Jailed father of Nicola Gobbo’s child loses bid for early freedom

The jailhouse lover and former client of Nicola Gobbo will serve out the remainder of his drug trafficking sentence after a court knocked back his bid for an early release.

The Court of Appeal has refused a bid by the jailhouse lover of Nicola Gobbo to be freed early because of the Lawyer X scandal, saying the application was “lacking merit”.

Richard Barkho, who shares a child with Gobbo, was not in court for the decision this morning.

The Herald Sun had exclusively revealed he was seeking leave to appeal against his minimum five-year sentence for drug trafficking, imposed in 2014.

Barkho appeared in court under tight security last Friday, arguing he should be granted leave to appeal for a lesser sentence because of “fresh evidence”, not taken into consideration when he was jailed, that his partner was an informer.

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But Court of Appeal judges Phillip Priest and Richard Niall ruled: “The proposed ground relying on fresh evidence concerning the ramifications of his relationship with the former barrister is devoid of merit.

“Evidence of what has transpired since the applicant was first sentenced, as a result of his relationship with the former barrister, is not fresh evidence.

Richard Barkho has become the first to use the Lawyer X police informer scandal to push for a get-out-of-jail sooner card. Picture: Supplied

Nicola Gobbo.

“The evidence cannot properly be said to ‘throw a different light on circumstances which existed at the time of sentence’.

“It would be pointless to grant an extension of time to permit it to be agitated.”

They also dismissed a second ground where Peter Morrissey, SC, for Barkho, had argued his client’s mental state had deteriorated, as his association with Gobbo meant he faced an increasingly volatile situation in jail.

“He was the partner of a controversial figure who at the time (of sentencing) was not known to be controversial,” Mr Morrissey said in submissions at Friday’s hearing.

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Barkho was “a model prisoner” but was now being “treated like a terror one”, locked up in maximum security for his own protection, Mr Morrissey said.

“Because he is known to be associated with her (Gobbo), he suffers,” he said.

Gobbo was this month exposed as the supergrass, Lawyer X, whom police recruited to inform on her clients during the gangland war.

Revelations by the Herald Sun of this corruption of the justice system have prompted a royal commission.

Jeremy McWilliams, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss Barkho’s application, arguing his woes in prison did not amount to “fresh evidence”.

Richard Barkho on his wedding day in Essendon.

Nicola Gobbo receives an award at Government House. Picture: Ian Currie

Mr McWilliams also pointed out Barkho had had every opportunity to declare his relationship with Gobbo before he was sentenced, but had instead indicated he was single and childless.

In July 2014, Barkho was jailed for seven years and three months after pleading guilty to trafficking a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, possessing 4.49g of cocaine, and dealing in the proceeds of crime. He could be eligible for parole as early as June.

Mr Morrissey did not argue that County Court judge Wendy Wilmoth had made an error in sentencing, but that new evidence of Barkho’s mental state and his connection with Gobbo should now be considered.

Justices Priest and Niall heard that jail authorities had been concerned about how to manage Barkho’s safety since 2014.

In October that year, prison staff warned him of threats to his life and he was moved from Marngoneet Prison to Loddon Prison.

But in November 2015, he was set upon by three inmates and had his face, throat and ear severely slashed.

The attack was said to be because of his links to Gobbo, who would regularly visit.

“The situation of his partner became more and more precarious to him,” Mr Morrissey said.

Justice Niall questioned why, if authorities had been concerned about the Gobbo connection in 2014, Barkho never mentioned it in his plea hearing that year.

Mr Morrissey suggested Barkho, who had once been Gobbo’s client, was trying to protect the child he has with her.

It would be “meritless” if the court concluded Barkho was being manipulative.

“He chose not to reveal it for obvious reasons,” he said.

Asked by Justice Priest to clarify what Barkho had withheld, Mr Morrissey said: “The fact he was in a relationship with Nicola Gobbo and had a child.”

Justice Niall: “What about if she was an informer?”

Mr Morrissey replied: “There was no chance he was going to admit that on a plea. It was essentially unknown in the public.”

Justice Priest informed both parties Gobbo had been his junior counsel when he had been at the Bar; neither was concerned this would affect his hearing the case.

The Herald Sun was finally allowed to identify Gobbo as Lawyer X on March 1, following a five-year legal fight with Victoria Police.

In December, the High Court described Lawyer X’s recruitment by police, revealed by the Herald Sun in 2014, as a “reprehensible” and “atrocious” corruption of the justice system. The Andrews Government then called a royal commission.

The DPP wrote to 20 criminals, alerting them that the use of Gobbo as a police informer might have compromised their cases.

Among those appealing as a result are drug lord Tony Mokbel, Mokbel henchman Zlate Cvetanovski, and drug trafficker Rob Karam.

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