Top former detective Ron Iddles reveals the mind of a killer

Known as Australia’s greatest detective, Ron Iddles has a 99 per cent conviction rate on more than 320 murder cases. But there’s one chilling thing the veteran officer says his job taught him.

Former homicide squad detective Ron Iddles has offered crucial insight into the mind of a killer as he reveals how he cracked some of the state’s most disturbing cold case murders.

Known as Australia’s greatest detective, Mr Iddles has a 99 per cent conviction rate on more than 320 homicide cases over his career of more than 25 years.

Mr Iddles told the Herald Sun his time in the job has taught him most killers are just ordinary people.

“They aren’t much different to you or I,” he said.

“About 98 per cent are average people who at the time make a poor decision and commit a homicide at the spur of the moment.”

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Ron Iddles. Picture: David Caird

Mr Iddles stars in new Foxtel series, The Good Cop, which gives viewers a gripping behind-the-scenes look at some of the most challenging homicide investigations.

The six-part series opens with the unsolved murder of Michelle Buckingham, 16, whose body was found on an isolated road near Shepparton in 1983.

Michelle Buckingham.

Mr Iddles agreed to reopen the case in 2012 at the persistence of a local newspaper journalist, whose reporting prompted a confession by the killer’s brother-in-law.

The tip-off led to the conviction of Stephen James Bradley, who is serving 27 years for Buckingham’s murder.

Mr Iddles says the key to solving a cold case murder is almost always in the original file.

This was the case for the 1982 cold case rape and murder of six-year-old Bonnie Clarke.

Her killer, Malcolm Joseph Thomas Clarke, who boarded at the family’s Northcote home, was known to initial homicide investigators but was never arrested.

Bonnie Clarke.

The case was reopened in 2001 at the request of the girl’s dying father, Denis Clarke.

An undercover operative befriended the killer, who confessed to the killing on a secret tape.

Mr Iddles said: “It’s a bit daunting reopening a cold case and it’s not about being critical of the initial police investigation. It’s about looking at the case through a different lens and different set of eyes.”

“People’s memories can be slightly jaded or faded so you have to be very analytical.”

Ron Iddles: The Good Cop premieres on Foxtel’s Crime and Investigation on Thursday, January 31 at 7.30pm

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Originally published as Top former detective Ron Iddles reveals the mind of a killer