Vampire murder confession triggers Lawyer X police clash

Two veteran detectives have clashed over whether Nicola Gobbo revealed a confession to the murder of a vampire gigolo.

Former Victorian Police detective Ron Iddles leaves the Royal Commission. Picture: AAP

Two veteran detectives have clashed over whether Nicola Gobbo revealed a confession to the murder of a self-­proclaimed vampire gigolo, whose death sparked the most expensive investigation in the history of ­Victoria Police.

Former Briars Taskforce detective Stephen Waddell told the Lawyer X commission that the gangland lawyer told him and fellow investigator Ron Iddles that career criminal Mark Perry had confessed to the killing of Shane Chartres-Abbott.

The confession was made during a covert mission to Bali the ­detectives made in May 2009, Mr Waddell said on Thursday.

Murder victim Shane Chartres-Abbott.

Mr Iddles rejected the evidence of his former colleague, saying he “probably would have done a handstand” if he had heard the ­alleged confession.

“This would have been the first piece of direct evidence which implicated Mark Perry,” he said.

“I would have explored it more, and more than likely I would have liked to have taken a separate statement just in relation to that confession.”

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Waddell said he had “no doubt” that Ms Gobbo told him Mr Perry had ­confessed to her the murder of ­Chartres-Abbott.

“Her best recollection at that point in time was that she had actually been present in (lawyer) Jim Valos’s office and that Mark was present and that he made that admission directly to her,” he said.

Nicola Gobbo. Picture: ABC

Despite Ms Gobbo previously telling her handlers she heard of the confession third-hand, Mr Waddell said the gangland lawyer told him and Mr Iddles that Mr Perry allegedly revealed to her he murdered Chartres-Abbott during a chance meeting in Mr Valos’s Melbourne office.

The commission heard that on the Bali trip, Ms Gobbo’s handler briefed then Briars Taskforce steering committee members Graham Ashton and Luke Cornelius — now Chief Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner — that Ms Gobbo had provided evidence that was “not a smoking gun but of significant value”.

The commission heard that a week later, in June 2009, the committee discussed the possibility of using Ms Gobbo’s statement, with a note: “Implicates Perry and David Waters sufficient to prosecute them but there are issues.”

Ms Gobbo claimed the alleged confession was inserted into the unsigned statement, but backtracked under cross-examination at the royal commission last week.

Mr Iddles said one of the key issues with the confession was that it is alleged to have taken place months before the actual murder.

“It just doesn’t make sense because the date, where she talks about, [the] 11 November 2002, is eight months before the murder,” he said.

Chartres-Abbott, a 28-year-old gigolo who told his clients he was a 200-year-old vampire who drank human blood to survive, was shot dead outside his home in Reservoir in northern Melbourne on June 4, 2003.

In 2014, Mr Perry and two co-accused, Warren Shea and Evangelos Goussis, were acquitted of murder. Two police detectives implicated in the crime, Dave Waters and Peter Lalor, deny any involvement and were never charged. The statement was not used in the case.

On Thursday, Mr Iddles told the inquiry that then Victoria Police assistant commissioner of crimes Simon Overland tried to get him to charge Mr Walters and Mr Lalor without any evidence.

“Mr Overland came down and we had a meeting and he said they are to be charged on Friday. I said I’m not signing it,” Mr Iddles said.