Former murder suspect’s rape twist

A former person of interest in the murder of Queensland schoolgirl Leanne Holland is facing new rape charges.

Leanne Holland.

A former person of interest in the murder of Queensland schoolgirl Leanne Holland is facing new rape and indecent treatment charges.

Already a convicted sex offender, the 66-year-old man cannot be named for legal reasons but once lived in the same street as Leanne and knew her family.

The man’s two daughters have previously accused him of being responsible for the 12-year-old’s 1991 murder, not the man jailed for the crime, Graham Stafford. The man is due in court on Friday. In another twist in one of the state’s most contentious legal cases, Stafford and his supporters, including former detective Graeme Crowley, have suffered a setback in ongoing ­efforts to clear Stafford’s name.

In December and January, Mr Crowley gathered new affidavits declaring the sex offender, a known police informant, could be seen in television news footage at the bushland site where Holland’s body was discovered.

His daughters and former partner were among five people who said they were “certain” he was a man wearing a black shirt with a group of detectives on the day the body was found. But in a statement to The Australian, police shot down claims he was the man in the footage.

“The Queensland Police Service is aware of the person’s identity. It is not (the offender),” a spokeswoman said.

Images have been circulated online of the man in the black shirt, wrongly claiming it is the sex offender. It is the second attempt to link him to the crime scene via TV news footage.

Stafford’s supporters have previously claimed he was another figure who could be seen in the footage — but police identified that man as a plainclothes officer. Stafford was engaged to Leanne’s older sister and was alone at home with Leanne at Goodna, west of Brisbane, on the day she went missing.

He served almost 15 years for her murder. After his release on parole the Court of Appeal in 2009 found he was not given a fair trial and quashed his conviction, recommending a retrial.

A police review launched in 2010 found new forensic evidence allegedly implicating Stafford. Of 16 persons of interest, Stafford was reportedly the only one police could not eliminate in the new review.

Former attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie said he was advised by the Director of Public Prosecutions, a retired judge and a senior Queen’s counsel that a new trial was not in the public interest, citing factors including Stafford’s time already served. The Queensland Police Service refused to release a 600-page report from the police review.

Stafford is seeking a copy through the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The last known QCAT hearing on the case was in mid 2017, with a decision still pending.

QCAT president Martin Daubney wrote to the Queensland Law Society on July 3 last year saying he was aware a decision was “beyond the target date”. Justice Daubney, who was not presiding over the case, at the time blamed “(lack of) resources and personal issues” for a backlog in decisions. The sex offender’s daughters claimed, among other things, that he assaulted them at the same location where Holland’s body was found. He was ruled out as a person of interest in the review.