Insider breaks silence on sick sex abuse ring

A prominent Sydney gay community figure has revealed his links to a notorious kidnap and abuse ring believed to be behind five murders and told how drugged boys would be brought to his home.

A prominent Sydney gay community figure has stunningly broken his silence on one of Australia’s most horrific sex abuse rings that drugged, kidnapped and sexually tortured dozens of young men and schoolboys, including five teenagers found mutilated and murdered in Adelaide between 1979 and 1983.

Lewis Turtur has detailed his connection to convicted killer Bevan Spencer von Einem. Picture: Tim Hunter.

An application through the South Australian courts by a Foxtel documentary team has seen the successful lifting of identity suppression orders of five men linked to the abuse ring known as The Family.

Bevan Spencer von Einem: The Family killer’s shocking jailhouse revelation

Bevan Spencer von Einem was sentenced to life in jail in 1984 for the murder of one 15-year-old boy held in captivity for five weeks to be abused regularly by several men said to be from wealthy elite professions including doctors and judges in Adelaide.

But von Einem was the only prominent figure ever exposed.

Convicted murderer Bevan Spencer von Einem. File picture

It can now be revealed three of those men who can now be named as linked to The Family are Sydney drag queens Prudence Firman, Noel Terrance Brooks and Lewis Turtur, brother of popular cycling boss and former Olympic cycling gold medallist Mike Turtur.

There is no suggestion Michael Turtur has any connection with The Family or activities of the kind they engaged in.

Lewis Turtur admitted he had had sexual relations with von Einem and allowed his acquaintance to carry drugged boys into his house in Adelaide city and later Alberton, for sex with several others who would “take turns”.

He also conceded he and Firman would be in von Einem’s car when boys were approached and drugged, but he said he himself was too drugged to recall what was happening.

“They were drugged, von Einem had drugged them,” he said in a Foxtel podcast of The Family case, admitting now he was “just a stupid fool” to allow the drugged boys to be brought to his home.

“I don’t know how they were drugged, okay? Um … how did they give consent? I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. All I know, they came … he dropped them off at our place, he went home, we let them sleep it off, they left in the morning.”

He said he never saw any sexual abuse and he was not aware of von Einem or others torturing the youths until after von Einem’s arrest, but he now concedes many men came and raped or had sex with the youths including his housemates Firman and Brooks, known by his stage name Didi. Firman, Brooks and Turtur all moved to Sydney after von Einem was convicted and Firman (who had also been charged with underage sex) and Brooks have since died. Another housemate Brian Gant (aka Molvena) moved to Perth initially then Sydney.

Turtur believed most of the teenagers were 17 or 18 but conceded they were drugged and no one really knew. He also confessed to having sex with two of the drugged boys brought to his house.

Lewis Turtur says speaking out is an act of revenge. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Turtur dates the drugged boys to the early 1970s, years before the first 1979 Family-linked murder, and said they would arrive at his home from between 2am and 5am.

He said he now believes it was wrong but not at the time.

“We thought … I don’t know. It was wrong but in the end we thought, the lives we saved, once when we found out what he was doing. But he wasn’t doing it by himself,” he said, naming another ringleader still living in Adelaide and protected by court suppression orders.

He said he had been interviewed by police following the murder of the fifth boy, 15-year-old Richard Kelvin, and he had told detectives his suspicions. He said before then he did not suspect von Einem. He said it was a relief to have spoken to police.

Yesterday he recalled how von Einem would offer the boys a spiked drink, one at a time “’cause one’s easier to handle” and after 30 minutes they were out of it.

“We didn’t force anyone into a car! They all hopped in the car. They were hitchhiking, he’d give them a lift home and he’d offer them a drink,” Turtur recalled, adding he couldn’t remember what driver von Einem would say.

“Half the time I was drugged out anyway so I don’t really care. I was in my own little world.”

Turtur said going public was revenge on some members of his family who he claimed were homophobic. He said he had not spoken to his brother Mike for almost two decades. He said he had old charges of gross indecency but they were “purged” from his criminal record and he had never been accused of any other wrongdoing.

• Foxtel’s true crime series Debi Marshall Investigates Frozen Lies premieres Tuesday September 24 at 8.30pm AEST or On Demand only on Crime + Investigation.

• Frozen Lies podcast launches Tuesday September 17. Download on your preferred podcast app.

Originally published as Insider breaks silence on sick sex abuse ring