Carl Williams murder: Eddie McGuire breaks news to police handler on quiz show
As Eddie McGuire broke the news to quiz show contestant Sara Morse that Carl Williams had been killed in jail, he had no idea of her key role in a secret Christmas Day liaison with the gangland killer. NEW PODCAST.
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Exclusive: TV quiz show host Eddie McGuire was the one who broke the news that gangland mobster turned police informant Carl Williams had been murdered to his handler, Detective Senior Sergeant Sara Morse.
The Victorian cop was a contestant on the set of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and was kept incommunicado while she battled it out for the hot seat.
McGuire knew she was a cop, but no-one was aware her secret connection to Williams. Or that she had spent Christmas Day with him cooking a turkey, sharing her mum’s homemade Christmas pudding, and taking his statements about a string of unsolved underworld killings.
“It was a strange day for me, because I was actually on the set, I was appearing on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? They knew that I was a police officer and so, Eddie McGuire kept asking me in the break, ‘Have you heard what’s happened? Have you heard what’s happened?’
“And then he was asking all these questions and I thought, well, I can’t tell him that’s actually where I work or anything like that. I just remember sitting there thinking they’ve locked my phone away and I can’t ring anyone. I can’t talk to anyone and find out. But he told me about Carl being killed … I was devastated.”
Detective Morse reveals the story for the first time in the latest episode of the podcast Police Tape: Blue Sirens today.
The podcast series talks to five policewomen around the country including the top cop dubbed the gang buster for smashing her way through the nation’s network of outlaw motorcycle gangs, the Deputy Police Commissioner who has been stalked, harassed and had death threats as well as an infatuated offender, Australia’s first female bomb technician, and an FBI-trained criminal profiler.
Detective Senior Sergeant Morse was on the high-profile Purana Taskforce charged with investigating Melbourne’s gangland slayings. She had been given the job of taking statements from the notorious gangster and drug trafficker after he turned police informant.
Williams was already in jail serving three life sentences for murder and conspiracy to commit a fourth murder when he agreed to roll over and give information to police.
The mob boss was secretly taken out of jail along with his father George for an eight-day break over the Christmas period in 2008. He and George were held under strict security in a safe-house in a coastal town during the holiday break.
Detective Morse was told just before Christmas she was about to have a break of a different kind.
“I had to ring my mum and tell her I couldn’t come home for Christmas,” she said.
“So, she very kindly made me a Christmas pudding for me, even though she didn’t know where I was going to be.
“I ended up spending Christmas Day with a lot of security and Carl and George Williams. I cooked a Turkey. We made do with whatever we had, which included mum’s Christmas pudding.
“It was a couple of days later, it was in the papers. I think it was front page of the Herald Sun, and my mother (who had joined the dots) rang me furious saying, ‘I hope Carl didn’t have any of my pudding.’
“She wasn’t very happy when I told her that Carl didn’t want any — but George thought it was lovely.”
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The secret release of Williams was believed to have been authorised by then Deputy Police Commissioner Simon Overland and senior Corrections Victoria management.
The front page news reports at the time said Williams, a murderer subject to the state’s highest security rating, was allowed several visitors during his stay.
Detective Morse began investigating the gangland murders after first being given a spot on the taskforce investigating the double murder of Melbourne drug dealer and police informer Terence Hodson and his wife Christine.
Her boss showed her a statement from Carl Williams about the Hodson murders.
“It was really compelling … he (Williams) had decided to give information about all of the murders he had being involved in. The Hodson murders were so important because it really did look like the only underworld murder that the police were unable to solve.
“So, we had laid charges, and the laying of charges was really important. But obviously when Carl Williams was killed in prison, well that then meant that our ... (informer) was gone.”
HEAR ANDREW RULES PODCAST ON CARL WILLIAMS
CATCH UP ON POLICE TAPE: SERIES ONE
CLICK HERE: Detectives lift lid on nation’s most gripping cases in Police Tape podcast
Originally published as Carl Williams murder: Eddie McGuire breaks news to police handler on quiz show