True crime podcast, Dead Wrong: Morcombe lawyer joins Brooks battle for justice

THE lawyer who helped gain an inquest and eventual justice for the Morcombes has joined the fight for truth in another controversial case.

• Police ignored church leader’s statement
• Dead Wrong: Findings of explosive investigation revealed
• Cops ‘botched’ Jeffrey Brooks death probe

THE lawyer who helped gain an inquest and justice for the Morcombe family has joined the fight for truth in the case of a young scientist who police say accidentally shot himself.

Prominent Sunshine Coast-based lawyer Peter Boyce backed Bruce and Denise Morcombe in their push for answers in the long-running investigation into the abduction and murder of their 13-year-old son, Daniel.

The Morcombes campaigned for an inquest. Eventually, they were granted one and it led to a further police investigation and the covert operation that led to the arrest and conviction of child sex offender Brett Peter Cowan.

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Mr Boyce believes the information set out in The Courier-Mail’s Dead Wrong podcast and campaign warrants a new inquest into the matter of Jeffrey Brooks.

The latest episode, “Fatal Twist”, is available now.

Police concluded that Mr Brooks, 24, accidentally killed himself at the Beenleigh Crayfish Farm on March 13, 1996. They believed he was trying to pull an old, loaded shotgun from a farm ute – barrel first – when the hammer became caught on the seat, causing the weapon to discharge.

As revealed in the Dead Wrong series, family, friends, the farm’s owners, independent investigators and leading forensic pathologists have raised serious questions about that police determination.

Lawyer Peter Boyce will help Jeffrey Brooks’ parents in their quest to get a new inquest into his death.

There have also been revelations of evidence being destroyed, or lost, and officers not taking statements from key parties.

Mr Boyce said he had met with Mr Brooks’ parents, Lawrie and Wendy, and would help them in their quest to gain a new inquest.

He said the original inquest delivered an open finding, with the coroner unable to rule out murder or accident.

Mr Boyce recalled his battle on behalf of the Morcombes, which he said had some similarities.

Bruce and Denise Morcombe didn’t give up, even when police told them nothing more could be done in the investigation into son Daniel’s death. Picture: Megan Slade

“Bruce and Denise were the drivers of that, in the sense that they’d been told by police that everything had been done, you don’t need to do anything else, we’ve double checked it. They (the Morcombes) said, ‘Well, we’d just rather have an independent ­inquiry.’

“And that’s what happened. Because when we did get that, police didn’t want us to interview the persons of interest, and then we got an order from the coroner that we could. And if you have a look at the Brooks’ travels, they’ve been trying to do the same thing.

“They’ve been crying out for someone to independently and properly investigate the matter, but that hasn’t happened for them.

“And they now want to make sure that with the new evidence, it is put under the microscope, and the level of investigation is put under the microscope.’’

Mr Boyce said the level of investigation in Mr Brooks’ case “left much to be desired’’.

He said the coroner was the best person to examine the matter.

“If you look at the Brooks’ case, where else are they going to get an independent body to look at what this evidence now shows, and also look at the adequacy or inadequacy of the level of investigation to date?’’

Mr Boyce said he believed the information set out in the Dead Wrong series was too important to ignore.

This included the opinion of forensic pathologist Dr Judy Melinek, an expert in wound trajectory analysis, who reviewed the case and found the police determination did not fit with the evidence on Mr Brooks’ body.