LNP pulls Wright rein with DNA lab pledge
Victims of crime still being denied DNA-linked justice – along with police and prosecutors who rely on forensic evidence to put violent criminals behind bars – have new reasons to be hopeful.
Hedley Thomas
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Beyond the relief, a travesty continues
While the finding of one of Queensland’s most astute judges was a relief, the killer of Shandee Blackburn, whoever he may be, is still at large, with justice still an elusive mirage for her mother.
The first big yarn to take a toll on Hedley Thomas
Being sent to cover the bloody overthrow of the communist regime in Romania was a seminal experience for a young reporter who would become one of The Australian’s most highly acclaimed journalists.
The listener who changed the course of my investigation
When a Ballina woman called Kerry McLean sent me a brief email in January 2023 there were no explanatory notes. Just four words and a date. It led us to a breakthrough.
‘Maybe someone out there knows the truth about mum’
Bronwyn Winfield’s daughter Chrystal was 10 when her mother vanished 31 years ago. She has theories about what happened – and now hopes the mystery can finally be solved | Episode 4 out now.
Reaching into the past: what did ‘missing’ really mean?
The penny dropped for me one afternoon a week before Christmas, 2017. What a retired senior coroner told me that day should be absorbed by every police chief and politician with the power now to make a difference.
Dawson hangs appeal hat on dubious sighting
Chris Dawson is basing his appeal on a so-called sighting by his football mate’s wife, Sue Butlin, of his first wife Lyn.
Hedley Thomas’s tandoori chicken
Ruth opened a wicker picnic basket and on the edge of Tea Tree Bay Beach on that day in January, 1993, I knew for sure and certain we should be inseparable.
DNA lab’s fake facts key ‘proof of its lies’
A document described as a ‘fact sheet’ misled dozens of scientists and Queensland Health on the eve of the launch of a DNA testing system that was doomed to fail.
This was a magic carpet ride for pure cowardice
Wet lettuce leaves have fallen with more force than the findings about those responsible for the Queensland DNA lab’s criminal-freeing Project 13.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/hedley-thomas