‘Framed for murder’ claim: Veteran NSW cop Jamie Flanagan appeals conviction

Three years ago a former NSW cop was convicted of murdering his fiancé. Now, he fights for his freedom, claiming how it was physically impossible.

Former NSW police officer Jamie Flanagan, who was jailed in the Philippines for strangling his fiancé Desiree Manozo (Joy) and disguising it as a suicide, is appealing on the grounds he was framed and the court ignored expert hat could prove his innocence.

EXCLUSIVE

A former NSW police officer jailed in the Philippines for strangling his fiancé and disguising it as a suicide, is appealing on the grounds he was framed and the court ignored expert hat could prove his innocence.

Jamie Flanagan, 58, a retired Sergeant from Sydney is asking the Manila Court of Appeals to take a “second hard look” at the case and re-examine evidence including the contradictory evidence of key child witnesses – one of whom admitted they were coached to lie at his trial.

Documents filed by Flanagan’s lawyer, Attorney Francisco Yabut, ask for the murder conviction to be overturned and Flanagan to be acquitted based on reasonable doubt.

Former veteran cop Jamie Flanagan is fighting to overturn his conviction for murdering his fiance Joy – the mother of his young daughter. Picture: Supplied

The death certificate for Desiree Nieza Manozo “Joy” , showing the cause of death was suicide. Supplied

It is the first time any information about Flanagan’s defence to the high-profile murder has ever been made public and it throws a very different light on the case that has seen him jailed in a “hellhole” Philippine jail for at least the next 20 years.

The appeal papers argue that the trial court did not take into account crucial evidence that Flanagan’s fiancé Desiree Nieza Manozo known as “Joy” could not have been strangled before she was found hanging because her lungs were still bloated with air.

International medical expert Dr Rachael Pickering gave evidence saying if Joy had been strangled prior to the hanging, the air in her lungs would have been released when the strangulation stopped.

Desiree Manozo (Joy) with former Sydney police office Jamie Flanagan Picture: Facebook

The court has also been asked to consider evidence that if Joy was killed before she was hung, here would have been additional ligature marks on her neck with no bruising.because if she was already dead there would have been no blood left in her neck to make a bruise. There were no such marks.

Flanagan who moved to the Philippines around 2017 after leaving NSW Police was arrested in 2019 for Joy’s murder amid sensational headlines. The story became even more salacious when it was alleged Joy was pregnant at the time and Flanagan was hit with a second charge of murder causing unintentional abortion.

But the autopsy proved she wasn’t pregnant and the second charge was dropped. Flanagan was charged despite the autopsy report stating her death was a suicide.

“Flano” as he is known to friends and former police colleagues was convicted in 2022 and given a minimum 20-year jail sentence. He was also forced to pay 175,000 pesos (A$4500) in compensation.

Jamie Flanagan standing at his childhood friend's (Ian Findlay sitting) wedding. Supplied

And friends close to Flanagan say that is what the case was really about – money.

“A friend came to the Jail and said good news if you pay a five million pesos settlement (A$129,000)… the charge will be withdrawn,” Flanagan has told friends.

Flanagan also had a wealthy friend who was prepared to pay. But Flanagan refused saying no way would he pay anything because he was innocent.

Jamie Flanagan with his old rugby teammates. Picture: Supplied

With such a perceived injustice, former NSW cop and Flanagan’s childhood friend Ian Findlay has tried unsuccessfully to raise it with the Federal Government sending letters to former PM Scott Morrison and then with Anthony Albanese.

New documents also provide previous unknown details about what happened in the hours leading up to the death of Joy in the three-storey home in Zambales she shared with Flanagan, their daughter, Joy’s daughter from a previous relationship and a third child they cared for.

Former Sydney police office Jamie Flanagan (pictured with his newborn baby daughter. Picture: Supplied

Loving messages between Jamie Flanagan and his fiance Joy hours before she was found dead. Picture: Supplied

Screen shots of text messages show that Flanagan and Joy were in fact exchanging loving messages during the afternoon before she was found dead.

The appeal documents reveal that after those text messages Joy had been in an eight hour-long drinking session and got into an argument with Flanagan about taking their infant daughter to Australia.

Flanagan told her he wouldn’t argue with her while she was drunk, and he went to watch an Aussie football game on television before falling asleep on the couch. Joy was found the next morning on a different floor of the house.

Desiree Manoso (pictured with her newborn baby). Her fiance Jamie Flanagan is fighting to have conviction for her murder overturned. Picture: Supplied

Flanagan was charged with murder after a doctor who conducted the autopsy on Joy concluded there were suspicious marks on her neck and her left foot was in an unusual position.

But photos taken after Joy was embalmed show her right foot, not her left, was bent suggesting it had occurred some time after she was taken from their home and had no relationship to the position of her feet when she died.

It is argued that evidence from one of the children that they saw Joy being strangled the night before she was found, should be discounted because they admitted to the court they had been coached to lie.

It was also not possible for Joy to have died the night before because when she was found about 9.30am the next morning rigor mortis had not set in. The appeal documents say the estimated time of her death was between 5am and 6.30am.

Dr Pickering, who has overseen hundreds of suicide cases, raised concerns about the lack of forensic evidence gathered at the scene, including no fingerprinting on the wardrobe where Joy was found, no photographs and no DNA evidence.

She also raised concerns about the Joy’s state of mind particularly if she was suffering from untreated post-partum depression and also that for religious and cultural reasons it might have been more palatable for the death to be seen as a murder rather than suicide.

Lifeline: 13 11 14

300 AUSSIES IN OVERSEAS JAILS

Jamie Flanagan is one of more than 300 Australians currently in jails overseas according to DFAT.

In his case, Flanagan has been held at the New Billbid Prison in Muntinlupa City in an overcrowded cell where inmates have to pay for their own food and even the water they use to flush their “toilet”.

The Philippines is also in the top five countries for Aussies going missing, needing welfare support, becoming sick and being hospitalised or dying.

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