AT 11.52pm on August 10, 2002, David Breckenridge called his best mate from a phone box — he was on his way over to watch the international rugby match that was about to start. Eight Minutes later he was dead. In chapter five of this exclusive podcast series, the Daily Telegraph reveals bombshell new evidence and examines the unanswered questions that continue to linger 15 years after David’s murder.
A CROCHETED blanket draped over David Breckenridge’s dying body could be the key that unlocks the 15-year-old cold case.
Helen McMullen, the motorist who found the 28-year-old after he had been stabbed 24 times, fetched the multi-coloured Afghan crocheted blanket from her Volkswagen Kombi and draped it over him while she waited 12 minutes for the ambulance to arrive.
Ms McMullen took the blanket home with her after David was taken to hospital.
In her police witness statement given on 11 August 2002, Ms McMullen described how she checked for David’s vital signs and told police about the blanket.
LISTEN TO EIGHT MINUTES: WHO KILLED DAVID BRECKENRIDGE?
WHAT DO THE CRIME SCENE PHOTOS TELL YOU?
Ms McMullen handed the blanket over to David’s parents a few months later.
It has been virtually untouched for 15 years and is currently being kept sealed in a box at the Breckenridge home. The Breckenridge’s are waiting to officially hand the blanket over to the NSW police for forensic testing.
“Helen rang to tell us that she had this blanket and would we like it and we of course said yes we’d love it,” Karen Breckenridge said.
“I’m not a rocket scientist but I would like somebody to have perhaps have examined it,” she said.
The Daily Telegraph approached the police to comment why the blanket hadn’t been tested but they declined to comment.
LOOSE THREADS
The blanket is one of a number of unanswered questions that remain for those connected to David Breckenridge.
Other questions surround three witnesses who told police they saw a male standing on the gutter, and a female crouching down, outside a shop near Berry Lane, at 11.40pm the night David was killed.
A witness statement tendered at the 2005 inquest stated they saw a young girl and a guy in front of the pathology centre.
“I think she was only 15 or 16. She was slim, with long blonde hair just past her shoulders. She was quite well dressed. She had a narrow sort of face,” the statement read.
“She was very pretty. I remember she looked cold, she wasn’t wearing a jacket. She looked like she was sulking, she didn’t look happy to be there.
The witness said the male was standing across the path from the girl and looked “pissed off”.
“He looked really defiant. He was fairly tall, about five-eightish. He was quite slim. He was definitely ethnic of some race,” the statement read.
The identities of this male and female have still not been able to be determined by police.
It is these loose ends that continue to linger long after former NSW Coroner John Abernethy’s open finding into David’s murder.
Abernethy said while no one had been unearthed who would be considered a suspect, none of those looked at could be cleared. “They still cannot be ruled out,” he said,
In handing down his findings Abernethy reflected on the difficult task facing Detective Leggat.
“I join with the Breckenridge family in commending Detective Stewart Leggat for the work he has done on this case — often alone and under-resourced,” Abernethy said.
However he found police ought not to have determined the case as not difficult to solve in the first instance.
David’s family and friends have since come to take a critical view of the police handling of the murder investigation and have called for fresh eyes to examine the case.
During the police investigation David’s family were asked to review hundreds of hours of CCTV from train stations across Sydney. They hoped to spot someone who may have been following David prior to his murder.
It was only in 2005 that it was confirmed David had in fact caught a bus from the city to St Leonards. A bus pass found in his wallet was analysed, confirming he took the 254 bus.
Detective Leggat also admitted during the inquest he had failed to contact any medical centres following David’s attack, to determine whether anyone had presented with knife wounds.
Abernethy asked Detective Leggat whether there was a shortage of criminal investigators in the NSW police. Leggat agreed there was and “at the same point there were two other murders running at the same time”.
NO NEW LEADS
Detective Leggat said the status of the case hadn’t changed since the inquest in 2005.
“There’s been no new lines of inquiry. We’ve obviously explored a number of people that are linked to David or are linked to the area, but we haven’t got anything that can link them to the offence, so unfortunately there’s no clear suspect in the matter and that remains the same today and that’s the reality,” says Leggat.
“This case is an incredibly frustrating case. The fact that I haven’t been able to provide answers to the family, and to myself, in regard to it, is frustrating but I guess David’s case is an example of the difficulty at Unsolved, that we face in the reinvestigation of a lot of these unsolved matters.
“At the moment they are in excess of 500 unsolved homicides that stretch back over 50 years. The Unsolved team is a finite resource and I guess we must prioritise cases that have a potential to be solved.”
NEVER GIVE UP
“I just want to know why it has all come to nothing,” David’s ex-girlfriend Vanessa said.
“I felt like there were lots of people at the inquest and the coroner himself said he felt there were people there who knew something. “How can it be nothing?”
Georgina Noyce, a close friend of David’s and the wife of his best friend Phil, said the case should have been solved.
“It’s absolutely crazy. I thought we’d know within six months who did this. It’s not acceptable that someone has actually got away with doing this so far.”
Stephen Breckenridge said he will not let his son’s murder turn him into a victim and said he remained resolved to catch the killer.
Do you know something about what happened to David Breckenridge? Even the smallest detail could help bring a murderer to justice and help bring some closure to David’s family and friends.
Help us catch a killer. Email eightminutes@dailytelegraph.com.au or call Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000.
