Melbourne gangland figure David McCulloch to be released from jail, deported to UK
A GANGLAND figure once linked to the double murder of police informer Terry Hodson and his wife Christine is set to be released from jail and deported.
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A GANGLAND figure once linked to the double murder of police informer Terry Hodson and his wife Christine is set to be released from jail and deported.
The Herald Sun has been told David McCulloch, whose associates included drug lords John Higgs, Lewis Moran and Tony Mokbel, will walk out of prison as early as this week.
McCulloch was jailed for drug trafficking in 2005 and has served much of his sentence at Barwon Prison.
McCulloch’s criminal connections ran deep and he was the prime suspect as the mastermind of a burglary at the St Kilda Rd police station in 1996.
No one was charged over the theft of sensitive police informer files, codenamed E2/92, but police officers were believed to have aided the burglary.
The informer was forced to go into hiding in fear of his life and later died of natural causes.
A police operation concluded there was little doubt Higgs, who is now serving a jail stint over the importation of $440m of drugs into Melbourne’s docks in 2008, had been the recipient of the stolen files.
McCulloch was also believed to be responsible for disseminating IR44, an infamous informer file spread to the underworld identifying Terry Hodson as a police snitch.
Later, more Hodson files would go missing from the drug squad offices, believed to have been stolen by police.
McCulloch would also make corruption claims against police officers and used his time on bail to hire private investigators and lobby politicians to establish a royal commission, but ultimately failed.
Now in his 60s, he will return to the UK.