Writers love feedback! Please send your feedback to me on any of my books or other items of interest. Your name will not be used, but some of your message may be posted here for others to read and comment upon.
Unsolved murder
Tue, 7 April 2009
Hi I would like to know if you could please send me some info on any web sites that would be helpful in trying to find out legal info as i am trying to look into the unsolved murder of my brother and am having no luck so far in finding out anything. so if you could give me any advice it would be greatly appreciated. the reason why i have asked you is because i am a big fan of your books and admirer how you seem to be able to come up with things that others don’t seem to know or care to look for. thankyou for your time!
Keep it up!
Tue, 7 April 2009
Hello robin
ur books are fantastic when i began reading bout adel i couldn’t put it down til i knew the out come… then i was hooked ive read all but the one bout jenny tanner am unable to buy a copy or order it in any book shops… any suggestions on how to get a copy??? another question… what’s the next true crime ur working on??? when can i get a copy??? last but not least… were u scared when researching ur books moments in the jayden book scared the crap outa me!!! thanx 4 writing such excellent books keep it up!!!
Thank you for your book
Tue, 7 April 2009
I am writing to you to ask for some assistance with a research project that I am undertaking as an Honours student in my final year of my law degree.
I have chosen to research and discuss the law in WA as it pertains to Euthanasia. I recently purchased and read your excellent book about the Freeda Hayes case. I\’d be really interested in asking you a few questions about the case. I have tried to contact Max Crispe, the DPP and the Supreme Court to request a copy of the transcript of the Supreme Court Trial, but I am not having much luck getting anyone to help me. If it were not for your book I would know even less about the case!
Thank you for giving me some hope of justice
Fri, 3 April 2009
Dear Robin, I have just finished reading your book Rough Justice and it has certainly proved to me what I was sure I knew. My darling brother has just been sentenced at Downing Centre in Sydney for a crime he did not commit.
We have two elderly parents and their hearts are broken as is mine at the injustice of the legal system. Anthony was told by his legal team which was Legal Aid that he could not possibly be found guilty and when I spoke to his barrister during the trial in regard to some evidence I thought was very important his comment was don’t worry His Honor is all bark and no bite your brother could not possibly be found guilty and disregarded what I had to say.
My brother is now at Long Bay prior to this he had never even had a speeding fine and we trusted the advise from the legal team and thought everything would be Ok. We are appealing the conviction with a new Legal Team. What a costly heartbreaking lesson to learn I am going out to purchase your other books. Thankyou for giving me some hope of justice when I thought all hope was gone.
More questions than answers
Tue, 7 April 2009
Hello Robin, I have followed the Falconio murder with great interest & have read your, Dead Centre, book numerous times.
I look at page 356 & then take into consideration the Omagh bombing case & say that Murdoch cannot be still considered guilty on the DNA evidence!The English DNA findings also again throws doubt on Joanne Lees identification evidence. Also I still have may doubts about James Hepi & his involvement! What do you think?
Just read Justice Denied. It has opened my eyes, I only ever knew what I read in the papers and on TV news, unbelievable!! More questions than answers….So many lives ruined 
I believe your reporting was fair…
Tue, 7 April 2009
Hello, and I suppose Happy New Year would not be out of place, either! I just had to write, having sat through your book Dead Centre and found myself unable to put it down till I was finished. Your style of writing is most enjoyable and zips along nicely.
I wish I could write as well! I can remember quite vividly the first time I saw the news bulletin about this alleged murder and abduction/escape; I scoffed then at the original version of events, and was never happy with the way Joanne Lees presented herself or her rendition of the evening in question. I have read and watched true crime stories for over twenty years and find them fascinating, so to have this unbelievable case unfolding here in this incredible way was riveting. Reading your account of the whole drame from start to conviction was wonderful, as you had access to information I had not seen/read previously. I was glad that your account showed such anomalies with Joanne’s story; I have read other accounts of other cases and I thought as I read Dead Centre “ahh, Munchausen’s by Proxy” or at least certainly Joanne had a lot of desire to seize attention to herself. (“I want to get on with my life”, “..how I was treated..”)
