Leonard Warwick was arrested Wednesday (29/7/15) for what is known as the Family Court bombings or Family Court murders which resulted in four murders, 5 bombings and happened over 30 years ago.
There has always been a mile of circumstantial evidence to charge Mr Warwick and he was named as the prime suspect in 1986. But he has only just been charged which is disturbing.
Police said they recommenced their investigation into the murders in 2012 and said new technology such as fingerprints and DNA is one of the reasons they were able to make the arrest now. (Click here to read more) I personally do not buy it and think a more likely reason for the arrest now is a story on the Channel 7 Sunday Night program and a book published last year titled “The Family Court Murders” by investigative journalist Debi Marshall.
The Sunday Night program and Ms Marshall seem to have done a lot better job than the police. It was rumoured Leonard Warwick was getting inside information from serving police at the time which helped him keep one step ahead of the law.
In July 2013 the Sunday Night program televised an in-depth investigation into the family court murders and said this at the end:
“In 1986 Len Warwick was named in the NSW Coroner’s Court as the prime suspect for all of the Family Court murders and bombings, but the Coroner Kevin Waller was forced to make an open finding. There just wasn’t enough evidence to charge Warwick.”
“Now, that former Coroner believes it’s time to put the case before a jury – particularly in light of shocking new ‘coincidences’ unearthed during this Sunday Night investigation that link Len Warwick to the crime.” (Click here to read more or watch the show)
So the former Coroner Kevin Waller said in July 2013 that Leonard Warwick should be arrested and charged yet the police did nothing.
Debi Marshall published her book The Family Court Murders in September 2014. The short description of the book says:
“4 murders. 5 bombings. And no one charged. This is the definitive story of the Family Court Murders.”
“An initiative of the Whitlam Government, the so-called ‘helping court’ opened its doors in January 1976. But despite the high idealism of the court’s creators, they failed to factor in one universal truth: that in a marital tug of war, one side would always feel more embittered than the other.”
“Despite the brazen enormity of the shootings and bombings in Sydney from 1980 – attacks that hit at the very heart of the judicial system – and a prime suspect publicly named by the Coroner, the police investigation failed to culminate in an arrest and after three decades stalled to a benign ‘review’ status. Following a tip-off from a possible witness, the Channel 7 Sunday Night program determined to investigate this cold case. Award-winning true-crime writer and investigative journalist Debi Marshall was part of the team who worked this story.”
“Thirty-three years on, the horror of these crimes still haunts everyone involved. Witnesses are frightened to speak. Family members live in the dark shadows of grief and fear. Widows and children continue to live without closure. To break this uneasy silence, Marshall embarked on a terrifying journey into the dark heart of The Family Court Murders – and the prime suspect.”
“What she has uncovered will shock and outrage.” (Click here to read more)
The police still did nothing in September last year but they were starting to look more and more incompetent if not corrupt by their failing to arrest and charge Leonard Warwick. Finally yesterday we got some action.
It is worth noting that at the time of the Family Court murders in the 1980’s the NSW police were rotten to the core. So it is more than feasible that Leonard Warwick was getting some form of help from a corrupt police officer. One of the NSW police’s hero’s at the time, Roger Rogerson, is facing murder charges himself and is due for trial in August 2015 after his first trial was aborted 2 days ago. (Click here to read more) Rogerson is the sort of copper that would have helped Leonard Warwick for the right price.
Below is an original reward poster from 1984:
There is a long way to go in this story and hopefully the full truth comes out. I think there is little doubt that someone was helping Leonard Warwick to some degree at least.
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Categories: Family Court of Australia
Having been involved for decades in Family Court litigation assisting many I made clear in the past that I suspected that the killing of Justice Opas likely related to one of his cases. This also as I was well aware how at times persons would give me the understanding wanting to kill judges. the problem being that there really is no counselling dealing with aggrieved parents and causes many to not just be dissatisfied but harbouring at times hatred to the judge who made the orders, regardless if the judge acted appropriately on the basis of the evidence before the court.
I had many dealings with the NSW Police in the 1980s. It is an understatement to say they were corrupt to the core. Many favors were done for “mates” and, of course, for money. I have often wondered how some of these officers were able to afford million dollar homes and many of the finer things of life. It is no wonder they were not too keen to investigate fully many of the crimes committed during that period as no doubt too much was at stake and the full extent of police involvement would have been exposed. Having said that, one cannot praise enough the young officers that stood their ground, did not become complicit in illegal dealings and rose to become fine leaders within the force.
The Sunday Night program did a great job in it’s story on the family court murders last year. I watched that particular episode, and I have absolutely no doubt that Len Warwick committed the family court murders. In fact I classify Mr Warwick as a terrorist in what he did. I also believe that the NSW police must have helped Warwick in some way as well. And if the NSW police helped Warwick, then it would have been a couple of police officers involved, definitely not just one.