| Introduction: by Bret Christian |
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| Only now can Avon Lovell reveal the true story that turned his courageous life into an improbable non-stop drama, one beyond even the most wild-eyed novelist's imagination. Some of the new and sensational revelations in this book will be very discomforting for those in authority. This is an important book by any measure. |
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| Foreword |
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| This is a stunning true scenario of gold thefts, crooked cops, bombings, torchings, fabrication of evidence including fingerprints and confessions and, ultimately, murder and suicide. It contains condensed material from two earlier books, The Mickelberg Stitch and Split Image to make a sweeping saga of a broken legal system that condones cop-crime and its terrible consequences to innocent victims.
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| 1. Kick-Starter |
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| A Wild West saga straight out of Culver City, home of the Cowboy Flick: There is a good deal of Sin & Wickedness going on here, Stealing, Lying, Swearing, Drinking, Gambling & Murdering. |
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| 2. Gypsy Blood |
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| A gang of bikies ride into town and supposedly insult the publican's daughter. The publican, Don Hancock, throws them out, shuts the pub and goes to his gold mine to get his gun. As the bikies sit around their campfire, a shot is fired into the back of Billy Grierson, killing him. |
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| 3. 'Boom Town' Goes Bust |
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| Shortly after the murder the little mining town is systematically blown up: the pub, general store, publican's house and Hancock's gold ore battery. |
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| 4. The 'Silver Fox' |
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| The publican is revealed as the retired chief of detectives, Don Hancock, the most powerful cop in Western Australia. He had led a double life as a gold miner, investor, businessman and general crook including illegal claim-jumping of valuable mining leases and forged signatures. |
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| 5. Funeral Parade |
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| A thundering column of Gypsy Jokers from all Australian branches fill the streets of Kalgoorlie as their comrade, Billy Grierson, is buried. |
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| 6. The 'Great' Mint Swindle |
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| Don Hancock, the Silver Fox, has been bent for many years. His greatest criminal catch was solving the swindling of gold bullion from the Royal Mint, Perth, and the arrest of three brothers named Mickelberg. |
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| 7. The Chains of Circumstance |
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| The Mickelberg trial relied entirely upon circumstantial evidence and a dearth of facts. But the Fox and his crew have produced confessions and a telling fingerprint from the elder brother, ex-Vietnam SAS frontline trooper, Ray. |
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| 8. Buckets of Blood |
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| The brothers are convicted and given massive jail terms even though there were no witnesses, no violence and no individual victims. Lovell writes a book, The Mickelberg Stitch exposing police fabrications. Hancock responds and threatens "buckets of blood." |
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| 9. Deathly Intrigues |
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| Brian Mickelberg's plane crashes in sinister circumstances after he is freed on appeal and he and a passenger are killed. A man suspected of buying the Mint gold was visited in Melbourne by Hancock and shortly afterwards drives off a cliff on his own country property, killing him. Meanwhile in prison Ray is set upon by a drug snitch and professional boxer and in the ensuing marathon yard fight, one of Ray's fingers is bitten off. "No one can live here and remain sane or human." |
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| 10. World Quest |
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| Lovell seeks expert witnesses for an appeal, travelling to London, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Alabama, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Canada, New York and California, gathering a powerful collective who confirm the fabrication of evidence against the Mickelberg brothers.
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| 11. The Fingerprint Frolic |
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| At the Appeal the Mickelberg experts testify and the Court accepts that it was not possible to determine the difference between a forged fingerprint and a genuine one. The original trial judge had uttered the axiom of the time, "a fingerprint is an unforgeable signature," when sentencing the Mickelbergs. |
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| 12. "Litany of Lies" |
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| There were now some 40 writs issued against The Mickelberg Stitch which had been buried with an injunction issued by Hancock's offsider, Tony Lewandowski. After the Appeal failed, Hancock went on a current affairs show and railed against Lovell: "What upset us was the printing of that litany of lies called The Mickelberg Stitch. |
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| 13. Globules of Purest Gold |
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| A cockroach called Fleming crawled into the story, telling Ray Mickelberg that he could get a bar of the Mint gold sent back. Shortly after, a bar of the stolen batch was sent to Channel 7 reporter Alison Fan. Fleming promised her he'd send the rest. A few months later he did that. However surveillance by a six car crime intelligence unit was called off a half hour before the drop by the only man with the authority to do so, Commander of the CIB, Don Hancock. |
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| 14. Police Raid |
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| Lovell held a press conference detailing Hancock's mining and business interest including a document from the Tax Office where Hancock was being audited for his income from prostitution. Federal Police raided Lovell's house and days later arrested him on arrival back from Singapore where he was arranging printing of his second book, Split Image. He was charged with having the tax document and was facing two years' jail. |
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| 15. Night of the Sharp Knives |
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| In flash-frame sequencing, premises of friends, his lawyer and his book distributor were burgled and documents relating to Lovell's investigations purloined. A potential film investor was door-stopped by a thug threatening him if he proceeded. |
