First cop on the scene reveals Harold Holt failures

The initial statements of witnesses to the disappearance of Harold Holt were never considered, the first cop on the scene reveals.

Bernard Woiwod returns to Cheviot Beach this week, 50 years after investigating the disappearance of Harold Holt. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The initial statements of witnesses to the disappearance of Harold Holt were never considered by ­official investigators, the police ­officer first on the scene has ­revealed, in a sign the investigation 50 years ago was bungled.

Police investigators waited several days to interview the four witnesses, initially said Holt was only with one other person, did not interview his surgeon who had prescribed morphine for a shoulder injury, and ignored his political troubles and reckless personal life.

The first police to arrive after Holt vanished while swimming at Cheviot Beach took statements from witnesses but they were not incorporated into the official police report. These statements, which differ slightly from those given days later, are revealed by The Weekend Australian today.

Bernard Woiwod and Les Tozer were the first police to arrive at the beach after the prime min­ister disappeared on Sunday, ­December 17, 1967. The young ­detectives from Frankston were instructed to go to Portsea by the Victoria Police communications centre. They surveyed the beach and took statements at the Portsea Officer’s Cadet School.

On the beach with Holt when he was lost were his ­secret lover, Marjorie Gillespie, her daughter Vyner, and friends Alan Stewart and Martin Simpson.

“The statements were never asked for as the federal police ­effectively took over the inquiry into Holt’s disappearance and took new statements of all the witnesses,” Mr Woiwod, 85, told The Weekend Australian.

“We were never contacted by the official investigators.”

In Mr Stewart’s first statement to Mr Woiwod, he said there were large planks of wood in the water “as the waves were breaking”, suggesting an added danger to the wild surf. In his statement two days later to Commonwealth Police ­investigator Aubrey Jackson, he said planks of wood were seen on the sand and rocks.

The search for Holt was led by inspector Laurie Newell and superintendent G.W. Hill. By nightfall, about 190 state and ­federal police, plus army, navy and air force, and volunteers were on beach. The search was initially poorly organised, which might explain why the first police statements were ignored or forgotten, and clues perhaps missed.

Mr Woiwod returned to the beach after interviewing Mr Stewart and later visited the Gillespie home. “There were people all over the beach,” he said. “They were more interested in finding a body … than understanding how he managed to disappear.”

Holt had a crushed vertebra causing chronic pain in his right arm and numbness in his figures. Surgeon John Cloke prescribed morphine and aspirin. The investigators did not interview Cloke nor examine Holt’s medication.

Holt was having an affair with Gillespie. It has been suggested he feared it and other affairs would become public. Police never investigated Holt’s private life. Holt was also under enormous political pressure amid cabinet divisions and backbench unrest. Police never interviewed his colleagues.

In January 1968, prime minister John Gorton ruled out an independent investigation into Holt’s death. The report by commonwealth and Victorian Police concluded that Holt accidentally drowned. In 2005, the Victorian Coroner made the same finding.

Holt’s son Sam, now 78, is certain it was an accident. “Most people wouldn’t have gone in that surf but he had an almost casual approach to what others would perceive as being very dangerous,” he said.