Nicole Debs fighting charges over an alleged $1800 fraud that flowed from phone evidence obtained via a warrant

Nicole Debs, the ex-girlfriend of acquitted cop killer Jason ­Roberts and daughter of serial killer Bendali Debs, has argued police put a tap on her phone in “bad faith”.

The ex-girlfriend of Jason ­Roberts has questioned whether the cops put a tap on her phone in “bad faith”, leading her to be charged with dishonesty offences months before she was due to take the stand as an alibi witness for the acquitted cop killer.

Nicole Debs, the daughter of serial murderer Bendali Debs, is fighting charges over an alleged $1800 fraud that flowed from phone evidence obtained via a warrant after Roberts’ double-murder conviction was quashed in November 2020.

Supreme Court documents reveal Ms Debs, who now goes by a different surname, has ­argued officers may have launched a “bad faith” probe into her while holding “a new (ulterior) purpose to obtain evidence (against her) to discredit her as a witness”.

Ms Debs told police in 2013 that Roberts was with her the night police officers Gary Silk and Rodney Miller were shot dead outside the Silky Emperor restaurant in Moorabbin in 1998.

Nicole Debs, who now goes by a different surname, has ­argued officers may have launched a ‘bad faith’ probe into her.

She said she and Roberts were instead home planning his 18th birthday and booking a stretch limousine.

Ms Debs was due to testify in his 2022 retrial, but was never called as a witness after she was charged in October 2021 with 10 dishonesty offences for allegedly faking medical certificates to get paid personal leave.

Roberts was eventually found not guilty by a jury and released last year after two ­decades behind bars.

Her father Bendali Debs remains in jail over the murders.

Nicole Debs says Jason Roberts was with her on the night Gary Silk and Rodney Miller were murdered.

Fresh details on the fraud case were revealed in a ­Supreme Court judgment as Chief Commissioner Shane Patton lost a fight last week to stop Ms Debs from getting police documents she says are crucial to her defence.

It details how Operation Lorimer – tasked with investigating the 1998 police murders – continued to operate after Roberts’ convictions were quashed and a new trial granted, and launched a new probe into Ms Debs.

Inspector Katrina Hall, from the covert unit, gave evidence that police believed Ms Debs “had conspired with Roberts for her to provide false alibi ­evidence”, and that police ­believed that Ms Debs stating Roberts was with her that night “was false”.

Police argued that, in March 2021, there was “every reason to believe” she would take part in phone conversations “with the purpose of impeding the apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment” of Roberts for the Silk-Miller murders.

Bendali Debs remains in jail over the Silk-Miller murders.

Officers were only able to get a warrant to tap her phone by alleging she may have committed the “serious offence” of assisting an offender in murder.

The alternate offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice was not serious enough to obtain a warrant.

Magistrate Brett Sonnet last November ruled Ms Debs should get the documents, ­stating that the accusation she “conspired with Mr Roberts … to provide false alibi evidence” raised an “important issue” of what offence she was actually being investigated for.

Mr Sonnet described the case as “somewhat remarkable” given Ms Debs had never been charged with any crimes relating to the 1998 police murders despite an “exhaustive investigation”.

The Chief Commissioner contested Mr Sonnet’s decision, seeking a judicial review in the Supreme Court, which was last week thrown out by Justice Melinda Richards.

In her judgment, Justice Richards noted that “an inference might be drawn that the Lorimer Taskforce commenced the new investigation of Ms (Debs) only because she was a potential alibi witness at the retrial of Mr Roberts”.

The case will now be sent back to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, where police will have to decide on their next move. Ms Debs is seeking to have the wiretap thrown out because it was “obtained improperly”.