Kidnapped
Page 26
4 In the event of jurors failing to reach unanimity, they would eventually be discharged and the trial brought to an end. The matter would then be referred to the Attorney-General for a decision whether a retrial would take place. In the event of two hung juries, the matter would almost invariably not be tried a third time. Today the law allows for majority verdicts of 11 to 1.
5 Although there were a handful of female barristers in New South Wales at this time, they almost exclusively practised in family law and did not appear in criminal trials.
6 The Clerk of the Peace was an office that had existed in New South Wales since 1817. Its role was to act as the solicitor for the Crown in criminal cases and Inquests, and also to provide administrative support services for the operation of the criminal courts. In 1986 it was replaced by the Solicitor for Public Prosecutions and by separate court registrars.
7 My Story, manuscript by Magda Bradley, 1961, part 2, page 2 (courtesy of the Justice & Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums, NSW).
8 op. cit., part 2, page 3.
9 op. cit., part 6, pages 8–9.
10 Robert Reginald Downing AC QC (1904–1994) was an Australian lawyer, textile worker, union organiser and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council for the Australian Labor Party for 31 years from 1940 to 1972 and in that time served as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, as well as Vice-President of the Executive Council. The Downing Centre court complex in Liverpool Street, Sydney, is named after him.
11 Daily Mirror, 13 March 1961, page 6.
12 Vladimir Nabokov’s novel about a man’s obsessive love for his twelve-year-old step-daughter was first published in Paris in 1955 and later in New York in 1958. Lolita was banned by Australia’s Literature Censorship Board in 1958. The ban was not lifted until 1965.
Chapter 14
1 Now Court 5 at Darlinghurst Courthouse.
2 In fact, women had been legally permitted to serve on juries in New South Wales since 1947, but the commencement of this reform was delayed due to ‘accommodation difficulties’ – a euphemism for separate dormitories and toilet facilities, and the appointment of female Sheriff’s officers. Until 1968 women were required to apply to the Chief Constable of their police district to be included on the jury roll.
3 Bill Knight was the fifth Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales. There have only been fourteen since the first was appointed in 1920.
4 Vin Wallace was later to become a QC and Senior Crown Prosecutor.
5 Bill Job also later became a QC and Senior Crown Prosecutor, and occupied this position when the author was appointed a Crown Prosecutor in 1983.
6 A trial of similar complexity today would last at least three months, and up to six.
7 Canberra Times, 21 March 1961.
8 The whole evidence from both prosecution and defence consisted of fewer than 350 pages of transcript. Today, a case of this complexity would likely extend over 3000 pages of transcript.
9 The unsworn statement from the dock was abolished in New South Wales in 1994.
10 Bill Archibald, The Bradley Case, Horwitz Publications Pty Ltd, 1961, page 96.
11 Canberra Times, 28 March 1961.
12 Knight QC practised at a time when it was considered acceptable for a Crown Prosecutor to adopt a hostile and antagonistic attitude in cross-examining defence witnesses. According to Chester Porter QC, Knight had a reputation for being ‘aggressive, bullying and overwhelming’ in his cross-examination of accused persons. Today a judge would prohibit gratuitous hostility towards any witness by either counsel.
13 Bill Archibald, The Bradley Case, page 103.
14 By the time Bradley returned from Queensland in the Ford, the kidnapping was well and truly over. I am sure that Knight meant to say, ‘your Ford had been used in the kidnapping’.
15 Bill Archibald, The Bradley Case, page 111.
16 Proceedings for contempt of court had been commenced against the Daily Mirror and its executive editor arising out of the publication of this photograph.
17 The order of addresses is now reversed, so that the defence always gets the last address.
18 Canberra Times, 29 March 1961.
19 Tom Prior, The Sinners’ Club, Penguin Books, 1993, pp 19–21.
Chapter 15
1 This account of what occurred in the jury room comes from a post-trial interview with a juror by journalist Bill Archibald. See Bill Archibald, The Bradley Case, Horwitz Publications Pty Ltd, 1961, page 117.
2 Sydney Morning Herald, 31 March 1961.
3 ibid.
4 Tom Prior, The Sinners’ Club, Penguin Books, 1993, pp 19–21. In fact, Sir Frank Packer refused to pay any money to Magda Bradley.
5 Today it is highly unusual for the trial Crown Prosecutor to also appear at the appeal. It is considered desirable for another Crown Prosecutor, with a fresh approach to the case, to represent the Crown. In this way, the trial prosecutor is not put in a position of having to justify his or her own actions. It is more common on the defence side for the same barrister to appear at the appeal.
