Lance Farrell jailed for posting secret legal documents to Insta
Most people overshare on social media – but for one Sydney man, his decision to post secret legal documents to Instagram has landed him in jail for three years.
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Like many people, Lance Farrell shared too much on social media — but his Instagram post cost him three years in jail.
In what may not be the first but is certainly one of the most brazen cases of using social media to threaten a witness, Farrell posted secret legal documents to Instagram exposing the identities of witnesses giving evidence against his brother.
Ironically for such a modern crime he was charged under the century-old Crimes Act and last month the 35-year-old was jailed for three years on two charges of threatening a witness.
Farrell was already behind bars for breaching parole when he directed associates to create the public Instagram account “SydneyInformant” in 2018, according to documents tendered to the Sydney District Court.
The account was used to post “informer letters”, which revealed the identities of the witnesses and details of the evidence they were set to give in court against his brother, Corey “George” Farrell, who was charged over the shooting of aspiring boxer Joshua Smart in 2014.
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The posts were complete with hashtags, which called the witnesses “dogs”, and revealed the location of where one of the witnesses was being housed in jail, the documents said.
The two witnesses included a male and female who were former associates of the Farrell brothers, who had agreed to give evidence in exchange for certain benefits.
The post also disclosed the witnesses’ “status as informers”, the “benefits” they received and “further information about their motivations”, the documents said.
One post from September 2018 read: “Police Witness Informant “JOHN SMITH*”.
“Police informer provided a full statement with full immunity and to be moved to police witness protection as stated in facts for life #JohnSmithsadog*”
Another referenced the female witness, the name of her lover and tagged the Instagram account of her lover’s wife, the documents said.
“Police informer provided a full statement in reward of police witness protection as stated in facts to weasel her way out of the most lightest charge a human could face — Traffic charges,” the caption read.
The caption concluded with the hashtags “#nswpolicesbiggestinformers”, “#dog”, and referenced the woman’s name as a “low dog”.
On September 8, Farrell was recorded on a prison call instructing an associate what to write in one of the posts.
“Yeah. Hashtag it super grass,” Farrell said in the call. “Hashtag f. kin’ … Lance and George in jail ‘cause of him …”
Two days later, Farrell was again recorded on a call giving instructions to the associate about what to post.
“‘Cause you just want it so when c … s try and talk shit … you can show the paperwork and say, ‘He’s a f. kin dog’. You know what I mean?” Farrell said.
Corey “George” Farrell pleaded guilty to the shooting on August 21, 2018, and was jailed for a maximum seven years in February.
His victim Joshua Smart Smart was picked up by legendary boxing trainer Johnny Lewis after being spotted fighting three men on the street at Glebe — aged just 14.
On April 6, 2014, Corey Farrell was disguised in a balaclava when he opened fire on Smart and his father, Michael, outside their house at 10.40pm.
Smart was hit twice in the back and his father took bullets in the head and leg. Both survived.
The Sydney District Court heard that Smart had been in a volatile relationship with the Farrell’s sister, Monique Farrell, and threatened to kill her via text message.
*The name John Smith has been used as an alias to protect the identity of the witness.