New probe into mystery vanishing of Laurie Prendergast
Laurie Prendergast was a gangland heavyweight when he vanished in 1985. Some say that he fled overseas, but his family and police are in no doubt he was murdered. Now, a new spotlight is set to shine on the mystery.
Police & Courts
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The cold-case mystery of missing gangland figure Laurie Prendergast will come under the spotlight of a fresh inquest.
The hearing will search for answers over the disappearance and suspected murder of Prendergast, a central figure in a brutal era of Melbourne underworld carnage.
There has been much speculation over the years about what happened to Prendergast after he vanished on August 23, 1985.
Some say that as a marked man he fled overseas, but his family and police are in no doubt he was murdered.
Detectives have in the past investigated whether he was a victim of prolific contract killer Rodney Charles Collins, who died in a maximum-security prison two years ago.
Prendergast was a suspect in the Great Bookie Robbery of 1976, a crime masterminded by his mate Raymond Patrick Bennett which netted millions of dollars but sparked an underworld bloodbath.
Bennett would be shot dead at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in 1979 as fallout from the crime turned into a full-tilt gang war involving feared Painter and Docker brothers Brian and Les Kane.
Prendergast was later acquitted of the 1978 murder of Les, who was blasted to death with a machine gun at his east suburban home.
Brian Kane was shot dead by two masked gunmen in the lounge bar of the Quarry Hotel in Brunswick in 1982.
Police suspect that was also the handiwork of Collins, a flint-hearted mercenary suspected of racking up a double-figure homicide tally.
A 1990 inquest by Coroner Maurice Gurvich was unable to determine what happened to Prendergast.
“It is difficult to know where fiction ends and truth begins,” Mr Gurvich found.
“The story that unfolded here resembled the plot of a gangster movie.
“The facts, in my view, do not justify my concluding Laurence Prendergast is dead.”
Prendergast’s wife, Ursula, applied several years ago to have that ruling set aside.
She reportedly spoke to her husband the day before he vanished and he was said to be in good spirits.
Prendergast’s car was later found at Warrandyte.
The career criminal was a mate of triggerman Christopher Dale Flannery, who disappeared a few months earlier in mysterious circumstances, never to be seen again.
The inquiry will examine witness statements, a police brief of evidence and other documents related to the case.
A Coroner’s Court of Victoria spokeswoman confirmed a hearing date had yet to be scheduled.
“The case continues to be actively investigated and will progress to a summary inquest in due course,” she said.
“As the investigation is open, we are unable to provide further comment.”