Sue Cole calls for new inquest into sister Gwen Grover’s death

The sister of a woman found with a gunshot wound to the head in a car in Queensland is pushing for the findings of an inquest that ruled it a suicide to be set aside. Warning: Disturbing pictures.

Gwen Grover holding her baby sister Sue, who was 19 years old at the time of hear death in 1983. PIcture: Supplied

The sister of a woman found with a gunshot wound to the head in a car in Lake St almost 40 years ago is pushing for the findings of a 2021 inquest that ruled it a suicide to be set aside because of “fresh evidence”.

When passer-by Craig Lock saw a woman sitting in a Valiant sedan on Lake St in Cairns North about noon on October 14, 1983, he leaned in to check if she was all right.

The woman, mother of two Gwen Grover, 32, was sitting upright in the driver’s seat with a rifle between her legs and was clearly dead, Mr Lock told a coroner’s inquest held 37 years later.

At the time, police determined Gwen had shot herself in the left temple and the coroner ruled an inquest was not necessary.

Gwen Grover's light green 1975 Valiant Galant sedan was found with her body inside it on Lake St, 125m south of Rutherford St, about noon on October 1983. by Craig Wallace Lock, who said Mrs Grover was sitting upright in the vehicle. Picture: Supplied

But Gwen’s sister Sue Cole, who will appear on SBS’s Insight episode ‘Seeking Justice Part II’ on Tuesday night, sought documents under right to information in 2018 and what she found raised more questions than answers.

Ms Cole met with then Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath in 2018 and in 2019 Ms D’Ath directed an inquest, and a cold case investigation was done, which stated there was no evidence to contradict the suicide finding, before the two-day inquest in Cairns.

Gwen Grover's sister Sue Cole, pictured, says she won't stop campaigning until someone is held responsible for the death of her sister 40 years ago. Picture: Supplied

Northern Coroner Nerida Wilson, who ruled Gwen’s death was suicide when she handed down her findings in November 2021, said the police investigation at the time was “perfunctory” and there was a paucity of information.

“Although the investigation reached a threshold of adequate, the investigation was left vulnerable because not all reasonable and relevant evidence was obtained,” Ms Wilson said.

NO REVIEW OF CASE BY MORE SENIOR OFFICER

“I could not find any review of the matter by a more senior officer.”

She noted inconsistencies and said opportunities were lost to interview key witnesses such as Mr Lock, who called police, but was never asked to give a statement.

Gwen Grover holding her baby sister Sue, who was 19 years old at the time of hear death in 1983. Picture: Supplied

“I could not establish from (the police report) a description of either the site of the wound or the gun located at the scene. One infers from reading the summary the death was by way of self-inflicted gun shot,” Ms Wilson said.

It was unclear who last saw Gwen alive the night before she died, Ms Wilson noted.

Ms Cole wants the inquest findings set aside, saying she has new evidence, and the inquest findings were flawed because possibilities other than suicide were not considered.

‘PARTNER VIOLENT WITH PREVIOUS WIFE’

She said a second witness would testify they saw Gwen that morning sitting upright, and there was evidence the man Gwen had just dumped, Ken Soper, was violent with a previous wife, and was a convicted paedophile.

A police photograph of the interior of the Valiant sedan that Gwen Grover was found dead in on Lake St in Cairns North on October 14, 1983. Picture: Supplied

The officer who went to the scene that day 40 years ago was second year Queensland Police officer Constable Ed Kinbacher, who retired in February 2022 after 17 years as head of the Cairns Criminal Investigation Branch.

“Inside the vehicle in which she was found was a large number of empty stubbies also there was a large amount of cigarette ash on the floor of the vehicle suggesting she may have sat in the vehicle thinking sometime prior to committing the act,” he stated in his report.

“Careful attention should be given to the angle of entry of the bullet as it may perhaps be critical to the direction of the investigation.

Gwen Grover, who died in October 1983, pictured with a friend's baby. Picture: Supplied

“Police attempted to interview her boyfriend however he could not be located,” he stated.

The report did not mention the gun or ammunition.

“Suicide is suspected,” Const Kinbacher wrote.

Just five photographs, one of which is double exposed, exist from the scene and in her inquest findings, Ms Wilson said none of them clearly depicted the gun or ammunition.

GUN IN OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO GWEN

Gwen is pictured on her side with her head slumped over the passenger seat and the muzzle of the rifle pointing in the opposite direction, although Mr Lock was adamant she was sitting upright.

Ken Soper was killed while riding his Harley Davidson along Toogood Rd on February 3, 2022. Picture: Supplied

A second picture taken after Gwen’s body was removed shows a large bloodstain extending toward the console, and a box of ammunition with a handbag on top of it.

Gwen’s head would have laid across the handbag, but there is no blood on the handbag.

There are two stubbies in the picture.

SHE WOULD HAVE NEVER LEFT THE BOYS

Ms Cole said Gwen would never have left her boys.

Gwen and Duncan Grover had two children before separating.

Gwen began a whirlwind relationship with Ken Soper in March 1983, taking him to NSW to meet her family, but on October 13 she was moving out of his place and into a shabby flat on Lake St.

Ms Cole believes Ken Soper killed Gwen and rearranged her body.

He was not interviewed by police until several days after Gwen’s death.

