Australia, Sept. 6 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 5:

1. In 1987 Michael Murdoch and four co-offenders were tried and convicted of the abduction, sexual assault and murder of Anita Cobby. They are each serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole. Mr Murdoch continues to maintain that he has been wrongfully convicted on evidence manufactured by detectives and wishes to challenge both his conviction and the sentence imposed.

2. In 2024, Mr Murdoch applied to the Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (the Commissioner) under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act) for access to the following information:

"1. Copies of the two records of interview of Michael Murdoch conducted on Friday 21 February 1986 and Monday 24 February 1986.

2. Copy of the audio recording, (cassette m.f.i 9 or Exhibit 000 in the trial) and its transcript, that contains the conversation between Miss X and Mr Murdoch only.

3. Copies of police statements and notebooks regarding the investigation of Mr Michael Murdoch, of the following police officers:

Detectives Kennedy and Rosetta, Sgts/Constables Hamilton, Rynne and Dundas.

5. Copy of the "Chronology of events", as submitted to the Court.

6. Copies of all witness statements."

3. The Commissioner told Mr Murdoch that the following information was held in electronic - PDF format at the Blacktown Police Area Command:

"Tab 1: GIPA instruction sheet 14 February 2023 (3 pages)

Tab 2: Charge sheets - Gary Steven Murphy, Michael Patrick Murphy, Leslie Murphy, John Raymond Travers and Michael Murdoch. Date: 23 June 1986 (5 pages).

Tab 3: Transcript of recorded interview between Detective Sergeant Kennedy and Michael James Murdoch taken at the Blacktown Police station on Friday 21 February 1986 (6 pages).

Tab 4: Statement of Detective Sergeant Graham Rosetta dated 28 February 1986 (12 pages).

Tab 5: Transcript of recorded conversation between Michael Murdoch, Det Sgt Kennedy and Det Sen/Const Hamilton dated 24 February 1986 (2 pages).

Tab 6: Transcript of record of interview between Detective Sergeant Kennedy and Michael James Murdoch taken at the Blacktown Police Station on Monday 24 February 1986 (11 pages).

Tab 7: Statement of Detective Sergeant Kennedy dated 29 May 1986 (15 pages)."

4. The Commissioner gave this list to Mr Murdoch, but not the documents themselves. The Commissioner gave the documents to the Tribunal on a confidential basis.

5. The information in tabs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 is also held by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (office of the DPP). That information is in the brief of evidence that was served on Mr Murdoch at the time he was prosecuted in 1987. Mr Murdoch had that information but says he gave the physical documents to a lawyer sometime between 2006 and 2009. His attempts to locate that person and retrieve the documents have been unsuccessful. That is why he has applied for the information under the GIPA Act.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19873b17ea86d9b2d275f345)

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