Craig Kelvin Maudsley pleads not guilty to misconduct charge in Ipswich trial

A jury has taken less than half an hour to deliver the fate of a former senior council officer accused of misconduct — after he was previously jailed on the same charges.

Craig Kelvin Maudsley leaving Ipswich Court on June 20, 2023.

A former Ipswich City Council senior officer has been found guilty once again of misconduct at his retrial in Ipswich this week.

Throughout a three-day trial in Ipswich District Court, a jury were presentenced with large volumes of evidence including emails, phone calls, and invoices.

However, it took the jury around only 20 minutes of deliberation yesterday, June 21, to find Craig Kelvin Maudsley guilty of misconduct in a public office.

He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended immediately for 18 months after having served his 123 days of presentence custody – meaning Maudsley could walk freely from the courthouse.

The Queensland Times can now reveal that this is not the first time Maudsley has been found guilty of this change.

Maudsley was found guilty of the same offending in 2021 and was sentenced to 18 months jail, suspended for two years after he served four months in actual custody.

Craig Maudsley (right) arriving at Brisbane Magistrates Court in 2017, facing a charge of misconduct in public office following a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation. Picture: Darren England

He successfully appealed his sentence and conviction later that same year – and the matter was set down for a retrial.

The jury were not made aware of the previous proceedings and previous guilty verdict during the retrial this week.

They were also not informed that a key witness Wayne Innes had pleaded guilty to corruption, misconduct in a public office, and fraud in 2019 in relation to his dealing with the Ipswich City Council and Racing Queensland.

He was sentenced at the time to four years in jail, which was suspended after he served 12 months in actual custody.

Earlier this week, former senior Ipswich City Council officer Craig Kelvin Maudsley pleaded not guilty to a single count of misconduct in relation to public office.

It was alleged he facilitated a discounted rate for ‘close acquaintance’ Wayne Innes of Landfill Logistics to dump fill at an open cut coal mine in Redbank Plains referred to as the ‘Wattle Glenn void’.

It was further alleged that Mr Maudsley instructed Mr Innes to classify fill as being from council jobs to ensure a discounted rate.

Former Ipswich City Council Sports, Recreation and Natural Resources Manager Bryce Hines explained on the second day of Mr Maudsley’s trial that the council had had a “time imperative” to fill the void.

He said it was intended for use as a “super depo” which would replace a number of smaller depos in the area.

Mr Hines said Mr Maudsley had expressed to him that he had been “frustrated” because the company contracted to fill the void, Colmine Consulting Ptd, had not made progress filling the site.

Director of Colmine Consulting Ptd Colin Donegan told the court, however, that he believed the council was responsible for significant delays in accessing the site.

He said Colmine Consulting was issued a “concocted” notice of termination in May 2017 from the council.

Mr Donegan said the notice sited breaches of contract including delays in completion, but insisted Colmine Consulting were not responsible for the delays.

“We were delayed 16 months to getting access to the site, and when we were given access the site was in a totally different condition to that which was presented at the time of the tender,” Mr Donegan said.

He said the main difference was that there was no free tipping room when they gained access.

“We were delayed by council officers in getting access so that previous arrangements through contractors could continue,” Mr Donegan said.

“The only thing that Craig (Maudsley) wanted out of that termination notice was the rights for third party tipping.”

Colin Donegan, director of Colmine Consulting Pty, outside Ipswich Court on June 20, 2023.

Defence barrister Tony Glynn put it to Mr Donegan that this was “just an opinion”, but Mr Donegan insisted: “No, it’s not because this matter was resolved with no breaches being corrected”.

“When we sat down in the meeting (with solicitors) and they said we want the rights the third party tipping, I said ‘you’ve got them already because I don’t have exclusive rights in the contract’ and they agreed ‘okay well we’ll withdraw the termination notice’,” said Mr Donegan.

“I was doing the job as I should have been. And the third party tippers that were brought in were poached from people that were already delivering to our site at a higher rate.”

Mr Glynn suggested Mr Donegan was charging too much, but Mr Donegan denied this.

