New update in Janine Balding case as jailed killer Stephen “Shorty’’ Jamieson wants an inquiry that could quash his convictions

A judge has spoken of the “sensitivities’’ of re-visiting the investigation into Janine Balding’s murder, as jailed killer Stephen “Shorty’’ Jamieson fights for his conviction to be quashed.

A court ruling may force police to test a bandana used to gag murder victim Janine Balding against the DNA profile of an alternate person of interest in the high-profile case.

A Supreme Court justice on Friday reserved his judgement in jailed-for-life killer Stephen “Shorty’’ Jamieson’s bid to have an inquiry that could quash his convictions.

Jamieson, who confessed to police to abducting, raping and murdering 20-year-old Ms Balding on September 8, 1988, is attempting to get an order to compare the DNA profile a former associate – who goes by the same nickname – Mark “Shorty’’ Wells – to traces of unidentified male DNA detected on the bandana in a bid to prove he was wrongfully convicted.

Central to his legal push has been the emergence of five mystery male DNA profiles, which could be from one man, detected on the bandana which re-testing has unearthed since 2014.

The head of the NSW Forensic & Analytical Science Service, Clinton Cochrane, said the most recent testing on a target area on the bandana, known as “section 8’’, had excluded Jamieson as a DNA contributor.

Stephen ‘Shorty’ Jamieson.

Mark ‘Shorty’ Wells - wearing a bandana.

Mr Cochrane was asked by Jamieson’s lawyer, Richard Wilson SC, to compare the DNA data against Jamieson’s co-offenders, Matthew Elliott, Bronson Blessington and convicted rapist Wayne Wilmot.

After looking at DNA profile data, Mr Cochrane quickly excluded all three co-offenders within minutes and said Wells’ DNA could also be compared.

Mr Wilson said if Mr Cochrane had been given Mr Wells’ DNA profile data he could have potentially excluded him “on the spot’’.

“Mr Wells is either or excluded, or he is not,’’ Mr Wilson told the court.

“If he is not excluded, that becomes powerful evidence that Mr Jamieson is not the person and Mr Wells is the person.

“The state of this dispute … for many years has been `did police get the right Shorty?’’’

“The only thing that is standing in the way of the testing being done is the police’s unwillingness to do it as part of a police investigation.’’

Janine Balding was abducted from Sutherland railway station by a group of street kids, was sexually assaulted and murdered in Minchinbury in Sydney's western suburbs in 1988. Picture: A Current Affair

Lawyer Georgina Wright SC, for the Attorney-General Michael Daley and NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb, said there was “no investigation’’ despite an email sent from NSW police to its counterparts in Queensland describing it as an “ongoing homicide’’.

“We are instructed that there is no investigation,’’ Ms Wright said.

She said there were issues with the lawfulness of the transmission of Wells’ DNA to NSW Police, which was described as a “mistake’’.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Janine Balding at age 20. She was raped and murdered in 1988.

Its further use was also prohibited under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act, she submitted.

It was also submitted that even if Wells’ was a possible DNA contributor it would not give rise to a doubt with regard to Jamieson’s conviction.

For more than two decades, Jamieson has been asking for the bandana to be compared to Wells DNA profile, a man he and the gang knew.

Both men were nicknamed “Shorty’’.

Jamieson was convicted of the abduction, rape and murder of Ms Balding after pleading not guilty at his trial in 1990.

Police take away the Holden Gemini used in the murder of Janine Balding. Picture Crime Investigation Australia

The now 58-year-old Jamieson, who watched the proceedings from Goulburn Prison, has maintained his innocence for 36 years, claiming his signed confession to police was fabricated.

All four of Jamieson’s co-accused testified at a Supreme Court murder trial in 1990 that it was “Shorty’’ Wells, not “Shorty’’ Jamieson, who was with them.

Justice Ian Harrison also addressed the court about being “alive’’ to the “sensitivities’’ of re-visiting the investigation and the “tensions’’ it raised for the original investigators.

“If there is a prospect that such a result may be alive, a proceeding like this is the proper venue to examine it,’’ he said.

“Whatever one’s view about Mr Jamieson, his right to pursue this matter is one that exists for citizen and it is the manner in which these matters will be examined.’’

Justice Harrison will rule on the case at a later date.

Originally published as New update in Janine Balding case as jailed killer Stephen “Shorty’’ Jamieson wants an inquiry that could quash his convictions