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| 16. The Rack of Failure |
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| Lovell was buggered by many hundreds of court appearances and no income from his suppressed books. After bailiff's tagged his wife's furniture for court costs and an attempt to kill her and his 4-year-old son, Lovell capitulated and settled with the Police Union which had been fully funded to attack him by a special levy of $2 a pay from each of 5,000 coppers in WA. The police paid him $250,000, a fraction of his losses. |
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| 17. A Glut of Fakes |
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| A second extraordinary Appeal produced evidence of fingerprint forgery and two of Britain's foremost expert document examiners declared that the confession of Peter Mickelberg at an interview with Hancock and Lewandowski, had been rewritten and altered. The Appeal failed. The police were believed again by a blindly compliant judiciary. |
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| 18. The Jeweller's Shop |
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| Details of fabulously wealthy gold mines that have been robbed remorselessly, but none recovered. Some of this was in the reign of the Fox when he was head of the Gold Stealing Squad. He has become a millionaire investor by now. However, the Royal Mint bullion sent to Channel 7, now properly analysed, has chemical characteristics that only come from South Africa. It was a brilliant misdirection. Who planted the gold and why? The only man with the motive, the means and the opportunity was the Fox. |
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| 19. The Hancock Hit |
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| Hancock is blown to bits in a car bomb and the only suspects in the frame are the Gypsy Jokers, and in particular their sergeant at arms, Graeme Slater. The State responds angrily and offers a $500,000 reward. Urban terrorism, they cry! The bikies are under total surveillance by several hundred police. Hancock is given a defacto State funeral. All is forgiven. |
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| 20. Reluctant Liar |
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| There is a bizarre twist. With Hancock dead, his partner in crime and Lovell's bete noir, Lewandowski, decides to come clean but cannot trust police or lawyers. He and his mother decide that the only one they can trust is ... Lovell! He gets an astounding affidavit that reveals the complete falsity of the Mickelberg confessions. |
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| 21. Thai Run |
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| Lewandowski is a wreck of a man and to protect him from assassination Lovell arranges a bodyguard and sends them to Thailand where Lewandowski merges with the decadent tourists of the Phuket sin traps. He is moved around Chang Mai, Bangkok and back to Phuket as investigators from a Royal Commission into Police Corruption seek him. As the Commission emerges as a political cover-up job, Lovell conceals Lewandowski until an Appeal is granted which he believed was the only method of reversing the Mickelberg convictions. |
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| 22. State of Disgrace |
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| Lovell is fined and convicted of contempt of court for refusing to assist the Royal Commission into Police Corruption. It had clearly become a political sham. But his tactics were successful and an Appeal is announced by an embarrassed Government a mere week after Lovell's contempt conviction and the frenzied media responses. |
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| 23. The Whole Truth, Possibly! |
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| Lewandowski confesses under oath to widespread fabrication and perjury on his part and that of Hancock, his boss. He also tells the Court that his sworn evidence to obtain the injunction that killed The Mickelberg Stitch was complete pack of lies. They and other police had issued writs funded by the Police Union to bury the book and protect their criminal conduct. Their intention, Lewandowski deposed, was to drive Lovell bankrupt and force him to leave Australia. |
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| 24. The Hancock Rule |
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| The final appeal succeeds in 2004. The convictions of the Mickelbergs were declared a miscarriage of justice based on perjured and false evidence. Fingerprint evidence was tainted and could not be believed. But not one police officer was charged with any offence. The Hancock Rule. |
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| 25. Wild Jokers |
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| Bikie 'Snot' Reid is thrown out of the Gypsy Jokers for stealing from club members and shooting-up in the clubhouse. He is picked up and confesses on behalf of Graeme Slater. Reid's secret trial was done and dusted without media scrutiny. But his evidence against Slater has been created and fabricated by police. Slater's trial is a farce as Reid is exposed as a liar and the frame-up fails. The jury unequivocally acquit Slater. The police have not improved their fabricational techniques.
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| 26. The Hangman's Card |
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| Lewandowski has been betrayed by the DPP who declare he has breached the immunity from prosecution he had been given by the Appeal judges. He is charged and lodged in custody even though a sick and weakened man. He has been downgraded by the DPP from the most important whistleblower in years, to now being universally referred to as "disgraced former detective." In sadness and despair, Tony Lewandowski hangs himself. No-one will ever again break ranks in the Blue Line.
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| 27. The Stitch Unthreads |
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| All the police are home free. No charges are laid. A number of similar cases have now uncovered the widespread abuse of forensic science and police methods to fabricate evidence, thus ensuring false convictions. The Mickelbergs are finally granted modest ex gratia payments. |
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| 28. The Joke |
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| In police parlance, if you are on the take or otherwise bent, you are part of 'the joke'. Each
of the numerous inquiries into police conduct confirmed their 'innocence'. Many of the
tarnished police rose to the highest ranks. When in doubt, promote! |
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| Afterword |
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| The final drama is revealed in 2010: the Crown has a secret policy, via the DPP, of not charging police with criminal offences once they have resigned. The policy is raised by Lovell with the Attorney General and not answered. By silence the covert quarantining of dirty cops is adopted and continues. It condones fabrication, perjury, perverting the course of justice and murder! |
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