Lawyer X admission puts spotlight back on Christine Nixon

New evidence in Lawyer X inquiry has turned the spotlight back on former chief commissioner Christine Nixon’s claims.

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon. Picture: AAP

An entry in one of three newly discovered diaries of Simon Overland has cast a cloud over his former boss Christine Nixon’s claim that she had no idea Nicola Gobbo was registered as a Victoria Police informant.

Ms Nixon, who served as chief commissioner from 2001 to 2009 at the height of Melbourne’s gangland wars, told the commission in December she assumed “people like Simon Overland” should have told her the underworld lawyer was being used as a human source.

“I don't have any recollection of people telling me … I was very surprised … when the whole mat­erial came out, I thought it was another lawyer­ … I didn't know who the person was,” she said.

Ms Nixon told the royal commission she did not keep diaries during the Lawyer X period.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton has also told the commission he did not keep a diary during this period.

He said while he did hold some concerns over whether Ms Gobbo’s information could potentially breach lawyer-client privilege, he was comforted by the fact the “highest levels” of Victoria Police were in the Lawyer X loop.

“I took some comfort from the fact that, you know, you’ve got the highest levels of the police force are aware that she’s a human source, the fact that she’s giving information,” Mr Ashton said under cross-examination.

At the time, Mr Ashton was a director at the now defunct Office of Police Integrity, an independent anti-corruption body that had oversight of the force.

Mr Overland initially told the commission he didn’t keep diaries, but three of them were discovered at a facility in Laverton North in December, just days after he finished giving evidence.

He had been hauled back into the witness stand and on Tuesday said an entry in one of the diaries indicated he told Ms Nixon that Ms Gobbo had been registered as a human source, although he still could not recall the conversation.

Mr Overland accepted partial responsibility for using Ms Gobbo as a human source. He conceded in December that the Victoria Police use of Ms Gobbo as a human source may have perverted the course of justice.

He will return to the witness stand on Wednesday.