Jason Roberts breaks silence after being acquitted of Silk-Miller murders

A newly freed Jason Roberts has broken his silence after being released from prison, thanking the jury and revealing what’s next for him.

Jason Roberts, acquitted of the murders of police officers Gary Silk and Rodney Miller, has broken his silence after his release from prison.

After almost 22 years as a maximum security inmate, Roberts told the Herald Sun he was looking forward to the future.

“I am relieved that after more than two decades I am finally at home with my family,’’ Roberts said.

“I have always maintained my innocence for the tragic murders of officers Silk and Miller and was grateful for the diligent way the jury went about its task and for the verdict they returned.

“I am now able to look toward the future, which I have not been able to do since I was a teenager.

“I ask that the media ­respect my privacy and that of my family. Due to court proceedings in September I will not be making any further comment or statement.’’

Jason Roberts says he is looking “toward the future” after being acquitted. Picture: Mark Stewart

On Monday morning Roberts was found not guilty of the murders of Sergeant Silk, 34, and Senior Constable Miller, 35, both ­fatally shot in Moorabbin in Melbourne’s southeast shortly after midnight on August 16, 1998.

Roberts did not make any public comment as he walked from the Supreme Court a free man after a 3½-month ­retrial. The 41-year-old has since been reunited with a close-knit group of supporters as he readjusts to life on the outside.

The unanimous jury verdict was met with shock by the Silk and Miller families who, in a joint statement, said: “A number lives changed when Gary and Rod were murdered and many lives will never be the same, including the first responders and the detectives involved in this case – all of whom have shown great courage, determination and grace as they pursued justice.”

Senior Constable Rodney Miller.

Sergeant Gary Silk

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, a former colleague of Sgt Silk and Constable Miller, said on Monday the verdict was a “disappointing” end to the 24-year saga.

The officers were on a stake-out of the Silky Emperor Chinese restaurant when they spotted a suspicious Hyundai Excel drive in and out of the restaurant’s underground carpark, intercepting it in Cochranes Rd.

Prosecutors alleged Roberts, 17 at the time, was with the older Bandali Debs and they ambushed the officers.

Roberts was arrested two year later. He was convicted alongside Debs at the original 2002 trial and sentenced to life in prison with a 35-year minimum. A retrospective law made in 2016 meant Roberts would spend the rest of his life in prison.

But his convictions were overturned after it was revealed there had been serious police misconduct during the murder investigation.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, a former colleague of the fallen officers, said on Monday the verdict was a “disappointing”. Picture: Jason Edwards

A series of police statements concerning Constable Miller’s “dying declaration” were shredded, replaced and some even backdated in relation to the fatally injured officer’s last words.

The emergence of a doctored police statement made by officer Glenn Pullin, which contained added information and was backdated to the morning of the murders, was unearthed by the Herald Sun after it had been buried for 19 years.

Its emergence led to an anti-corruption probe by IBAC and Roberts’ retrial.

There was no doubt over Debs’ 2002 conviction, who made admissions to his role in the double murder during a police bugging operation in 1999-2000.

Debs was subsequently also convicted of the murders of two women he shot in the years prior to the police shootings. Now 68, he is serving four life sentences at Goulburn Prison in NSW.

The career criminal was a crucial witness for the prosecution at Roberts’ retrial.

Before it, he attempted to strike a deal with police to be moved to a Victorian jail, as well as gain immunity from further prosecution and be given a parole date.

Debs gave evidence under the protection of a “certificate”, a court order shielding him from incriminating himself over crimes he committed which remain unsolved.

The decades Roberts spent in jail represent the longest stretch behind bars any Australian has served in a case where a verdict has been overturned in court.

Roberts returns to court in September for a plea hearing over 10 armed robberies he committed with Debs in 1998. He is currently on bail.