Lawyer X-linked drug dealer calls on former cop to help overturn conviction

A drug dealer who hired supergrass Nicola Gobbo, aka Lawyer X, to defend him will call on former cop Paul Dale to give evidence at his appeal.

A drug dealer who hired supergrass Nicola Gobbo – aka Lawyer X – to defend him will call the cop who charged him to give evidence at his appeal.

Criminal Bruno D’Aloia is challenging his convictions for cultivating and trafficking cannabis and ecstasy dating back to 1996.

But in a twist, D’Aloia wants the former cop who nabbed him, Paul Dale, to give evidence.

Mr Dale has received a court order to appear at D’Aloia’s Supreme Court hearing set for August.

“I’m very keen to go to court,” Mr Dale said.

“I’m keen to go and tell the truth about was going on back in those days.

“I’ll be throwing them (police) under the bus every chance I get because they need to be held accountable.”

Mr Dale, who was accused of murdering a police informer, Terence Hodson, wrote a book about his experiences with Gobbo.

The disgraced lawyer was deployed by a Victoria Police taskforce to sting Mr Dale during her time as registered informer 3838.

Nicola Gobbo, aka Lawyer X.

In late 2008, Gobbo wore a wire to record Mr Dale at an Albert Park cafe as police investigated the executions of Hodson and his wife, Christine, who were shot in their Kew home in 2004.

Gobbo knew Mr Dale both professionally and socially while implicating him in the double murder.

Dale was charged with one count of murder in 2009, spending nine months on remand.

The prosecution against Dale relied heavily on two people – Gobbo and gangland kingpin Carl Williams.

But Mr Dale was not told Gobbo had been a registered informer who was deregistered to give evidence against him.

The case collapsed before it got to trial when Williams was murdered inside Barwon Prison in April 2010.

Mr Dale was never convicted of any crime

D’Aloia was informed by the Office of Public Prosecutions in 2021 that his conviction may be tainted by Gobbo’s conduct despite having pleaded guilty to three counts of serious drug offending in 2005.

He spent nine years in jail for his crimes.

But D’Aloia is arguing Gobbo’s involvement in his case was a “fundamental miscarriage of justice”.

Former Victoria Police officer Paul Dale. Picture: AAP Image/Stefan Postles

Victoria Legal Aid, which is representing him, argues Gobbo failed to disclose to him that she had a “relationship” with Victoria Police and with the informant who had laid charges against him – being Dale.

The latest court listing over the saga comes as Gobbo tries to sell a bayside penthouse apartment listed at more than $1m.

Gobbo has had trouble listing her properties since her identity as a double agent became known.

An unprecedented police order resulted in her name vanishing from the land titles registry after her name was made public as a “human source”.

In April, Gobbo settled a civil lawsuit with Faruk Orman who was wrongfully convicted over the murder of underworld figure Victor Peirce.

Orman had already sued the state for $1m.

Gobbo began co-operating with police from about 2004, a year prior to being recruited as a registered police informer from 2005 until 2009.

A royal commission into the scandal found in excess of a 1000 cases may be impacted.

Originally published as Lawyer X-linked drug dealer calls on former cop to help overturn conviction