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Mark Buttler is an award-winning crime journalist for the Herald Sun.

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Shocking truth behind Victoria’s road toll

A spiralling problem in Victoria is causing more road trauma across the state, and the top traffic cop says the findings are “alarming”.

Police & Courts

hand in jail and bluesky background. Istock

Wild seven-man brawl in sex offender prison

A brutal seven-man brawl has broken out at a sex offenders jail in Ararat. The violence comes just weeks after a brother of a high-profile criminal was attacked at the prison.

Police & Courts

Range Rover mums hitting nose beers in lockdown

From posh mums hitting the white powder — not on the slopes — to an ex-cop sneaking in guests to get on the beers, Lockdown 6.0 can’t stop Melburnians from partying.

Police & Courts

Cold case murder victim Heather McDonald.

Pub visit probed in St Andrews murder

A night out at a St Andrews pub could be key to solving the gruesome double murder of young mother Heather McDonald and her gangland lover.

Police & Courts

Generic kidnapping picture Source: iStock / Getty Images

Arrests after police rescue ‘kidnapping victims’

Police have intervened to rescue two alleged kidnapping victims amid a major investigation into high-level crimes in Melbourne’s southeast.

Police & Courts

Ambulence enter Malmsbury Youth Justice centre .Picture:Rob Leeson.

Youth jail staff bashed at alarming rate

Youth justice workers at two Victoria prisons are being attacked and taken to hospital at an alarming rate from assaults by detainees.

Police & Courts

COLD case arson investigators now suspect a woman was involved in a deadly fire at a swank South Yarra restaurant.They have revealed a woman was heard screaming at the scene as fire engulfed Efficient Chips on Toorak Rd on December 17, 1991.The body of young Malaysian student Clement was later found in the kitchen area of the business.Mr David, who lived in Hawthorn, set the building alight in the early hours of the morning after spending hours drinking with others inside.After leaving he returned and splashed fuel around but vapours reached a pilot light, causing a ferocious fire.Mr David, who knew the operators of Efficient Chips, died of smoke inhalation.A red Nissan Skyline later found near the scene had earlier been rented by Mr David, probably to carry out his attack.Investigators have released an image of the Nissan in the hope of working out who else was in it that night, particularly a woman.They now say a female was heard screaming and witnesses noted the sound of someone running from the scene along MacFarlane St.Detective-Insp Steve Soden of the arson and explosives squad said a review of the case had yielded new lines of inquiry.

Twist in deadly South Yarra cold case

Investigators are chasing what they believe to be “the missing piece of the puzzle” in a fire that claimed the life of a student at a South Yarra restaurant 20 years ago.

Police & Courts

Brighton to backwater proves no glamour in fugitive life

Qiu Shan-Lian went from Brighton fashionista to fugitive, living secretly on Melbourne’s western fringe hoping strangers won’t burst through the door some early morning.

Police & Courts

Hells Angels Luke Moloney is considered to be the most senior Hells Angels bikie in Australia.

Police raids turn up the heat on Hells Angels

Police have ramped up raids on Hells Angels clubhouses after they allegedly found a loaded gun at a Reservoir home of one bikie heavyweight believed to be heading up a new chapter.

Police & Courts

Copy picture. Sarah MacDiarmid, who is presumed to have been murdered in 1990 at Kananook Station and her body never recovered.

Anonymous ‘tip-off’ could solve haunting case

More than 30 years after Sarah MacDiarmid vanished from Kananook station her parents are still hoping for answers to the baffling mystery.

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/journalists/mark-buttler/page/174