The Night Driver podcast: How a ‘nobody’ became somebody of interest

Andrew Jones’s family aren’t sure how he became a person of interest in the Janine Vaughan case.

Janine Vaughan on her 30th birthday, left, and Andrew Jones, right.

Ask some former students of the Scots School what Andrew Jones was like during his 18 months as a boarding house master at the private Bathurst college and they will tell you they do not know much about him — he was always just someone there in the background.

Despite him being named as an ­official person of interest in the ­abduction and murder of Janine Vaughan, the young clothing store manager’s family say much the same thing about Jones.

They are not entirely sure how the locum pharmacist and house master became such a central figure in the case. He has always just been there in the background.

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Unlike the other two persons of interest called at a coronial inquest into her death — former Bathurst detective and deputy mayor Brad Hosemans and aged-care home wardsman Denis Briggs — there has been no suggestion Jones was infatuated with the 31-year-old. All three vigorously deny any involvement in Janine’s disappearance.

Former Bathurst detective and deputy mayor Brad Hosemans. Picture: Adam Yip

Jones had maintained a solitary lifestyle since moving to the rural university town, in the NSW central tablelands three hours west of Sydney, in January 2000. While he had been living onsite at the Scots School when Janine disappeared, outside his official duties he kept to himself and ate alone.

He worked in a pharmacy in the same shopping centre where Janine ran a menswear store and he was the owner of a small red car — a 1994 19 Series Renault — and this would contribute to the detectives taking an interest in him.

Janine had been enjoying a night out on the town with friends when she left the late-night Metro Tavern a little before 4am on Friday December 7, 2001, and was last seen getting into a small red car.

It had been raining in the hours before dawn and Janine had decided to make for another nearby pub, a couple of blocks away, to check if it was still open.

She was walking alone when the small red car pulled up behind her in the street. Janine got in and vanished into the night, never to be heard from again.

Despite two strike force investigations, a coronial inquest and a Police Integrity Commission inquiry, the identity of the car’s driver has remained a mystery and her body has never been found.

Andrew Jones.

Another young woman, Lynette Boreland, told police she had been approached by “a big man, about six-foot tall” in a small red car as she walked alone through the heart of Bathurst just 10 minutes earlier and a block away from where Janine was last seen.

Her best recollection was that the car’s number plate had included the letters ICU. The number plate of the red Renault driven by Jones included the letters TCV.

The similarities between ICU and TCV to someone seeing them under stress in the dark of night were not lost on detectives in the weeks after Janine went missing.

For his part, Jones said he was happy to help police with their inquiries and on December 28, 2001 — exactly three weeks after Janine vanished — the then 38-year-old went to Bathurst Police Station and met with Senior Constable Guy Magee before being dismissed as a suspect.

“His bona fides were checked and his vehicle searched. Nil suspicious about Jones or the vehicle,” Magee noted. “Jones was very co-operative and is employed in town as a pharmacist.”

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But something prompted police to talk to him again, and a fortnight later he was interviewed by Detective Senior Constable Jason Dickinson. Expanding on his initial conversation with police, Jones said he had been on locum duties at a pharmacy in Lithgow — a small town about 45 minutes from Bathurst — on Thursday, December 6. After finishing work at about 6pm, he had dinner alone across the road at the bowling club.

Jones said he drove back to Bathurst and headed to the home of David Coy — the minister at his Bathurst Christian Evangelical Church — arriving about 7.30pm before returning to the Scots School at 9.30pm and going to bed.

“He stated that he did not see any person or speak with any person after returning home,” Dickinson noted at the time.

“Jones stated that he was at home all night and that he had had the day off on Friday December 7. Jones was questioned regarding any association he had with Vaughan. Jones stated that he had worked at the chemist in the same shopping centre as Vaughan.

“Jones stated that he bought a shirt off Vaughan in late November 2001 after spilling ink on his shirt at work. He stated that was the last time he saw her.”

In early March 2002, police approached Jones again and, this time, Detective Lance McFawn asked if he would have any objection to his car being photographed and examined “if police enquiries reveal it was necessary”.

“Jones stated that he wished to obtain legal advice before consenting to this course of action,” police records said. “Jones was also asked if he would be prepared to volunteer a photograph and DNA sample at a later time to assist in the investigation. Jones repeated that he wished to seek legal advice before answering those questions.”

This was the last time he would readily volunteer to discuss the case with police without a lawyer.

“Jones attended the Bathurst Police Station later that day where he wrote a note to investigators on a general station message page that any enquiries should be conducted through his solicitor,” police records said.

Responding to questions about his interactions with police through his lawyer, Jones said that he had assisted detectives to the best of his ability.

“When I was approached by police in 2001 about the disappearance of Janine Vaughan I co-operated fully. Everything I told police was the truth,” he said. “I have never picked up Ms Vaughan in any car at any time. The suggestion that I did is false, based on conjecture and simply not true. I had nothing to do with her disappearance or suspected murder.

“I hope, in particular for the peace of mind of Ms Vaughan’s family and friends, that the person or persons who are responsible for her disappearance and suspected murder are caught by police.”

Asked why Jones refused to let detectives conduct an examination of his car in early 2002, his lawyer, Karen Espiner, said he had been under no obligation to consent to the request.

“Police did not have a warrant permitting his car to be searched and/or examined. One can only assume this is because they did not have enough evidence to obtain such a warrant,” she said.

Jones’s lawyer added that, despite instructing police to forward further questions or requests to his solicitor, “to Andrew’s knowledge, no such requests were made”.

Little did Jones know, police were already investigating a number of leads they believed could be linked to the pharmacist. The man who had spent his life in the background was about to take centre stage, whether he liked it or not.