Simon Overland was the first to leak, says Stephen Linnell

THE former media chief for Victoria Police has broken his silence on Chief Commissioner Simon Overland.

Former Victoria Police media boss Stephen Lennell in Werribee yesterday. Picture: Paul Loughnan

THE former media chief for Victoria Police has broken his silence on Chief Commissioner Simon Overland.

Stephen Linnell has confirmed revelations Mr Overland was the original leaker in a chain of leaks on a covert murder investigation, which senior officers now regard as one of the biggest embarrassments in Victorian policing.

Linnell cast serious doubts yesterday over the conduct of Mr Overland in disclosing secret intelligence from a telephone tap, thus triggering the collapse of Operation Briars, revealed by The Australian in June.

Mr Overland has since justified his unauthorised disclosure of telephone tap intelligence as necessary.

He has said he was being undermined and subjected to "collateral attack" from the targets of the operation.

There was no evidence of "collateral attack" and no reference to it by Mr Overland in his affidavit at the time, but lawyers said his claim could provide justification for an allegedly illegal disclosure, which has been referred to the federal Attorney-General's Department for investigation.

Mr Linnell told The Australian yesterday: "I do not have any knowledge that there was any collateral attack at all. I was unaware of any collateral attack. He certainly did not say anything like that to me."

Mr Linnell, who has written a book about his downfall as a result of Briars - a joint operation run by the Office of Police Integrity and Victoria Police - and the related Operation Diana, said he was in no doubt the crime-fighting bodies had a political agenda to oust Noel Ashby, then assistant commissioner. Mr Ashby wanted to be the next chief commissioner and he was supported in this quest by the then powerful head of the police union, Paul Mullett.

Mr Linnell described an unhealthy closeness between some of the leaders of Victoria Police and the leaders of the OPI, which resulted in the anti-corruption watchdog applying what he saw as a double standard. Mr Linnell, who went from having the trust of then police chief Christine Nixon to pleading guilty to giving false evidence in late 2007 - and working as a trench-digger, baggage handler and factory hand before editing suburban newspapers - acknowledged his wrongdoing.

"I made some terrible mistakes and I paid the price. I pleaded guilty because I had done the wrong thing and I lied before a judge. I've started a new life but it's been a very difficult three years. You see who your real friends are," Mr Linnell said.

He was acquitted on appeal.

"But there is no doubt that Operation Diana was to get rid of Noel Ashby and there is no doubt that Paul Mullett was also a target for the same reasons.

"There was one set of rules for some and another set of rules for others. I certainly think that Simon Overland should have been put under oath during the OPI's public hearing, given that he told me about the original telephone intercepts. The OPI is an integrity body that was deliberately set up to oversight police integrity and corruption any any level, and I believe the relationship was too close."

Mr Linnell's comments now about the circumstances surrounding Mr Overland's disclosure of intelligence from a telephone tap come as federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland awaits advice from his department about a complaint that Mr Overland breached the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act and that the OPI sought to cover it up.

Mr Overland and the OPI have rejected the complaint, but senior criminal lawyers have described the evidence as inescapable.

Operation Briars was set up by Mr Overland after a convicted killer claimed police were involved in the murder of a prostitute known as "the vampire", Shane Chartres-Abbott. The convicted killer's lawyer, however, told the OPI and police that his client was being untruthful about critical facts, and he could not be believed in his key claims about police involvement.

Senior officers at the OPI and Victoria Police leaked details about the operation to The Age, resulting in a series of stories that depicted the police in a murder conspiracy, without disclosing the fundamental flaws and contradictions in the contract killer's claims.

A telephone tap during Operation Briars intercepted Mr Mullett telling one of his union delegates, Peter Lalor, who was a target of the operation, about gossip that Mr Overland would be going on a taxpayer-funded trip to a management school in Fontainebleau, near Paris. Mr Mullett and Mr Lalor discussed leaking the information to 3AW's The Rumour File to embarrass Mr Overland.

Mr Overland was told by the Briars taskforce head, Superintendent Rod Wilson: "Look, they're talking about leaking it to the media; they're talking about putting it through The Rumour File."

Mr Overland in his affidavit stated: "I was sensitive about the matter because I had a previous experience with The Rumour File, where Mullett ran a story through The Rumour File about me. I went back to Linnell and I said, 'Look, you just need to be aware I've got a call from Rod. I did not specifically say (telephone intercept), but I said 'I understand Mullett and Lalor are talking about this. I understand they're going to run it through 3AW so it's going to be a Rumour File story. You need to watch it'. I thought he had killed the story after we had the first conversation because he came back to me and said 'story's dead'."

Unwittingly, Mr Overland's disclosure of the conversation about Fontainebleau was the real trigger for the collapse of Operation Briars within 48 hours. This is because Mr Linnell realised it was probably his friend, Mr Ashby, who had told Mr Mullett about Fontainebleau, and it was therefore possible that Mr Mullett's phone or Mr Ashby's phone was also being bugged.

After Mr Linnell warned Mr Ashby to be careful about talking to Mr Mullett on the phone, Mr Ashby warned Mr Mullett, who organised for Mr Lalor to receive a warning. Mr Overland later denied he was concerned about being embarrassed on 3AW.

Mr Linnell said yesterday he could not know precisely what had motivated Mr Overland, adding: "I detected that he was clearly annoyed about the Fontainebleau bit. That was the only time he told me about telephone intercepts. But I'm not going to make the claim that he did it to save his own reputation. I just can't know."

Mr Mullett and Mr Ashby, who lost their reputations and careers and were unsuccessfully criminally prosecuted, want Victorian Premier John Brumby to set up an open inquiry into the saga. Operation Briars never proved the claims of the contract killer, and the targets who have vehemently protested their innocence were never charged.

Victoria Police declined to comment yesterday.