6 The Telegraph, 3 July 1961.
7 Sydney Morning Herald, 3 July 1961.
8 Canberra Times, 3 July 1961.
9 Bill Archibald, The Bradley Case, page 129.
10 The Sinners Club: Confessions of a Walk-up Man, Tom Prior, Penguin Books Australia, 1993. Tom Prior was an Australian newsman during the 1960s to 1990s. He worked for 28 years with Melbourne’s Sun News-Pictorial, specialising in crime and sport.
11 Now the District Court.
12 The Age, 1 September 1960.
13 Canberra Times, 26 May 1962.
Chapter 16
1 Reckless indifference murder now requires the prosecution to prove that the accused appreciated the likelihood of death, but at that time the words were given their ordinary English meaning.
2 Letter dated 29 July 1991. Presumably it was written after Doyle had read the manuscript of Justice and Nightmares – Successes and Failures of Forensic Science in Australia and New Zealand by Malcolm Brown, Paul Wilson and Judith Whelan, New South Wales University Press, 1992.
3 Bill Archibald, The Bradley Case, Horwitz Publications Pty Ltd, 1961, page 128.
4 R v Bruce Burrell, Supreme Court of New South Wales, 2005 & 2006.
5 See Doyle’s letter to Malcolm Brown dated 14 July 1991.
6 For another excellent description of narcissism, this time from the realm of fiction, see the main character, Rodion Razkolnikov, in Crime and Punishment by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Official records
Transcript of the Supreme Court trial of R v Stephen Leslie Bradley, courtesy of State Records New South Wales.
Court of Criminal Appeal decision in the case of R v Stephen Leslie Bradley, courtesy of the Justice & Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums.
Police Brief and File of the Clerk of the Peace in the case of R v Stephen Leslie Bradley, courtesy of State Records New South Wales, including statements by witnesses to police, summaries and notes by the Clerk of the Peace Officer and the Crown Prosecutor.
Newspapers and journals
Numerous contemporary newspapers, including: Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald, Sunday Telegraph, Canberra Times.
‘The Jack Bateman story’, Daily Mirror, 8–9 March 1966.
‘Scientific Aspects of the Graeme Thorne Kidnapping and Murder’, by Detective Sergeant AF Clarke (New South Wales Police), Australian Police Journal, July 1963 Volume 16, Number 3, pages 181–237; reprinted in Australian Police Journal 50th Anniversary Edition, September 1996 (Volume 50, Number 3A, pages 68–95):
Books and manuscripts
Bill Archibald, The Bradley Case, Horwitz Publications Pty Ltd, 1961.
Magda Bradley, unpublished manuscript My Story, 1961, courtesy of the Justice & Police Museum, Sydney Living Museums.
Tom Prior, The Sinners’ Club, Penguin Books, 1993.
Credits and permissions
Transcripts of the committal and trial of Stephen Bradley are reproduced with permission of the Chief Justice of New South Wales.
Newspaper extracts from the Sydney Morning Herald (21, 18, 23 October 1960; 9, 19, 20 November 1960; 31 March 1961; 3 April, 1961; 3 July 1961), the Sun (November 1961), the Sun-Herald (25 September 1960), the Daily Mirror (13 March, 1961), the Canberra Times (21 March 1961, 3 July 1961, 26 May 1962) are reproduced with permission, with thanks to Copyright Agency Limited in association with Fairfax Syndications and News Limited.
Copyright material by Magda Bradley is reproduced with permission, with thanks to the estate.
Copyright material by Detective Sergeant Brian Doyle is reproduced with permission, with thanks to Stephen Doyle.
Copyright material by Dr Michael Diamond is reproduced with permission.
Copyright material by Bill Archibald is reproduced with permission, with thanks to Susan Horwitz.
Images from the Justice & Police Museum Collection, Sydney Living Museums, are reproduced with permission.
Images from Fairfax Syndications are reproduced with permission.
The image of Frederick Vizzard QC is reproduced with permission, with thanks to the estate.
KIDNAPPED
First published in Australia in 2015 by
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© Mark Tedeschi 2015
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Tedeschi, Mark, 1952– author.
Title: Kidnapped/Mark Tedeschi.
ISBN: 9781925310221 (paperback)
9781925310238 (ebook)
Subjects: Thorne, Graeme – Kidnapping, 1960.
Bradley, Stephen Leslie.
Forensic sciences – Australia – History.
Murder – Investigation – New South Wales – History.
Kidnapping – New South Wales – History.
Dewey Number: 363.25
Cover design: Christabella Designs
Cover images: Courtesy of the Justice & Police Museum Collection, Sydney Living Museums
Typeset by Midland Typesetters, Australia