Denis Ryan has a win at last

Denis Ryan. Picture: Jessica Shapiro

Denis Ryan has had a busy time of it. On the 86-year-old former cop’s call list this morning was the Washington Post, the BBC and a courtesy call from the Victorian Premier, Dan Andrews.

The cop who tried to prosecute one of the most prolific paedophile priests in our history 46 years ago and came off second best received a compensation payment from the Andrews government yesterday. The undisclosed amount is one Ryan is satisfied with.

There have been a few backslappers step forward in the last 24 hours. In a tweet yesterday, senator Derryn Hinch described Ryan as “one of the bravest, moral men I have ever known.” Hinch might know of Ryan but he’s never met him.

This is fantastic. Thank you VicPol. One of the bravest most moral men I have ever known.

— Derryn Hinch (@HumanHeadline) May 7, 2018

I wrote Ryan’s story in the book, Unholy Trinity in 2012. The facts as they stand are that VicPol’s most senior detectives, reporting directly to the then Chief Commissioner, Reg Jackson, joined with the Ballarat Diocese to commit a perversion of justice that allowed the priest and prolific pedophile, Monsignor John Day to go free and offend again. Ryan lost his job, his financial security and was left dazed and bruised on the side of the road.

It is a shocking and shameful event in the history of the Victoria Police Force and, once widely understood, has the potential to shred public confidence. The historic failure can only be put right by an acknowledgment and apology to victims from VicPol. We are still waiting for that to occur.

There is no doubt the Mildura conspiracy not only crushed Ryan but warned victims off from going to police. In this environment clerical pedophilia flourished.

Ryan understands the awful consequences of it. “It’ll never leave me. I’ve suffered mentally greatly but not to the same extent as the victims who have had to deal with the horror thrust upon them by these offending priests.”

“If Day had been charged in 1972, the net would have opened and scooped up the others including Ridsdale who was a priest in Mildura at the time. That is my firm belief. Hundreds and hundreds of children would not have to gone through the agony of sexual abuse.

“I knew there was a division within the police force between the freemasons and the Catholic Mafia. I had seen it up close but I had no idea of the extent of it until my career came to a crashing halt in 1972.”

Government failed Denis Ryan, too. The Bracks government requested VicPol undertake a review of Ryan’s case in 2006. The review, overseen by then Chief Commissioner, Christine Nixon, found that Ryan had voluntarily left the force. Its findings relied heavily on a sworn statement from one of the conspirators, former Assistant Commissioner, John O’Connor. It was a whitewash and the Police Minister, Tim Holding and the Bracks government accepted it at face value.

We can put that down to a lack of curiosity, perhaps, an unwillingness to challenge senior police but what was offered in O’Connor’s statement was so bizarre and unlikely that anyone with basic comprehension skills could punch holes in it.

Ex policeman Denis Ryan straight out of the Academy.

Worse still was the government of the day back in 1972. It remained ostensibly the Sir Henry Bolte government, but everyone knew Bolte was on the way out. The shining star of the Victorian Liberals, Rupert Hamer, had traversed the chambers from the upper house to the lower house — from the vegetable to the animals, as it were — with a view to taking over the leadership.

The Bolte Government had almost been defeated in 1970 and by 1972 was facing a new election. The government was scandal averse and as such kept a very close eye on what was happening in Mildura. When the government saw senior police had smothered the more outrageous and electorally damaging elements of the conspiracy, they were satisfied. It left Denis Ryan bereft and victims unsupported.

In 1980 when Denis was Shire President of Mildura, he met the then Victorian premier Hamer in Mildura during a whistle stop. The two men clambered into a car and drove around the town.

Out of the blue Hamer asked Ryan, “Denis if you were still a detective and the same situation arose as it did back then, would you do the same thing?”

“Yes, I would Mr Premier. But I do think the penalty was a bit harsh.”

Hamer took his time replying, “Yes, it was.”

Sir Rupert Hamer knew what had happened. Perhaps there was no appreciation of the extent of the corruption within the force but with an election to be won or lost, his government decided it was perfectly comfortable with Ryan as collateral damage and victims having little or no confidence in going forward to police.

The Andrews government had no legal onus to act but it had a moral one. Credit where it is due, it did act and made the right decision although as I wrote back in February, it took a painfully long time.

Once the book was written I ceased being a journalist in this matter. I have been an advocate for Denis Ryan and I am totally unashamed about that. I have been lobbying the Andrews government, calling for him to be compensated since Ryan received a formal apology from VicPol.

Former Victorian Police Detective Denis Ryan outside the catholic presbytery in Mildura where sexual abuse took place when he was investigating in the 1970s. Picture: David Geraghty

I had informal meetings with senior ministers where I pressed the case for Ryan to be compensated fairly. The ball sat firmly in the court of the Police Minister Lisa Neville and stayed there for an inordinate amount of time.

Enter Dan Andrews. Three weeks ago, I was just about to go under the knife when a group of Mildura’s denizens and ABC producer, Ben Knight, made a formal submission to the Police Minister. Things moved very quickly at that point with Andrews stepping in personally. Three days after my surgery, I received a call from Denis.

“We’ve won,” he told me. It had been decided. He would receive his compensation and it was a fair amount. I felt like doing a lap of honour around the nurse’s office with a bedpan as a makeshift trophy.

The Australian has agitated on Ryan’s behalf long and loud. It first ran a story on Ryan in 2008 well before other media organisations showed even a passing interest in the story. I have written many stories since, to the point where some readers wondered if I could get some new material. OK, that’s it. No more. I promise. It’s done now. And yes, we had a win.