Former Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings demands reopening of Sue Neill-Fraser murder case

Former Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings is calling for the reopening of the appeal by convicted murderer Sue Neill-Fraser.

Former Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings. Picture: Mathew Farrell

Former Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings is calling for the reopening of the appeal by convicted murderer Sue Neill-Fraser, alleging “new” information demonstrates a miscarriage of justice.

Ms Giddings said alleged failures by police and alleged non­disclosure of evidence, identified by lawyers Barbara Etter and Hugh Selby, justified government intervention in the case.

“The issues that have been uncovered … raise so much concern that my belief is these matters need to be brought before the court,” Ms Giddings said. “In my mind it shows Sue Neill-Fraser is a victim of a miscarriage of justice, and that needs to be brought to an end as soon as possible.”

The new material highlighted by the two lawyers includes evidence relating to a witness’s statements about a dingy sighted attached to the yacht from which Neill-Fraser’s partner, Bob Chappell, disappeared in 2009.

It alleges some relevant material was not provided to the defence and original police investi­gations failed to follow up several lines of inquiry, including the phone records of a key witness.

Ms Etter, a former lawyer for Neill-Fraser, and Ms Giddings, a former attorney-general, have provided the material – a series of “papers” – to MPs, the current ­Attorney-General Elise Archer and to Neill-Fraser’s legal team.

However, Ms Archer has declined to reopen the appeal case, which is awaiting judgment. Neill-Fraser’s legal team has also declined to seek a reopening of the appeal case, which concluded in early March in Tasmania’s Court of Criminal Appeal.

Ms Giddings, whose parents have long been key supporters of Neill-Fraser, who maintains her innocence, said Ms Archer had the power and the duty to act.

Ms Archer rejected the idea, saying: “It is a matter for Ms Neill-Fraser and her lawyers.”

Neill-Fraser is awaiting a judgment in her second appeal against her 2010 conviction for the murder of Mr Chappell on board their yacht in Hobart in 2009.

Mr Chappell’s body was never found, nor was a murder weapon, but a jury accepted a suite of circumstantial evidence.