Soper gave varying accounts over the years of when she left, from two weeks before her death to two days, but the coroner found she likely left him at 6pm the day before her death.

Soper gave evidence he owned more than 20 guns.

Mrs Cole said it was improbable that a woman who hated guns could accurately fatally shoot herself in the temple with the gun between her legs.

“When a woman leaves a man is when they are most at risk of domestic violence, and she was leaving him,” Ms Cole said.

FORMER WIFE SAYS HE WAS EXTREMELY VIOLENT

She said Soper, who died when knocked off his Harley Davidson by a truck on Toogood Rd in February 2022, had previously been married, and his former wife has now stated publicly that he was an extremely violent man.

His former wife said in the Channel 7 podcast Shot in the Dark “he was a truly horrible person”.

Ken Soper and Gwen Grover contemplated marriage and she took him to meet her family in NSW before her death in Octobr 1983. He died aged 72 in a traffic accident in 2022. Picture: Anna Rogers

He was convicted in May 1982 of indecently dealing with a girl under 14 years.

“He was a horrible, horrible man … he was definitely violent,” the woman told the podcast

“He bashed me a few times.

‘HE PUT A RIFLE INTO MY MOUTH’

“He once put a rifle into my mouth,” she said.

Soper said in his 1983 statement a .325 calibre rifle had been moved in his bedroom cupboard, but in 2020 he said it was a .22 calibre rifle.

The coroner said “Soper’s statement was infected by such a fundamental error and it was not questioned or remedied” and that the .325 calibre rifle never existed.

In 2020 Soper said the .22 rifle belonged to his mate Glenn Graham.

“A day or so prior to Gwen’s death, Ken told Glenn they had argued and she had left,” Ms Wilson said in her report.

“Glenn recalls Ken telling him that Gwen had taken his rifle from the back shed,” Ms Wilson noted.

But Soper told police the rifle was moved from a spare room cupboard.

The cold case probe involved a re-enactment which determined it was “mechanically possible” for Gwen to have shot herself in the temple while sitting up in the driver’s seat, but Ms Cole said that was preposterous, and her family had been led to believe over the years she was shot in the chin or mouth.

A plaque commemorating Gwen Lorraine Grover is displayed on the perimeter fence of the Cairns Hockey fields on Lake Street. Picture: Brendan Radke

The inquest heard evidence Gwen hated firearms and had never touched one.

Gwen took her boys to her ex-husband on the eve of her death because the flat was a mess, and she said to him twice “if something happens to me, promise you’ll look after the boys”.

Ms Cole said it was clear Gwen feared for her safety.

‘SHE THOUGHT HE WOULD TRACK HER DOWN’

“I believe she thought he would track her down – she left him, he didn’t want her to leave,” she said.

“Her death has never been properly investigated and it is important to me to have her name cleared, and the person responsible to be named, justice will never be served until then.

“Once the findings were handed down, I immediately set about having the inquest overturned,” Mrs Cole said.

“A new witness has come forward prepared to sign a statement she walked past and saw Gwen sitting bolt upright, then walking home later that day, she saw Gwen laying across the seat.

“There was absolutely no investigation and Soper didn’t make a statement until 17 days later,” Mrs Cole said.

“There was no doorknock, no forensic report, her hands weren’t tested, the guns have disappeared, the police notebooks have disappeared.

“I was questioned vigorously by counsel assisting, they were trying to badger me into saying I believed she had died by suicide.

“I think Gwen met up with him that night for whatever reason, I believe she made it clear she had no further interest in him, and I believe he killed her.

“To my knowledge she never fired a gun in her life – there were 20 guns, how did she manage to find that gun, and find the very bullets for it in his glove box, and work out how to use it in exactly the right location?

Ken Soper was killed while riding his Harley Davidson along Toogood Rd on February 3, 2022. Picture: Supplied

“I loved Gwen, she meant the world to me, seeking her portrayed as a drunken no-hoper destroyed me.”

A toxicology analysis located during the cold case review stated Gwen had a blood alcohol reading of .015 and Ms Cole questioned how her sister was capable of accurately shooting herself if she was quite drunk.

‘KEN SOPER HAS NEVER BEEN CONSIDERED A SUSPECT’

Ms Wilson said any suggestion Soper was directly involved in Gwen’s death was debunked because Soper said he had no idea where she was after she departed his home at 6pm.

“Ken Soper has never been considered a suspect, any suggestion that he staged or was somehow involved in Gwen’s death was not seriously pursued at inquest,” Ms Wilson stated.

“Mrs Grover was experiencing a significant situational crisis at the time of her death.”

Ms Cole met Soper when he and Gwen and the boys visited NSW.

“I didn’t like him, I thought he was arrogant, overbearing, prone to exaggeration, but all I was concerned about was Gwen’s happiness,” she said.

“My first impression was he was someone who couldn’t be trusted.

“It must have been something very serious that happened between them for Gwen to pack and leave like that, there was no support back in those days,” she said.

Ms Cole said the inquest was always headed in the direction of a suicide ruling.

“Gwen can no longer speak for herself and while I am alive, I will always be Gwen’s voice, I will never give up, I will never stop fighting for her.”

Insight airs on SBS on Tuesday at 8.30pm and is also available to stream on SBS On Demand.

Originally published as Sue Cole calls for new inquest into sister Gwen Grover’s death