AUTHOR ANDREW URBAN SAYS 60 MINUTES INTERVIEW “A TOTAL GAME CHANGER”

60 MINUTES INTERVIEW “A TOTAL GAME CHANGER”

Investigative author Andrew L. Urban calls last night's 60 Minutes interview with Meaghan Vass "a total game changer", saying it seriously undermines the murder conviction of Sue Neill-Fraser, one of the cases he documents in his book, Murder by the Prosecution (Wilkinson Publishing).

"The Tasmanian justice system was always in denial about the DNA - matched to Vass - that was found at the crime scene, preferring to pursue Sue Neill-Fraser, the partner of murder victim Bob Chappell. The Crown built a wholly phony case against her; it is just one of several wrongful convictions taken apart in my book, after five years of investigation." 

Vass was a vulnerable, homeless 16 year old when she took the stand in Sue Neill-Fraser's 2010 murder trial, to answer one big question: was she on the Four Winds yacht in January 2009 around the time Bob Chappell was murdered, as her DNA - found on the deck - suggested? She said no. The court simply accepted her denial. New information that she had lied about where she really was prompted a request to recall her for another cross examination. Prosecutor Tim Ellis SC fought against her being recalled and presiding Justice Blow denied the request. 

The reporting about the case on Urban's blog, wrongfulconvictionsreport.org, has prompted a flood of outraged comments slamming the Tasmanian justice system.

"But it's not just Tasmania," says Urban. "I have studied cases from around Australia that have failed to use forensic science properly or failed at the investigation stage. But none have been so flawed as the Sue Neill-Fraser case."

Urban's sequel to Murder by the Prosecution, titled No Crime, Much Punishment (Wilkinson Publishing) will be published this year. Andrew is also working on a book with eminent Australian barrister, Kevin Borick QC, Power Without Integrity (Wilkinson Publishing), putting our justice system on trial.​

TO INTERVIEW ANDREW URBAN email Max@marksonsparks.com or call Max Markson 0412 501 601