Rowland Legg: Killer’s guilty conscience unravelled mystery

A 90-year-old woman is found dead in her Parkville home and an anonymous caller reports hearing screams. It kickstarts the hunt for sadistic killers.

An anonymous man reported hearing a woman screaming in the vicinity of the crime scene.

• Rowland Legg is one of Victoria’s most experienced murder investigators. In a new series he delves into some of his strangest and most challenging cases.

Duty commenced early for our crew on Saturday June 26, 1982. At that time I was a detective senior constable at the Homicide Squad having been appointed to the squad in 1979.

At 12.30am on that day I was contacted by our senior sergeant informing me that two constables had been shot in Moe.

One police member was in a serious condition and they were both at the Latrobe Valley Hospital. Thankfully both ultimately survived.

They had been fired upon as they arrived at a domestic incident and the offender had subsequently been arrested. (He was charged with two counts of attempted murder and committed suicide at a later date prior to trial.)

After overseeing the forensic examination of the scene and taking statements, several of us returned to our office at Russell Street, arriving at 1.30pm.

Ex homicide squad detective, Rowland Legg. Picture: Alex Coppel

A short time later we left for our homes, however the respite was short-lived. An hour later a further call resulted in our attending a house in Parkville where the body of an elderly lady had been discovered.

Eileen Considine was 90 years of age and lived alone. Homicide Squad detectives do not attend death scenes which are not disturbing. This one was particularly so.

The deceased lady was in a rear room of her home, “hogtied” with flex and gagged with a tea towel. A wad of her own hair was in her mouth. I should not go into further detail.

After the majority of the crime scene examination had been completed, and neighbourhood “door knocks” conducted, two of us escorted the body to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where life was formally pronounced extinct and then to the City Mortuary which then was located in Flinders Street beside where the police headquarters building now stands.

The autopsy was conducted, as usual in our presence, later that evening.

We had become aware that on the day before the discovery of Ms Considine’s body, a telephone call was received at police communications.

A young-sounding anonymous male reported hearing a woman screaming in the vicinity of the scene. This may have been unrelated. Alternatively and the most likely scenario was that either it was an innocent passer-by at the time of the attack, or perhaps and hopefully the person responsible, experiencing some post-attack feelings of guilt.

We arranged for a copy of the tape to be provided. Uniform police had attended on the day as a result of the call, however obviously failed to identify from where the screams had originated. They should have pursued it further.

For several days we interviewed suspects, predominantly known burglars, however our success was limited to the recovery of stolen goods. It was decided to play the D24 tape to neighbours and associates of Ms Considine in the hope the voice may be familiar or that a young unknown male may have knocked on other doors.

Another woman living alone nearby was a close friend of Ms Considine. When the tape was played to her, her face changed. It was the voice of a 20 year old close relative of this woman.

She explained that Eileen Considine had needed some jobs attended to around her house. Her friend in all good faith organised the relative and his friend to assist.

Both were arrested on June 29, the neighbour’s close relative at his workplace in Collins Street Melbourne. Both co-operated, a photographed re-enactment was conducted at the scene and they were charged with murder.

At that time homicide interviews involved typing every question and the response on an old typewriter, with the “read-back” of the interview recorded on a reel to reel tape recorder before signing. Questions could run into hundreds, taking many hours.

Very different to the videoed interviews of today.

When the pair had first attended to assist Miss Considine, during general discussions she had innocently spoken of saving for her first colour television set. Several hundred dollars for the purpose had been hanging behind her bed in a small cloth bag. They later returned and forced her to divulge its whereabouts.

The money was not in the house when it was forensically examined after the discovery of Miss Considine’s body. We were told socks and stockings used in the course of the crime were later thrown from a car on the Tullamarine Freeway.

Both offenders pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with a minimum of four.

The Crown successfully applied for the length of sentence to be reviewed. The result was an increase to nine years with a six-year non-parole period.

– with Mark Buttler

Rowland Legg is one of the state’s most experienced and respected murder investigators. By the time he retired in 2010, Mr Legg had worked for 18 years in the homicide squad, 15 of those as a senior-sergeant leading a crew of detectives. Mr Legg and his crew investigated some of the state’s biggest cases and others little known.