Royal Commission Into The New South Wales Police Service - Paedophilia / Pederasty Enquiry

Paedophilia / Pederasty Enquiry

In 1995, the Independent Commission Against Corruption referred a matter to the Commission regarding the possibility of collusion between organised paedophile networks with members from the legal profession, media and political establishment, and the senior ranks of the NSW Police Service and judiciary. For the purposes of this article, and in the Commission Report Volume 4, the term paedophile is used as an umbrella for sexual offences and behaviours that include paedophilia, pederasty and Hebephilia.

The allegation of the existence of this conspiracy was made by Mr Colin Fisk, a convicted sex offender and member of such a network; the background to this allegation was his arrest, along with Detective Larry Churchill, for child pornography and drug offences. Mr Fisk alleged the existence of a vast network of prominent individuals from the legal profession, media, political establishment and medical profession who were paedophiles/pederasts and were colluding with senior ranks of the police service to protect its members from prosecution.

In pursuing this term of reference, the commission investigated the activities of the particular pederastic/hebephilic network of which Fisk was a member, and its relationship with a group of corrupt NSW Police Service detectives. The network operated as a mutual syndicate and was designed to facilitate the distribution of child pornography, the procuring and sharing of underage sexual partners by members, investment in property such as an underage male brothel in Surry Hills and a pooling of resources and information for the purposes of evading law enforcement and maintaining access to illicit markets. Syndicate members also carried on an amphetamine-trafficking enterprise to raise money to help with the significant expense imposed by the requirement to pay bribes, and the high price of illicit materials and services.

The relationship between the network and the group of corrupt detectives was extensive and multifaceted, including regular bribe payments to the detectives in exchange for advance warning of law enforcement scrutiny, consignment of large amounts of methamphetamine to the network members on a profit-sharing bases and the planning of insurance frauds and financial crimes. The detective closest to the network, Larry Churchill, also shared some of the hebephilic tendencies of the network members.

The Commission found that the syndicates were effective and efficient in protecting the perpetrators from law enforcement scrutiny and facilitating their criminal activities, and there had been a corrupt relationship between the Fisk syndicate and a group of corrupt officers lead by Larry Churchill. The inquiry also conceded that there were probably other such networks and corrupt dealings unknown to them, but based on the extensive evidence provided by large numbers of sex-offenders, victims and law enforcement officers, it felt able to put that aside and concentrate on its instruction to examine police procedure and care arrangements for minors.

It was highly critical of police, prosecutors and public servants in their approach to the prosecution of sex offences against minors, and their lack of specialist police resources and clear guidelines. The Commission made comprehensive recommendations for the reform of care arrangements and police and public service procedures in dealing with child victims of sexual offences.

However, the inquiry debunked the most sensational allegations made by Mr Fisk; it was emphatic that there was no compelling evidence for the existence of a large network of prominent professionals with paedophile tendencies and a criminal bargain with senior officers of the police service to protect them from prosecution.