Jason Roberts’ bail bid denied after police murder conviction quashed

Jason Roberts will remain in custody as he awaits a new trial after his conviction over the murders of policemen Gary Silk and Rodney Miller was quashed.

Accused police killer Jason Robertswill spend the next two years preparing for the “trial of his life” from his high-security prison cell after his bid for bailwas refused.

Roberts’ shot at freedom was rejected two weeks after a landmark Court of Appeal ruling saw his conviction for the 1998 shooting murders of policemen Gary Silk and Rodney Miller was quashed and his life sentence set aside.

Lawyers for Roberts argued on Thursday the accused man should not spend another day behind bars after serving 20 years jail based on a “deliberately corrupted trial”.

Roberts, who has been in prison since he was just 19, argued the “corrupt” behaviour of Victoria Police investigators in fabricating evidence in his first trial should see him freed from prison immediately.

Roberts’ barrister, Peter Matthews, said his trial “was poisoned to its roots”.

Jason Roberts

Sergeant Gary Silk.

Senior Constable Rodney Miller.

“The behaviour of the police was labelled as reprehensible by the Court of Appeal,” he said.

Mr Matthews argued his client met the threshold of exceptional circumstances needed for accused murders to be released on bail due to the two decades of considerable personal hardship in prison.

In opposing bail, prosecutor Ben Ihle SC said the length of time Roberts had spent in custody needed to be balanced against the “extremely serious nature of the offences” as well as the strength of the prosecution case.

“The case is not only strong, it is clear,” Mr Ihle said.

Mr Ihle said the factors weighing against Roberts’ grant of bail were “perhaps amongst the most powerful and weighty factors that could be proffered”.

Roberts was convicted of the Silk-Miller murders alongside serial killer Bandali Debs, the father of his girlfriend, in 2002. Now 40, he has always maintained his innocence.

The court heard Roberts’ new trial may not commence until 2022 and would canvas fresh evidence, including alibis from Roberts and his then-girlfriend which were not heard in the original trial.

Jason Roberts arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in September 2019.

Mr Matthews said it would be difficult for Roberts to “prepare for the trial of his life” from custody, particularly given the COVID-19 restrictions in prison.

In denying bail, Justice David Beach said he was not convinced Roberts had displayed exceptional circumstances justifying his release.

If found guilty on retrial and sentenced to the same jail term, Roberts will have only served “a mere fraction” of the sentence, Justice Beach said.

Roberts was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 35 years for the murders of Sergeant Silk and ­Senior Constable Miller.

[e-mail]