Homicide squad launch ‘thorough’ investigation into Simon Gaskill’s death

Body-worn camera footage, mobile phone records and a cybercrime unit’s analysis of a laptop are all expected evidence to be handed over to the coroner tasked with reinvestigating Simon Gaskill’s death.

Body-worn camera footage of an encounter between police and Simon Gaskill and an analysis of the dead man’s laptop will be handed over to Victoria’s Coroners Court in its reopened probe into the ‘body in the dunes’ mystery.

New lines of police inquiry came to light in the first public hearing into the death of Gaskill, whose remains were found at an Ocean Grove beach by a holidaying teenager on Good Friday 2022.

The court heard on Friday that the coronial brief prepared by Geelong detectives in October 2023 contained body-worn camera footage of an interaction between police and the 51-year-old, statements from Barwon Health detailing Gaskill’s admission to a health service in December 2021 and the homeless man’s mobile phone call records.

Statements from family and friends as well as additional medical records were also included in the police summary ordered by then Victorian deputy coroner Jacqui Hawkins in May last year.

After being reviewed by detectives from Ballarat, just last week the case was referred to Detective Leigh Smyth from the Homicide Squad.

The Australian first revealed on Thursday that the investigation had been transferred to the homicide squad, with detectives citing the reason for the referral was due to the specialist force’s “expertise and independence”.

Detective Smyth told the court that the main development from the fresh probe was that police had received a laptop provided by the Gaskill family which is now in the hands of the cybercrime unit so that a full analysis can be conducted.

The results of that analysis are expected to take a few weeks.

An undated picture of Simon Gaskill as an older man. Simon's body was found in the dunes on 15 April, 2022, at Ocean Grove, Victoria. Police did not investigate his death.

The court was told that the homicide squad will look at the movements in the lead up to where the talented junior surfer was found dead and any contact Gaskill may have had through sifting through his phone records.

“I don’t believe a lot of those people have been spoken to just in terms of knowledge of Simon and his movements,” Detective Smyth said.

The senior detective said he had spoken with the Gaskill family about his investigative goals and emphasised the “thorough” and independent nature of his investigation.

Coroner Ingrid Giles, who took over the matter from retired deputy coroner Hawkins, pointed to the Homicide Squads’ carriage of the third investigation and sought to clarify if there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding Gaskill’s death.

“There’s certainly no evidence of suspicious circumstances?” she questioned.

“That’s correct,” Detective Smyth said.

Simon Gaskill.

Simon’s father Christopher and sister Amanda, who claim local police botched the initial investigation into their loved ones death, were present in the courtroom on Thursday.

Counsel-assisting the coroner read an overview of the case and said that the cause of death from Gaskill’s autopsy being “unascertained” was due to the advanced state of decomposition the body was in.

In July 2022 coroner Hawkins made findings into Gaskill’s death without holding an inquest.

It was only after an application made by Amanda to reopen the investigation and the The Weekend Australian’s magazine cover story about the mystery that Ms Hawkins decided to reopen the case as she believed new facts had come to light since her initial probe.

“The police didn’t look into it, they didn’t ask anyone any questions,” Amanda Gaskill told The Weekend Australian last year.

‘‘The care factor wasn’t there.”

Simon’s dad Chris Gaskill, sister Amanda Gaskill and best friend Cam Miller. Picture: Julian Kingma

In the weeks before his death, Gaskill, a popular teenager who grew up in Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road, had pitched a tent and was living in the sand dunes on Victoria’s Bellarine ­Peninsula. 

He is believed to have died in late March 2022, but his remains were not found until April 15.

A new coronial brief will be handed to Ms Giles on November 1 which will contain the new material to be put together by Detective Smyth.

“I’m keen to ensure there’s no additional delay built in with the change of investigators,” she said at the end of the hearing.

“It sounds like there’s going to be a thorough investigation.”