I was pleased, too, to read of your interviews with Bradley Murdoch, as this humanised him in a way I’d not seen to date. I am ambivalent about his guilt, and just this month (Dec07) have read in the press about doubt over the LCN DNA testing, and especially of such a small (minute) sample. And you said at one point that someone had said it was not proper blood but something else, and I was thinking about the ooze you get after squeezing a pimple – the clear watery stuff. Anyway, nothing you wrote makes me change my mind about Ms Lees and her ambiguity, and her unsettling changes in her renditions of what happened. You didn’t actually say outright what you personally believe happened, and I was trying to read the lines of type and then between them simultaneously.
I believe your reporting was fair, and even though Mr Murdoch was convicted, I am somehow dissatisfied with the verdict; I would be happier if the prosecution had produced evidence that a) Peter Falconio is definitely dead, that b) he was murdered, that c) he was murdered by gunshot and d) that Bradley Murdoch did it. It was all too circumstantial, and if only the jury had known what you knew from the committal hearing. We both know that trials are not necessarily about the truth, but who can tell the best story.
Can’t put your books down
Tue, 7 April 2009
Hi robin i’ve read a few of your books (justice denied, rough justice and blind justice) are just a few of my favourites.
I’m usually not a big reader but when i pick up your books i can’t put them down till i finish them just wanted to say thankyou for such great reading and i’m looking forward to reading more great novels i was also wondering when your new book about jaidyn leskie is coming out???
thanks again hope to hear from you soon.:)
I think Murdoch is innocent
Tue, 7 April 2009
I read your book on the Falconio case (and the other three) and have been moved to contact you by the developments in the Darwin case in the UK. To me, it challenges the mindset of so many people concerning the idea that Falconio and Lees may have faked his disappearance. I know from your Crikey piece following her interview by Denton that you still harbour doubts yourself.
A web seach turns up a couple of articles that suggest there was an insurance payout but the amount has never been revealed. I also noticed that Lees applied for victim compensation and apparently received it.
I also note that Murdoch continues to maintain his innocence and is grabbing whatever opportunity he can to get his case before an appeal.
Personally I think Murdoch is innocent (or, at least, not guilty of murdering Falconio) and I certainly think Lees account is bullshit.
Thank you for a great read
Mon, 6 April 2009
A friend suggest I read Blind Justice. How I feel for Jenny and her family. You told her story well. Thank you for a great read.
Being an ardent reader of true crime I have read several books on the Falconio case. I am yet to be convinced that Murdoch is guilty. Once again I find that shoddy police work has probably led to a miscarriage of justice. Common sense would tell most people that running through the bush in the dark in a pair of shorts, tshirt & sandals , would leave a person covered in cuts, grazes & may even rip the clothes. So I dont know how
Lees expects anyone to seriously believe her account of escape. Also I believe Murdoch is a big man & dont think she could fight him off that easily. I guess we will never know the truth. I enjoy all your books, keep them coming.
Brave Woman
Mon, 6 April 2009
Dear Robin, congratulations are due to you with the current evidence regarding the Keough case. I was impressed by your book, which I purchase as soon as it was published last year.
Excellent work and what a brave woman you are.
I doubt this comment will be published on your site, but I feel that Dead Centre was grossly unfair to Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio. You have resorted to rumour and speculation about Falconio still being alive but you have nothing to substantiate this. I also notice you obfuscate facts supporting Lee’s account, and the pictures you provide to backup your claim Lees could not have hidden in the surrounding scrub from Murdoch, the bush not being dense enough,are deceptive. In Joanne’s book she also provides a picture which shows the exact shrub she hid under looking large enough to conceal her. Futher she provides photos of her injuries which look very serious and nothing like the description you provide in your book. Further stating Joanne Lees has a personality disorder based on the observations of someone who has never met her but seen her on T.V. is just plain silly.
Hullo Claire, thank you for your comments on Dead Centre. Of course your email can be put on my website. This story has generated a lot of healthy debate.
