Police Tape Blue Sirens: Inside the mind of a sex monster

The secret to taking down a sexual predator is to get inside their head - and even develop a rapport with them, according to the woman who brought down one of Australia’s worst paedophiles. NEW PODCAST.

• Episode One: The ‘gang buster’ cop who made bikies cry
• Episode Two: ‘Mother of Satan’ bomb almost blew up city

He was a parish priest who spent decades sexually abusing children with no one to stop him.

Boys and girls as young as five were targeted in the local Catholic Church and schools where he served.

The molestations took place in presbyteries, churches and in public places like beaches and the drive-in.

But his career of abuse spanning fifty years came crashing down when a young man came forward to report his abuse at the hands of Father Kevin O’Donnell – a Catholic priest who would turn out to be one of Australia’s worst serial paedophiles.

Tracy Linford, then a detective, was part of the initial investigation into O’Donnell, which as time went on - led to many more.

“What we found was systemic sexual offending against children,” she said.

Tracy Linford, who has received a string of medals and awards for her work and leadership since those early days as a detective, is now a Deputy Police Commissioner in Queensland and has revealed the story in the second instalment of the successful Police Tape podcast series - Blue Sirens.

QLD Deputy Police Commissioner Tracy Linford is on episode three of Police Tape: Blue Sirens. Picture: Jono Searle.

The podcast series talks to five policewomen around the country including detectives who worked on Melbourne’s gangland murders, the top cop dubbed the gang buster for smashing her way through the nation’s network of outlaw motor cycle gangs, Australia’s first female bomb technician and an FBI-trained criminal profiler.

Deputy Commissioner Linford said in the years after the first victim reported the abuse by O’Donnell, the case received media attention and more people came forward with stories of abuse.

Father Kevin O'Donnell was the oldest man in Victoria to be imprisoned after admitting to fifty years of child molesting.

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Catch up on Police Tape: Series One

“Victims started popping up from a whole range of different church parishes. I know by the time we went to court we had 12, but there were many more than that.”

She said as an investigator, you have to have a very strong stomach for the things you see and hear.

“I think in my experience in investigating sexual offender’s particular sexual predators … you need to establish a good rapport with those offenders to actually understand what has taken place.

“As so your approach with them if often that you have to try and get into their head and understand why they committed the offence.”

Deputy Commissioner Linford said getting inside the mind of a sexual predator can lead to the offender revealing more information and possibly other offences.

“In this case it was Father Kevin O’Donnell. He did admit to the offences and subsequent offences that were reported to us after that time…if you can establish a good rapport with the offender then chances of them making admissions around those crimes is usually increased.”

O’Donnell found his first known victim when he was 41. He was presiding in the Dandenong church, and his victim was a 15-year-old altar boy.

Tracy Linford was a detective as part of the investigation into Father O’Connell. Picture: Annette Dew

Father John Kevin O'Donnell spent 15 months in jail following his conviction.

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He was not convicted until 1995, years after he retired.

The then 78-year-old was convicted of indecently assaulting 10 boys and two girls under the age of 16. After spending 15 months in jail he was freed in 1996 and died in 1997.

EPISODE ONE

EPISODE TWO

The case has stayed with Deputy Commissioner Linford ever since.

“It can break your heart,” she said.

“We are talking about our most vulnerable people in our society. So when you see the fact that they have been led to appoint of being sexually abused – it can be quite horrific.”

CATCH UP ON SERIES POLICE TAPE: SERIES ONE

CLICK HERE: Detectives lift lid on nation’s most gripping cases in Police Tape podcast

Originally published as Police Tape Blue Sirens: Inside the mind of a sex monster