McCulkins are last seen alive by neighbours in Highgate Hill

January 18, 1974: Barbara’s husband Billy McCulkin goes to the home, finding the kitchen light on, his wife’s purse on the fridge and a dress in the sewing machine.

February 1974: First media reports emerge about the McCulkins’ disappearance

1980: An inquest is held into the McCulkins’ disappearance. O’Dempsey is charged with their murders, but the charges are dropped later.

1996-97: O’Dempsey allegedly tells an associate he killed the McCulkins “but they’ll never get me because they’ll never find the bodies”

2011: O’Dempsey allegedly tells lover Kerri Scully he is “good for” the McCulkin murders

2014: A fresh police investigation begins

November 2016: Garry Dubois is found guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court of murdering Vicki and Leanne McCulkin, and the manslaughter of Barbara McCulkin

January 2017: A fellow prisoner on remand comes forward to police and says O’Dempsey told him “in those days you got job, you got paid to do a job, you did a job but he “never laid a hand on the two kids”.

May 2017: O’Dempsey found guilty of murdering all three McCulkins and depriving them of their liberty