Mystery DNA uncovered in Janine Balding case
It was a horrific murder that shocked the nation. A startling new discovery will now form part of a legal push by one of Janine Balding’s convicted killers.
Behind the Scenes
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Faint traces of unidentified male DNA have been found on the bandana used 36 years ago to gag murder victim Janine Balding.
The discovery of the mystery DNA profiles will form part of a legal push by one of Ms Balding’s convicted killers, Stephen “Shorty’’ Jamieson, for a judicial inquiry into his case.
Jamieson is demanding the profiles be compared against a man who his co-offenders claim was the real “Shorty’’ with them on the night of the murder, Mark “Shorty’’ Wells.
Jamieson, through former NSW politician and lawyer, Peter Breen, launched Supreme Court action last year after learning Wells’ DNA had never been obtained by NSW Police or tested against crime scene evidence.
All four of Jamieson’s then co-accused testified at the murder trial in 1990 that it was “Shorty” Wells, not “Shorty” Jamieson, who was with them at Sutherland railway station where Ms Balding was abducted before she was raped and then drowned in a Minchinbury dam beside the M4 freeway in Sydney’s outer west.
Jamieson, who stands 149cm, and Wells, at 150cm, knew each other on the streets of Sydney.
Both men had been at a drop-in centre in Sydney’s CBD in the hours prior to Ms Balding’s murder on September 8, 1988, where some of the youths of the newly formed street gang had gathered.
In tests conducted by the NSW Forensic & Analytical Science Service between 2014 and 2023 on the bandana, five unidentified male profiles were detected.
None of the profiles have been strong enough to upload to the National Criminal Investigation DNA Database.
It can also be revealed that since then, NSW Police has received a “thatcher’’ of Wells’ DNA, taken by Queensland Police in 2011.
But NSW Police declined to physically compare the unidentified profiles against Wells’ sample.
In a submission to the NSW Supreme Court the Crown says it is “presently unable as a matter of law to compare Wells’ DNA profile’’.
Mr Breen was informed early last year by recently retired Forensic & Analytical Science Service (FASS) Operations Director Sharon Neville the lab had never had Wells’ sample, sparking the court action.
He told The Daily Telegraph a simple test against Wells’ DNA profile was common sense.
“All we want to know is whether any of these profiles match Mark “Shorty’’ Wells’ DNA,’’ he said.
“It was meant to happen more than two decades ago.
“I was told it had been done, but neither the NSW Police nor the lab has ever had Wells’ DNA profile to compare against the bandana.
“It shocked me when I found out.’’
Ms Balding’s brother, David Balding, said he believed the right “Shorty’’ was in jail.
“All I know is that they’re not going to like what they’ve found,’’ Mr Balding said.
“It’s been through nine judges already and there’s no new evidence.
“Shorty Wells has been investigated and he wasn’t there. He said he was, but he got so much wrong it was ridiculous.’’
Wells became publicly linked to the case during the initial trial of Jamieson, Matthew Elliott and Bronson Blessington for the murder of Ms Balding in 1989 when Blessington testified it was Wells, not Jamieson, who was with the gang.
During the trial, NSW Police located and interviewed Wells in Brisbane, who made admissions to being present at the Balding crime scenes.
Asked if he knew a person named Janine Balding, Wells told police he remembered her near a “barbed wire fence’’, adding, Stephen pushed over it with the other, they had a knife.’’
Wells, a schizophrenic who had previously falsely confessed to another crime, also gave details when asked about the earlier abduction of Ms Balding, recalling the 20-year-old bank clerk was forced into her Gemini by the gang and threatened.
“We were walking to some place and we seen her then they said lets (sic) get her and take the car.’’
He added: “Then they grabbed her and told her to drive she was really scared then she kept on saying don’t hurt me and don’t kill me.’’
“Then she drove then we ended up on some highway. Then night time come then they threw her over this fence then they dragged her into the bush and they were a long time and they came back then one of them said, ‘I killed her’.’’
Wells refused to answer further police questions after being flown to Sydney and would claim privilege against self-incrimination if called to give evidence at the trial.
The issue surrounding the alleged “wrong Shorty’’ ended in the trial being aborted.
Police, however, would rule Wells out as a suspect. Investigators cited Wells’ was unable to recall where Ms Balding was abducted or where she was taken to before her murder.
A police report also states Wells was unable to nominate the names of any of the co-accused other than Jamieson and got the colour of the car and the knife wrong.
At the second trial, in 1990, all four of Jamieson’s co-accused testified that it was “Shorty’’ Wells, not “Shorty’’ Jamieson, who was with them at the abduction and murder scenes.
Wells, who when asked if he knew a person named Janine Balding, told the court: “I don’t want answer any of these questions because they might incriminate me.’’
He would deny any involvement in the crime and was not positively identified by any of the other witnesses.
Jamieson was convicted on the evidence of his signed confession, in which he gave a detailed account of what happened at the crime scenes, and two eyewitnesses who approached police after the initial trial was aborted.
Jamieson has long argued his seven page typed record of interview, was fabricated. It was conducted before audio or video recording became mandatory.
His then murder co-accused, Blessington and Matthew Elliott, were also convicted. Two other co-accused, Wayne Wilmot and Carol Arrow, pleaded guilty to other crimes committed against Ms Balding.
Beginning in 2002, a secret Police Integrity Commission (PIC) operation codenamed Cerduna scrutinised Jamieson’s case. The six-year investigation did not identify any serious misconduct.
But during the probe, Jamieson’s co-accused continued to claim it was “Shorty’’ Wells who was with them although Carol Arrow was unsure.
And Wells himself in a rambling PIC interview first denied, then confessed once again, that he was at the crime scenes.
Strangely, he told investigators he could “astro-travel’’ and that he was there “in spirit’’ before agreeing he was physically there.
“Were you there, Mark, in body?’’ Wells was asked by a PIC officer.
“Yeah,’’ he answered.
“You were there in body?’’ a PIC officer asked again.
“Yeah, and I can tell that they did everything....’’ Wells said.
“Let me just get this straight. You’re saying that you were there,’’ the PIC officer repeated.
“Mm,’’ Wells said while nodding his head.
“Can you say the word ‘yes’?’’
“Yes,’’ Wells answered.
“You were there?, the officer asked a last time.
“Yes,’’ Wells said.
They then suggested he was confused having given differing versions of events.
They also raised the point that Wells was wearing a bandana.
Wells agreed with the officers it had long been his “style’’ to have a “Commando’’ look.
He was asked if he wore a black bandana “back then’’ when he lived in Sydney.
“Yeah, someone pinched it but,’’ he said.
It is not known if Wells, 62, has been located or is still alive.
The attorney general’s office and NSW Police declined to comment as the issue was before the court.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison is expected to rule next month (December) on whether or not to order a judicial inquiry into Jamieson’s case.
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