Lady Justice Podcast: Katarina Carroll reveals how Hannah Clarke’s murder haunts her

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll has revealed why she will never forget the hideous murder of Hannah Clarke. Listen to our Lady Justice podcast.

Undercover with a whole new identity, Katarina Carroll did her job getting close to a cold-blooded killer so well, she ended up engaged to him.

The Queensland Police Commissioner was a seasoned covert operative when she was sent in to profile suspected killer Ernest Arthur Knibb.

She was so convincing, he fell in love with her and proposed marriage, episode two of News Corp’s Lady Justice podcast reveals.

Little did Knibb, an itinerant pensioner, know, the blonde he was taken with had been sent in to find out if they had the right guy in the frame for the murder and sex assault of successful Sydney screen writer Miranda Downes.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll. Picture: Brad Fleet

Ms Downes’ naked body was found washed up on a beach north of Cairns.

Police believed she had been mowed down by a vehicle being driven on the sand then attacked, raped and drowned.

Another woman had reported being struck by a car on a beach in similar circumstances, but the police needed to be sure they had the right guy.

So Ms Carroll spent months in his world, where he played darts, went to the pub and hung out in snooker halls, getting close to him.

She had a different name which we can’t reveal and what undercover agents call a plausible backstory. And it worked.

“He took a liking to me and decided to pop the question one day. And sure enough, I ended up with this real, big, opal ring,” Ms Carroll said.

Miranda Downes murderer Ernest Arthur Knibb. Picture: Supplied

Miranda Downes was run down and murdered near Buchan Point north of Cairns. Picture: Supplied

“ … it was the nature of the person to be, I suppose, quite overt in what he wanted and what his feelings were. So I didn’t have to do anything too much to be well liked by (him), believe me.”

Knibb was shocked when Ms Carroll turned up to court to give evidence against him. He was convicted, received a 25-year life sentence but was released in 2013.

Katarina Carroll’s 1983 police graduation photo.

Ms Carroll, early in her career. Picture: Supplied

In the early days of her stellar career – which has seen her rise to become the first female police commissioner in Queensland – she also worked undercover on the streets of Fortitude Valley, posing as a street walker in the now-infamous ‘licensing’ squad, which sparked the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

“I spent many of my first few years working in illegal prostitution, illegal gaming issues around, you know, massage parlours, issues around licensed premises,” she said.

“So they were my first three years in extraordinarily interesting (circumstances), you know what I saw as a 23-year-old till about 27 most people would never see in their lifetime.”

Ms Carroll talks to police air pilot Shannon Kurz. Picture: Glenn Hampson

She was later a detective in the drug squad, crime operations and while working in plain clothes was beaten black and blue by an angry mob when she and her partner were first on scene to a brawl.

“We were called to a Code One job, which is obviously an imminent threat to life and we were the first officers on scene,” she said.

“It’s one of those scenes that you see spill out onto the street with dozens of people just, you know, pummeling into each other. And here you are trying to pull people apart.

“So we ended up in the middle of the street among many, many cars obviously being punched into by many, many, you know, violent people with alcohol on board.

“I think it was the first time in my career that I really felt for my life and felt threatened physically, personally and in fear of, you know, what was going to happen next.”

Ms Carroll has seen a lot of tragedies in her policing career and her former role as Commissioner of the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.

Ms Carroll at the G20 operations centre at police HQ in Brisbane. Picture: Annette Dew

But it was the horrific domestic violence murder of young mother Hannah Clarke and her three children in Brisbane in 2020 that will haunt her forever.

“I know exactly where I was when I received that phone call,” she said.

“When you think about the worst crimes you could ever witness in history, that is probably one of the worst … but it was by a father and by a husband of three young children.”

Ms Carroll was born in Innisfail, and was raised by her Bosnian-Croat born parents, working on a tobacco farm at Innot Hot Springs in Far North Queensland.

Hannah Clarke and her three children Trey, Aaliyah and Lainanah were murdered by Ms Clarke’s estranged husband, Rowan Baxter.

Despite the long hours, being beaten up, sleeping rough and hanging out with murderers while undercover, she has carved out a successful career and one Ms Carroll believes benefits from having more women in the ranks.

“I think it is incredibly important for more women to be in these roles in particular in middle management, where you actually can influence into higher levels of the organisation … where you make real change to strategy, to policy, to the future is really at that middle management to the higher levels of organisation.”

To listen to episode two of Lady Justice, go to ladyjusticepodcast.com.au