Andrew Mallard - Review of Investigation and Cold Case Review

Review of Investigation and Cold Case Review

Following the discontinuance of the prosecution by the DPP, the Commissioner of Police instituted a review of the investigation to establish whether there were sufficient grounds for a "cold case" review. The review quickly located a record of a palm print which matched that of Simon Rochford, who had confessed to murdering his girlfriend, Brigitta Dickens, on 15 July 1994, seven weeks after Mrs Lawrence was killed. The print had been found on the top of a display case in Lawrence's shop, which was significant, as it had been the practice of the shop staff to wipe the top of that case after each customer left.

On this basis the review became a cold case review. The weapon used by Rochford to kill Dickens was a steel collar of the type used by weight lifters to secure weights to a bar. Rochford had attached the collar to a broom handle and used it to club Dickens to death. The actual collar could not be located in 2006 but its dimensions were known and a photograph was available. The shape and dimensions of the collar were consistent with the form of the wounds in Lawrence's skull.

The photograph of the collar indicated that it was painted blue and a rucksack belonging to Rochford was found to contain blue paint flakes which were identical in chemical composition to those removed from Mrs Lawrence's wounds.

Rochford's appearance, in particular his beard, was more consistent with the original accounts of eyewitnesses than was Mallard's.

On 12 May 2006, five police officers were stood down by the West Australian Police Commissioner in relation to the original investigation into the murder.

At about 7:45 am AWST on 19 May 2006, the body of Simon Rochford was discovered in his cell at Albany Maximum Security Prison by prison officers just hours after he had been named as "a person of significant interest" in the Pamela Lawrence investigation.

On 11 October 2006 the Police Commissioner announced that the cold case review was complete, that Andrew Mallard was no longer a person of interest in relation to the case; that there was sufficient evidence to implicate Simon Rochford and that, if he had still been living the police would have prepared a Brief of Evidence against him for the WA Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Police Commissioner apologised to Mallard for any part the police had played in his conviction. The Premier indicated that the government would be considering compensation, though the Attorney General stated that no decision could be made until the Commission on Crime and Corruption had completed its investigation. However, on 22 November 2006, the Adelaide advertiser carried an AAP story stating that Andrew Mallard had received a A$200,000 ex-gratia payment as partial compensation.