Nicola Gobbo: The double agent and the 'devilish' text messages

Police suspected their prized informer, gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo, was a double agent and feeding information back to the underworld, a royal commission has heard.

Former gangland investigator on the Purana taskforce and now Superintendent Jason Kelly told the inquiry into police informers on Wednesday he was worried Ms Gobbo was sharing information with criminals about their investigations.

"There were occasions when I received information that suggested that," Superintendent Kelly said.

Counsel assisting the royal commission, Andrew Woods, said: "The concern that was while Victoria Police were mining information from Ms Gobbo that Victoria Police was concerned ... she was providing information back to criminals."

"It was certainly something that was considered ... after I received two separate pieces of information," Superintendent Kelly replied.

What the information was about was not revealed to the commission investigating the force’s use of Ms Gobbo, who provided information in some of Victoria’s highest profile investigations of the 2000s as Informer 3838.

Nicola Gobbo Credit: Joe Armao

Superintendent Kelly, who was recruited to the Purana taskforce in 2006, said he shared his concerns with the then head of the taskforce, Jim O’Brien.

But while police suspected espionage, Ms Gobbo was also being threatened in "devilish" text messages from phones registered in the names of Purana detectives by someone who had guessed she was helping police.

Superintendent Kelly confirmed one message came from a phone falsely registered in his name.

"They chased it down and someone with a devilish sense of humour had registered the phone to you," Mr Woods said.

"Correct," Superintendent Kelly replied.

Ms Gobbo contacted Superintendent Kelly about another four threatening messages she received, which was traced back to a phone in the name of another Purana police officer.

"Did they ever find out who was making those threats?" Mr Woods asked.

"We certainly had a person of interest, but to my knowledge no person has ever been charged," Superintendent Kelly said.

Following the messages, the commission heard, Ms Gobbo’s car was fire-bombed in Clarendon Street in South Melbourne in April 2008.

Key to the royal commission is whether the force enabled Ms Gobbo to breach her ethical duties as a lawyer in order to obtain information police felt was too good to ignore.

A number of convictions are now under question because of the allegations Ms Gobbo informed on her own clients and breached legal professional privilege, which protects lawyer-client conversations.

Superintendent Kelly said he wasn’t "completely comfortable" when Ms Gobbo showed up at the St Kilda Road police headquarters to represent four out of six people arrested in connection to a clandestine laboratory which she had helped police find.

"You must have been deeply uncomfortable given her attendance when she was the source of the information that led to the arrest," Mr Woods said.

"I was confident that Detective Inspector [Jim] O’Brien who was co-ordinating that part of the operation and arrest ... had processes or strategies in place to reduce that discomfort that scenario presented,” Superintendent Kelly said.

Mr Woods said Mr O’Brien, now retired, said in his statement to the inquiry he "simply didn’t turn his mind" to whether or not there was legally professionally privileged information being provided.