Former detective to take stand

Paul Dale will be the first witness when the fourth round of royal commission hearings begins.

Former police officer Paul Dale. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Former drug squad detective Paul Dale will be the first witness when the fourth round of Lawyer X royal commission hearings gets underway tomorrow morning.

The hearings, which are set to run for a fortnight, may also feature evidence from suspended Victoria Police commander Stuart Bateson, who is due to face a magistrate in July on three counts of disclosing a restricted matter after an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission.

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo is set to focus on gangland lawyer-turned-informant Nicola Gobbo’s dealings with Mr Dale and the gangland-focused Purana Taskforce in 2004 and 2005, as well as her handover to Victoria Police’s Source Development Unit and registration as a human source by the SDU in September 2005.

Ms Gobbo, also known as Lawyer X, was called as a witness against Mr Dale in his later disbanded murder trial over the 2004 death of fellow police informer Terence Hodson.

Mr Dale was charged with Mr Hodson’s murder in 2009, and hitman Rodney Charles Collins was charged with the double murder of Mr Hodson and his wife Christine.

However, the charges against both men were dropped in April 2010 after gangland figure Carl Williams, who was assisting police with their investigations into the Hodsons’ murders, was murdered by a fellow prison inmate.

The Commission has named another 15 potential witnesses who may appear over the next fortnight alongside Mr Dale and Mr Bateson, including Ballarat policeman Tim Argall, who has admitted he had an “episode of physical intimacy” with Ms Gobbo, Purana Taskforce detectives Andy Allen, Gavan Ryan Nigel L’Estrange, Mark Hatt, Michelle Kerley, Jason Kelly, Steve Mansell, Paul Rowe, Michael Dolan, Tony Biggin, Jim O’Brien, Dale Flynn, Phillip Swindells and Boris Buick, and former Deputy Ombudsman, Police Complaints, Brian Hardiman.

During the period being investigated, Ms Gobbo was representing some of Victoria’s most prominent gangland figures, including Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel.

Mr Bateson was part of the Purana Taskforce, which was investigating the gangland killings.

He has been suspended from duty ahead of his appearance in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on July 4, and last week released a statement saying he was “looking forward to fighting the charges” against him.