In answer to your comments however (I’ve underlined sections you might like to search for in the book) please let me state the following:
I have never said or implied, in my book and the hundreds of interviews I have done about this case, that Peter Falconio is alive. I certainly think he is dead.I have often stated that for the police to draw a long bow about the means of his death (.22 pistol) and the way he died (shot in the head) are speculative and not able to be substantiated. There is no body, no weapon, no cause of death and no witness to this alleged shooting. Therefore the police version is speculative.
During my investigations over two years of writing Dead Centre and since, I have found few ‘facts’ that support Joanne Lees’s story. This search for the truth was made more difficult as she changed aspects of the story quite often- giving seven different descriptions of the gunman’s dog, for example, none of which looked like Murdoch’s dog. The most amazing change was that she had always said, in statements and under oath at the committal, that she was put into the passenger seat of the gunman’s car and then while he was otherwise occupied, she wriggled through the space between the seats, dropped down from the tailgate and ran off into the bush. She said she could ‘hear the man behind her’. However upon being told the police had personally investigated over 4000 4WD white vehicles around Australia and found NOT ONE with a crawl-through space, her story to the jury went:’It’s a possibility that the man lifted the flap where he got the bag out [on the rear tray of the vehicle] and I was put in there.’ This evidence did away with the need for a crawl-through between the seats, which the jury never heard.
Re the bush density. I have been to that exact spot. It is scrubby mulga, spinifex grass and fallen branches from the mulga. There is no undergrowth except the spinifex grass.There is also a strong cattle-proof fence running 50m in from and parallel to, the highway. If Joanne could indeed ‘hear the man behind her’, as soon as she crouched under her bush he also would have heard immediately that she had stopped running and would be able to pinpoint her position in minutes. If by some chance an experienced bushman failed to do that, he could have just kept walking towards the sound and if he passed her (as she said he did) he would have encountered the fence in about ten strides, turned back, quartered the area he last heard her and found her within 10 minutes. As my ‘gunman’ did when we re-aenacted her exact description of the events (same time, place and time 2 years later) she said occurred on that night.
As to her injuries: The highway is paved with very sharp blue metal, not bitumen. Joanne had gravel scratches on her knees and elbows. No other injuries. I have the police photos taken at Barrow Creek. Dr Matthew Wright, who examined her at Alice Springs hospital the next day gave evidence from the notes he took on that examination that ‘a couple of small lacerations were dressed’. She made no mention of being hit in the temple and he did not observe any injuries other than the elbow and knee lacerations. As Murdoch told me, ‘If I’d punched her in the head I would have broken her jaw’. I believed him.
Various statements were made to me about Joanne’s state of mind at the time,including from profilers employed by the NT police, various police officers who’d spent time with Joanne, her former boss in Sydney, to name a few. The only ones I quoted were given by a police detective trained in psychology who spent dozens of hours with Joanne, probing the inaccuracies in her story; the hypnotist who is a qualified psychologist who conducted two sessions with Joanne on behalf of the NT police and when I told her I had a copy of her report to the police on those sessions agreed to let me quote her; and the opinion of a senior member of the NSW university psychology teaching staff, who was asked by the NT police to provide an opinion on Joanne’s demeanour during the famous interview she did with Martin Bashir on British TV. The police were willing to seek this opinion and I subsequently interviewed this woman, who expanded on her views to me. It is common practice for highly qualified people who know about human behaviour to view police interviews etc. to give an opinion. I also found a psychologist/grief counsellor who interviewed Paul Falconio and Joanne after they returned from Alice Springs to Sydney. His professional opinion agreed with the other three I quoted in my book, but I did not include it.
I have made no observations of my own about any disorders Joanne may or may not have. I saw her recently on the tenth anniversary of Peter’s disappearance, being chased by TV cameras in the UK. She looked pretty sad to me. I’m sure the incident at Barrow Creek, whatever happened, has ruined her life. I hope that’s not a silly comment!.
All the best,
Robin