Police gave supergrass trips, tickets: documentary

Victoria Police used taxpayer money to ply Nicola Gobbo with trips, tickets and an allowance.

Melbourne lawyer Nicola Gobbo, who has been revealed as Lawyer X. Picture: ABC

Victoria Police used taxpayer money to ply Nicola Gobbo with overseas trips, concert tickets, cigarettes and an allowance before the criminal barrister turned supergrass sued them for almost $3 million.

The Sky News documentary Lawyer X: The Untold Story, hosted by Peter Stefanovic, explored Victoria Police’s relationship with Ms Gobbo.

The first episode screened last night after the Lawyer X Royal Commission pushed back against an attempt by Victoria Police to control media coverage of the scandal including reviewing the contents of the film, a request which was declined by Sky News.

Anthony Dowsley, one of the journalists who broke the Lawyer X story, reveals Ms Gobbo was rewarded after she was persuaded by Victoria Police to turn witness against alleged crooked police officer Paul Dale for the 2004 murder of informant Terry Hodson and his wife, Christine.

“She received $2.88 million dollars, concert tickets, cigarettes, trips overseas on the taxpayer’s dime,” he said.

“She was basically living off the taxpayer for quite some time while she awaited that trial.”

Journalist Derryn Hinch describes Ms Gobbo as a “gangster’s moll” in the documentary, citing a photograph of her with underworld figures Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin and Carl Williams.

“There’s a famous photo of Gobbo with her arms around Veniamin and Carl Williams, literally bosom bodies, she’s sitting there all hair and cleavage and smiling... almost like a gangster’s moll. It was something to behold.”

Known to police as “Informer 3838”, Ms Gobbo was first recruited in 1995. She was a criminal barrister who represented a number of gangland identities including drug kingpin Tony Mokbel.

Solicitor Michael Pena-Rees said Ms Gobbo used her charm to get close to people.

“She would use on many occasions, this sort of flirtatious approach to people to have them enamoured towards her and generally they would feel they were close to her,” he said.

Ms Gobbo describes the toll becoming an informant had on her health in an old interview screened last night in the documentary.

“My health has deteriorated as a result of constant stress and uncertainty. I remain in fear of my life since agreeing to give evidence for Victoria Police,” she said.”

“Having had the courage and strength to agree to become a witness for Victoria Police I was required to give up my home, my security, my sense of life as I knew it.”

Victoria Police spent nearly five years in legal battles with the publisher of the Herald Sun and Victoria’s Office of Public Prosecutions to stop Ms Gobbo being publicly outed as an informant.

Last year the High Court found Victoria Police, by using a defence barrister as an informant, had engaged in “reprehensive conduct” and sanctioned “atrocious breaches” of duty by sworn officers.

A Royal Commission has been established into the management of police informers in Victoria.

The second episode of ‘Lawyer X - The Untold Story’ will screen on Sky News tonight and will be available on Foxtel On Demand.