Nicola Gobbo felt ‘trapped’: Overland

Lawyer X Nicola Gobbo was ‘too enmeshed’ with criminal king pins, Simon Overland says.

Nicola Gobbo Gangland boss Carl Williams and underworld hit man Andrew `Benji’ Veniamin.

Simon Overland believes Nicola Gobbo felt “trapped” as a gangland lawyer and had already placed herself at risk before she was recruited by police as a secret informer.

Victoria’s former top cop told the Supreme Court on Friday that as early as 2006 he was concerned about the safety of Ms Gobbo who became known as Lawyer X.

“I believe she had put herself in a position where her life was at risk before she came to Victoria Police ... that is my understanding as to why she came, why she was recruited,” Mr Overland told the hearing.

“My experience of organised crime, particularly for professional advisers like Ms Gobbo ... you can’t resign. You just can’t walk away from those roles. You know too much.

“So my view was she was trapped, or felt trapped, and came (to) Victoria Police as a way out.”

Ms Gobbo is suing the state of Victoria for compensation for loss, injury and damage she claims she suffered as a result of its alleged ­negligence in its use of her as a police informer. The state is defending the lawsuit, claiming Ms Gobbo provided information voluntarily with full appreciation of the risks.

Former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland. (AAP Image/David Crosling)

Mr Overland, an assistant commissioner in the mid-2000s who would go on to become the chief commissioner, told the court that by May 2006 he was keen to have an exit strategy to end Ms Gobbo’s life as informer 3838.

“I raised the need with her handlers ... for an exit strategy to bring the active part of her relationship with Victoria Police as a human source to an end and a strategy to manage her out,” he said.

“The longer she stayed within that system the more likely it was she was going to be compromised.” Ms Gobbo’s life as an informer would begin to unravel in 2014 when the Herald Sun revealed an unnamed criminal lawyer was informing on their clients to police.

But she was not identified until 2019 after a High Court ruling, which also triggered a royal commission into what the greatest law and order scandal in the nation’s history.

Mr Overland told the court that he believed Ms Gobbo “felt her life (was) at risk because she had become too enmeshed in the criminal network ... she was providing professional services to” and he conceded that acting as informer “magnified that risk”.