Police killer Jason Roberts to r

Police killer Jason Roberts to return to court, says attorney-general

Claims of conspiracy and fresh evidence will see police killer Jason Roberts’ case return to court after he filed a petition for mercy two decades after the fatal street shooting.

Roberts was convicted alongside Bandali Debs of murdering Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller, who were gunned down in a Moorabbin street on August 16, 1998.

Jason Roberts arriving at the Supreme Court 17th of February 2003Credit:The Age

Roberts, who was 22 when a jury found him guilty, has spent almost half his life in prison.

At the time of his trial he offered no alibi, instead invoking his right to silence. Now he says he wasn't there.

Attorney-General Martin Pakula, who received Roberts' second petition in March, said on Monday that former Justice Bernard Teague had examined the contents and recommended that the case go back before the courts.

Justice Teague said the bases for his recommendation rested on new revelations. They included: the alleged concealment of evidence, a fresh alibi for Roberts and an affidavit stating Debs had confessed to being the sole killer.

Sending Silk-Miller killer back to court is the correct thing to do

He also assessed the discovery of intercepted phone conversations not presented at trial that contained statements supporting Roberts’ version of events that Debs acted alone.

“Sufficient new evidence is presented in the petition to raise the possibility that a miscarriage of justice has occurred,’’ Justice Teague wrote.

“Essentially evidence of Roberts as to his whereabouts on the night in question.

‘‘If ... new evidence is found to be credible by judges of the trial division of the Supreme Court, it would warrant referral of the whole case to the Court of Appeal.”

The new evidence includes claims of a confession from Debs to murdering the two police officers alone and a description on how it was done.

Roberts also says he was at home with his then girlfriend – Debs' daughter Nicole – at the time of the murders, though he admits assisting Debs to later conceal evidence.

A new affidavit has also been submitted whereby Roberts says his delay in airing these fresh claims was because he feared Debs while being held in the same prison.

“Roberts also admits for the first time to being involved in 10 armed robberies with Debs in the months prior to the murders,” Justice Teague said.

Mr Pakula said the case was also currently before the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.

He said the appeal process now meant that if the trial division of the Supreme Court ruled the case needed to be retried, it would come back to the Attorney-General who would then refer the matter to the Court of Appeal.

“Justice Teague has indicated that his recommendation is 'a cautious approach to referral that is sensitive to the interests of victims' and 'based on the combination of evidence in both the first and second petitions',” Mr Pakula said.

Sergeant Gary Silk.

“The manner in which the court deals with the referral is a matter for the court.”

The officers were shot after they pulled over a suspicious car near the Silky Emperor Restaurant in Cochranes Road while on armed robbery stakeout duty.

They had been trying to identify two bandits behind a string of restaurant hold-ups.

Carmel Arthur, Senior Constable Miller's widow, said her family had always respected the judicial process and would continue to do so “until this matter is resolved”.

Carmel Arthur and Rodney Miller.Credit:The Age.

“As we prepare for the 20th anniversary of Rod and Gary’s death, we choose to focus not on how they died, but how they lived. Two great men,” she said in a statement released on Monday morning,

“We will be making no further comment at this time.”

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said news of the retrial only added to the burden of those who have fought so long and so hard to forget.

Mr Gatt said the association retained full confidence in the work that investigators, past and present, dedicated to bringing their colleagues’ killers to justice.

“The impact that the murders of these police officers had on first responders, investigators, colleagues and friends of the slain officers cannot be understated and should be understood. Lives and careers ended on that night,” Mr Gatt said.

“We sincerely hope that one day soon this tragic chapter in the history of Victoria Police can be closed for good.

“Gary Silk and Rod Miller and their families deserve that.”

Shadow Attorney General John Pesutto slammed the decision and said his government would never have considered the petitions for mercy.

He said the case required a “hard line approach”.

Former homicide squad detectives Ron Iddles and Charlie Bezzina reported the matter to IBAC in 2017 after it was found a statement attributed to Senior Constable Glenn Pullen, who heard the dying words of Senior Constable Miller, appeared to have been altered to include a reference to there being two gunmen.

The uncovering of what was reported to be Senior Constable Pullen's original statement was viewed as evidence there had been a police conspiracy to prove Roberts had been at the scene.

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