Police plotted to use Lawyer X in sting to gather information on Dodson murders
Lawyer X was involved in an elaborate police sting to solve a gangland murder-mystery, with the highest levels of Victoria Police command approving the plan to milk Nicola Gobbo for information on the cold case executions of Terry and Christine Hodson.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Police plotted to use Lawyer X to tape a client in a bid to solve a gangland murder mystery.
The elaborate sting involving underworld barrister and informer Nicola Gobbo was approved at the highest levels of Victoria Police command.
Documents reveal that in mid-2007, soon-to-be chief commissioner Simon Overland had a direct role in approving Gobbo being milked for information on the executions of Terry and Christine Hodson.
The documents further detail how a plan was hatched by investigators probing the Hodsons’ murders to shake down their son, Andrew, who was a suspect at the time.
Detectives hoped Hodson would then ring Gobbo, his lawyer, who would record him and report back the privileged conversation. The revelations are expected to be a key focus of the Lawyer X royal commission, which resumes on Monday.
A secret 2012 investigation by former police chief commissioner Neil Comrie into the force’s use of Gobbo, now being probed by a royal commission, states: “The SML (Source Management Log) reflects that on 25.05.07 SDU (Source Development Unit) management met with now Deputy Commissioner Overland and provided a briefing about the type of information 3838 (Lawyer X) may be able to provide concerning the Hodson matters.
“Considerations as to how to best utilise 3838 to secure Hodson-related information continued …”
In early 2008, Andrew Hodson, an associate of Tony Mokbel and known drug dealer thought to be hiding crucial information about his parents’ killings, was picked up by detectives at a shopping centre.
“They put me in a room and they pushed me, told me I wasn’t going to leave that room,” he told the Herald Sun this week.
“I was told to give up who killed my parents … who was involved.
“They were trying to get me to give information about something I knew nothing about. There were a couple of bigwigs in there.
“It was a very unpleasant experience to say the least. They emptied out the cop shop.
“I sat there for two or three hours. My wife sat out the front. She rang Nicola Gobbo.’’
It is not known whether Gobbo taped Andrew Hodson or his wife.
But a confidential police information report from Gobbo’s police handlers supports Hodson’s version of events.
“They plan to put pressure on Andrew Hodson later this week with a view to cause him to go to 3838 (Gobbo) for advice,” it said.
The March 2008 handler reports also reveal an internal tug-of-war between Gobbo’s handlers and the murder investigators, which led to Overland overruling concerns over her use in his desperation to solve the case.
“3838 reminded about talking too much,” one handler report said.
“Do not provide too many clues for Petra (the murder taskforce),” said another.
Gobbo had represented Andrew Hodson since 2001 and gave legal advice to his father Terry after he was nabbed in a drug house burglary that involved at least one corrupt police officer.
Eight months later, Terry Hodson, himself a registered police informer and witness, was gunned down alongside his wife, Christine, in their Kew home in May 2004, while under police protection.
In 2007, gangland boss Carl Williams implicated allegedly corrupt police in the murder. Gobbo’s assistance in the murder probe even led to Overland using her as a witness in a trial against former police officer, Paul Dale.
Gobbo was never exposed to an examination after the death of Williams in prison in April, 2010, whose evidence that case was to rely upon.
While Mr Comrie was able to obtain the information reports, he astonishingly was not given access to the “full Petra Steering Group file”, which oversaw Gobbo’s transition from human source 3838 to witness in the Hodson case.
The commission, which will quiz Dale on Monday, is now likely to demand the file.
THE FULL LAWYER X SERIES: THE SCORPION’S STING
UNTOLD STORY TO AIR IN DOCO
Sky News Australia’s two-part investigation, Lawyer X: The Untold Story, will air on Monday, July 22, and Tuesday, July 23.
The documentary marks a new direction for the channel, which is also producing a two-parter into the downfall of former PM Malcolm Turnbull, and it comes as the case of Lawyer X gains increasing national attention, with a book by HarperCollins Australia and a Foxtel drama in the works.
Host Peter Stefanovic said: “I’m thrilled to bring viewers some insight into the biggest scandal in Australian legal history. It’s a story from the pages of Hollywood but with real and dangerous consequences.”
LAWYER X: HOW WE UNCOVERED THE TRUTH
Sky News chief Paul Whittaker said: “The Herald Sun’s reporting set off an extraordinary chain of events that rocked Victoria’s legal and law enforcement establishment, with the implications continuing to unfold across the judiciary and the wider community.
“The documentary will speak to key insiders and reveal new information into the events that shook Victoria’s justice system and sparked a Royal Commission into the scandal.”