Simon Overland slams Channel 9 over police tragedy charity payment
A legal spat between Simon Overland and Channel 9 has boiled over after the former top cop attacked the makers of the Lawyer X TV drama for haggling over a charity payment to honour police killed in the Eastern Freeway tragedy.
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A controversial former Victoria Police supremo has taken a swipe at Nine for “haggling” over a charity payment to the families of the four police officers killed in last month’s Eastern Freeway tragedy.
A legal spat between Simon Overland and the network erupted after the former police chief complained about how he was portrayed in Nine’s two-part series Informer 3838 — a drama about “Lawyer X” Nicola Gobbo.
Mr Overland alleged the TV special slurred his reputation and character in a complaint submitted to the network.
Nine and Screentime agreed settle the case on Thursday — 10 days after receiving Mr Overland’s complaint.
Mr Overland demanded Nine contribute $10,000 to the fund for the families of Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Senior Constable Kevin King, Constable Glen Humphris and Constable Josh Prestney who were killed by an out of control truck on April 22.
But Mr Overland told The Australian: “they’ve offered $6000, so they are haggling over four grand, for four dead police officers.”
“They’re making money out of this, and they’re making money out of Victoria Police, in a sense, so I think that is an appropriate charity for that payment to go to.”
In the shows, Mr Overland’s character has several phone conversations and meetings with the actor who played Lawyer X, who was first revealed to have snitched on clients at the police’s behest by the Herald Sun in 2014.
The show’s depictions of their interactions was not backed up by evidence presented in the ongoing Lawyer X royal commission.
Mr Overland said Nine’s program had “simply made up” storylines which were “advertised as factual”.
“The main thing is it’s just not right, it is not factual and Nine and Screentime have now recognised that,” he said.
As part of the settlement deal that Nine signed on Thursday, the end of the show will now feature a message saying that the scenes including Mr Overland and Ms Gobbo were fictional.
During Gobbo’s most prolific informing on underworld clients, Mr Overland was either head of the crime department or chief commissioner.
“I didn’t ask for an apology, I am really beyond all of that,” Mr Overland said.
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