Killers’ refusal to reveal location of bodies sparks plea for ‘no body, no release’ law

The brother of a murdered solicitor — whose remains have never been found — has backed a move to keep convicted killers in jail for worsening families’ pain.

The Bellarine brother of a murdered suburban lawyer has welcomed a move to explore new laws keeping convicted killers in jail if they refuse to share the location of their victim’s remains.

The Justice Party last week launched a motion in parliament to keep convicted killers in jail if they refused to share the location of their victim’s remains with police.

Western Victoria MP Stuart Grimley said the move would strengthen Victoria’s ‘no body no parole’ laws to become ‘no body no release’ if successful.

“To take a life and not be prepared to declare where the body has been discarded is abhorrent,” Mr Grimley said.

“Families deserve closure at the very least. They must be given the opportunity to choose their loved ones final resting place, which is always deeply personal.”

“The perpetrator deserves a prison sentence that reflects the seriousness of the crime and gives a victim’s family some comfort in knowing they will never be released.”

murder anniversary

Mr Grimley noted seven prisoners were subject to Victoria’s ‘no body, no parole’ law when it was enacted at the end of 2016, including Sudo Cavkic, sentenced to more than 25 years in prison for the murder of solicitor Keith Allan.

Keith’s brother Lyle Allan, who lives in Barwon Heads, has long called for his brother’s killers to reveal where they dumped the body, and welcomed the move to introduce further laws to compel murderers to reveal where the bodies of their victims were hidden.

“In my brother’s case I would like to know where the body is, and that would be sensible to find legislation to be passed for something like that,” Mr Allan said.

“It would certainly help families if an appropriate law was passed.”

Mr Allan said any new laws compelling murderers to better co-operate with authorities would give him more hope his brothers remains would one day be found.

In May 2020, on the 20th anniversary of Keith’s murder, Mr Allan admitted he was losing hope the last resting place of his younger brother would be discovered.

“It’s just terrible. I can’t have a funeral,” Mr Allan said.

“We had a memorial service about seven years later, but it’s just not knowing where the body might be … it’s really awful.”

“I’ve had to see a psychologist through post-traumatic stress … I still get headaches, it’s very distressing.”

Mr Allan suffered a stroke in 2016 and he said the stress could have been a contributing factor.

Former Belmont High School student Julian Clarke, Costas Athanasi and Sudo Cavkic were found guilty of Keith Allan’s murder in 2007, and handed minimum sentences ranging from 21 years to 25½ years.

IN MAY 2000, Keith Allan was a 53-year-old solicitor in Avondale Heights in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Five years earlier he had hired a young clerk from Geelong named Julian Clarke.

Unfortunately for Mr Allan, Clarke was a gambler with a taste for Crown Casino’s high-roller Mahogany Room who had decided to siphon large sums of money from the law firm’s accounts to prop up both his and his associates’ gambling habits.

Accountant and disgraced former Geelong mayor Frank De Stefano was one gambling buddy who enjoyed playing with Mr Allan’s money, using cheques pinched by Clarke to maintain his casino credit line.

murder anniversary

De Stefano was eventually jailed for 10 years for stealing $8.6 million of his own clients’ money for his gambling pleasure.

Later investigations would find Clarke misused the law firm’s trust accounts to misappropriate about $1 million and prop up about $5 million in debts owed by others.

By 1999 the Law Institute of Victoria came calling following a complaint about a $75,000 cheque possibly stolen from the trust, leaving Clarke scrambling to cover his tracks.

Clarke’s cold-blooded plan was to have Mr Clarke mysteriously disappear so authorities would focus their blame on the solicitor.

In one of his final insults to his boss, Clarke siphoned more cash from the law firm’s trust account to pay Athanasi to kill Mr Allan.

He used Mr Allan’s money to pay Mr Allan’s killer.

Athanasi, a convicted drug trafficker, former nightclub owner and gambling buddy of Clarke, then hired his unemployed buddy Cavkic to kill Mr Allan.

Mr Allan was last seen on the evening of May 28, 2000. CCTV footage showed him with Clarke at 9.45pm at an East Keilor service station, after Clarke had lured him there to discuss the firm’s financial difficulties.

murder anniversary

At 2.20am the next day police came upon Cavkic sitting in Mr Allan’s Mercedes Benz, parked in a dead-end street in Laverton alongside Athanasi in his Jaguar.

In the back seat of Mr Allan’s car lay a dirty shovel, hoe and can of petrol, while the solicitor’s wallet and phone were also found in the car — along with a gun and specks of his blood on Cavkic’ pants leg.

Phone records showed Clarke spoke to Athanasi within four minutes of Mr Allan’s 9.45pm disappearance, and that Cavkic called Athanasi a number of times that evening between 9.20pm and the pair’s 2.20am discovery by police.

Cavkic’s calls originated from the Mount Macedon area, where Mr Allan’s body was most likely dumped.

It took two years for the first charges to be laid — with a little help from DNA evidence from Keith Allan’s razor and the blood on Cavkic’s clothing. Cavkic was charged with murder in February 2002, then Clarke and Athanasi later that year.

The trio were found guilty in 2004, but successfully appealed their convictions the following year.

A 2006 retrial led to a hung jury, but by 2007 all three were once more found guilty of murder.

The Supreme Court sentenced Cavkic to 25½ years’ jail with a minimum term of 21½ years, Athanasi to 24 years with a minimum of 19, and Clarke to 28½ years with a minimum of 23½.

A 2012 coroner’s report found police had concluded Cavkic killed Mr Allan at an “unknown location probably in the Mount Macedon region between 11pm on 28 May and 2am on May 29”.

Originally published as Killers’ refusal to reveal location of bodies sparks plea for ‘no body, no release’ law