“I was charging them the market rate … I would actually say we were a bit cheaper than the market rate.”

Mr Glynn said Mr Donegan “eventually” took the council to court as a result, but Mr Donegan replied: “No. They owe me $2.7 million but that’s a matter I’m hoping to settle out of court”.

The matter adjourned for a lunch break at that stage, and Mr Donegan was not asked to elaborate on that statement.

During the trial, former director of Landfill Logistics Wayne Innes testified that Landfill Logistics had previously managed the Wattle Glenn void site under a contract with the Ipswich City Council.

He confirmed that Landfill Logistics continued to be at the site after their contract expired, until Colmine Consulting took possession in August 2016.

Ipswich City Council contractor Wayne Francis Innes. Picture: FILE

Mr Innes said there had been “rollover time” after the formal contract expired in which Landfill Logistics was still in possession of the site, and more fill dumping took place in that time.

He said arrangements with third parties may have been made before Colmine Consulting took possession of the site.

The court heard Mr Innes had negotiated a “fill services contract” with CEO of Council at the time Carl Wulff when Landfill Logistics first took possession of the site around 2013.

Under that contract, Landfill Logistics provided a “wide range of services” to council including providing and delivering fill at council sites.

Mr Innes said that agreement was still in operation at the time of the dumping in question in 2016.

However the court heard the agreement stipulated that the contractor must submit a report upon completion of services, which Mr Innes said was not to his knowledge submitted on the occasion in question.

Mr Innes said he was also not aware of a fill services order being completed for that job.

During his closing submissions, Crown prosecutor Sam Bain said Mr Innes may have been able to dispose of the fill in question under his fill services contract with council, but that was simply not what had happened.

He said the council was “obviously” an organisation that could obtain fill, and that there was “no need to go down a deceptive and dishonest path”.

Mr Bain recounted a phone conversation between Mr Maudsley and Mr Innes in September 2016, in which Mr Innes said he had 165,000 metres of fill he needed to dispose of.

He said Mr Maudsley could be heard saying he wasn’t sure he had anywhere for it, before telling Mr Innes about the Wattle Glenn void.

Mr Bain said Mr Maudsley then told Mr Innes that the void was only for council jobs, but that he was willing to say Mr Innes’s fill was from a council job if Mr Innes helped him cover the dumping fee.

Mr Glynn reminded the jury in his closing submissions that his client was innocent until proven guilty, and that the onus was on the prosecution to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.

Craig Kelvin Maudsley leaving Ipswich Court on June 20, 2023.

On Monday, Mr Maudsley fronted Ipswich District Court for the first day of trial proceedings, where his counsel argued that the jury must be satisfied that Mr Maudsley had acted with dishonest intent.

The charge relates to a series of alleged offending between September and November 2016.

Mr Maudsley’s role as chief operation officer of works, parks and recreation for the Ipswich City Council involved, in part, supervising the restoration of a disused mine pit in Redbank Plains.

The pit, referred to throughout proceedings as the ‘Wattle Glen void’ was land which the council owned and intended to fill so it could be used as a vehicle depot.

Mr Maudsley was charged with facilitating the dumping of fill on preferential terms, with an intent to dishonestly gain a benefit for Landfill Logistics Qld and others, with intent to cause a detriment to Colmine Consulting Pty Ltd.

Colmine Consulting Pty Ltd were the operators of the void at the time of the alleged offending.

The court heard Mr Maudsley allegedly facilitated a discounted rate for a ‘close acquaintance’, Wayne Innes of Landfill Logistics, to dump fill at the void.

It was further alleged that Mr Maudsley instructed Mr Innes and his workers to classify any fill as being from council jobs in order to qualify for the council rate.

Transcripts of phone conversations obtained by the Crime and Corruption Commission during their investigation into the council were tendered to the court and detailed conversations between Mr Maudsley and Mr Innes regarding the classification of fill.

Originally published as Craig Kelvin Maudsley pleads not guilty to misconduct charge in Ipswich trial