APPOJA production.
Okay, this is one of those stories that it's important to talk about, but we know he's going to be really challenging for many of you to listen to, So just a warning. We're talking about suicide over the next ten minutes. It's the story of Eden Westbrook, fifteen years old, who took her own life according to investigations that were conducted by police and the coroner.
That's Leon Compton. He hosts the morning show across Tasmania on ABC Radio and last week he had Tasmanian Senator Jackie Lamby on his show talking about Eden Westbrook.
Goat thoughts with Eden's family who might be listening in this morning, Why do you want the death of Eden Westbrook investigated again?
You know, I'm just not sure about the investigation.
It's very worrying.
I want to say. You know, the family has asked to have the autopsy photos released. We want to have that released. There are questions that have been unanswered. I want to know why. You know, there was no phone records ever chased up, while there was no social media looked at. There are just unexplained questions and apparently you know, there are now new witness statements running around out there for people that have listened to that podcast, and quite frankly,
I believe there is enough. There is enough new facts or evidence affecting the findings that have come to light to open up a new investigation and have this relooked at. In saying that it will need to be independently done, and it will need to be done. It will need to be someone from the mainland that is doing this, because someone needs to have fresh eyes on this. If this was one of my kids, and I'm just sitting here going some of these questions haven't been answered.
Why.
It's just it's just not clean cut to me. It's not clean cut to me, and I'm just not satisfied, like the family is it that this is this was a straight source side. I just please mate, We're just asking for it to be reopened. I will apologize profuse if I'm wrong about this in the future, but quite frankly, I'm not going to sleep until I see this reopened and looked at fully.
My name is Daniel Collis and I have worked in crime for more than five years and I've covered a range of stories from corporate scandals to your most notorious crime cases. Like mister Kraule, and then I've also covered some recent crime stories like Greg Lynn, Samantha Murphy, and Aaron Patterson.
You may have seen the Channel nine program that looked into Eden's death. We've put a link in the show notes if you haven't seen it yet. Daniel is an investigative reporter that played a significant role in helping investigate this case independently of this podcast. For that program. I wanted to know why Eden's case caught their attention.
I was initially sent Eden Westbrook's case from a colleague, and that's usually how I come across different stories is through contacts relationships that I've built all through family, word of mouth. And I remember reading this story on Eden Westbrook and straightaway that innate curiosity popped up and it was like, this doesn't make sense. You know, a young fifteen year old, beautiful, highly intelligent, loving.
And you could just see the expression on Eden's face. She was such a happy young woman, and.
I just thought, it doesn't make sense, you know, why would she take her life? And in such a public location. I needed to know more because there wasn't enough context for me. I didn't know where she had been, what was going on in her life. I wanted to look at the six months prior. I wanted to know whether or not she had any mental health issues. I wanted to know what was going on in her life, who she had spoken to, where she was that night, and the article I.
Had been sent didn't give me enough information.
So I contacted her family and I set up I think initially it was a two hour zoom call that could have been longer. And you know, I speak to the family weekly, and during the investigation, I would speak to them sometimes two three times a week. And it's my job as an investigative journalist to really know everything about Eden Westbrook and her life and what was going on with her that night.
It's a funny one because in many ways you kind of feel quite invasive.
But this was something that the family had allowed for me to do so, and they had.
Openly shared so much information.
About Eden and that night with me in order to help me get to the bottom of what was going on.
Tell me, what are some of those things that you first noticed that you thought had been missed in your experience as a journal that investigates these sorts of things.
So when I first looked at Eden's case, I was baffled by how she even came to be like this. She's, you know, one hundred and fifty six centimeters forty five kilos.
Now I know that I am ten cent taller.
Than her, and I weigh a little bit more than her, and that would be such a challenge and feat And she was also carrying with her quite a heavy tool to conduct this, so that to me was also a standout. Where did this come from, how did she even get there? What route did she take? Who did she speak to that night? These are the questions that were coming into my mind that I wanted to find out.
And as time went on.
We realized that there were a few things that had missed, like key people hadn't been spoken to, and that's really important in a police investigation because those twenty four hours prior to their heath are important in understanding how that person came to die. So if they haven't spoken to a critical key witness, then why not and what did that witness see? So we now know, and we'll get into this soon that apparently the police did speak to a key witness, but the family have never had the
opportunity to view that statement. So there's still question marks around what happened that night. So there's just a few things that caught my attention. As we went on, we discovered quite a bit more about Eden's case.
What for you, what were some of the more challenging things about investigating a.
Case like this.
I think with every case it varies. Sometimes it might be time, sometimes it might be memory.
So for instance, with mister Kruel, one of the hardest things with that case is you're dealing with memories from thirty or forty years ago, and memories aren't always that factual with time because they do fade, so it's hard to rely on witness accounts or victim accounts in this situation. The hardest thing in the court was the cooperation with Tasmania Police and the Tasmania's Coroner's Court, because like any case, you have to help the.
Family to retrieve the files.
And I was actually really surprised when I spoke to Amanda Westbrook that she hadn't had any copies of the files.
She hadn't received anything.
She had seen them, but she hadn't received any and I thought that was really unusual because a lot of the families I had worked with previously have the opportunity to have copies of the files. So I said to Amanda, you know it is your right, you can apply for copies, and she didn't even know that was a thing. And this is a bigger broader issue here that you see across a lot of cases with families.
They don't understand what their rights may be. So that was the next step.
It took us nearly a year to get the files, and eventually when we did get the files, again, I can't go into too much surrounding what was in the files, but we were a little bit disappointed in what we received. And we now know that the autopsy photographs were not there, and the family are fighting.
To get copies of those photographs.
So that was one of the biggest challenges because without having access to all those files, how are we meant to conduct a thorough investigation.
Why won't they release those autopsy photos to the family. Why won't they And that is the crucial question. What are you scared of if you can't release those photos?
Is that unusual for in your experience, things like autopsy photos not to be included in a file that allegedly has all of the information that was given to the coroner.
That's another really great question, and it really depends on the state, and it depends on the case. You know, is it open, is it closed, where's it at? Is it going through a coronial inquest? In this situation, it is quite unusual the family do have the right to have access to these files or to even view them. This is where doubt creeps in, and this is why
there are so many unanswered questions. If the family had access, or if the family had the opportunity to have an inquest where the evidence can be presented and witnesses can be called examined and cross examined, then perhaps they wouldn't have all these unanswered questions and maybe they would have some closure. So, yes, I think it is quite unusual in this situation.
So the autopsy photos we know from Jason and Amanda weren't included in the file that was delivered. Were there questions to the authorities around where those photos might be and did they give a response?
Yes, there were certainly questions regarding the location of those autopsy photographs. We were met with a lot of hesitation, let's put it that way. They were very hesitant to cooperate and I was surprised by this. We had consulted doctor Byron Collins, who is a renowned forensic pathologist, to
conduct an examination of Eden's autopsy. He could not do that without the autopsy photographs, which is extremely disappointing and upsetting for this family when doctor Collins was really their last hope because at the moment we don't have these photographs.
We only have a report to go off.
But if we had the photographs, perhaps he can review the original autopsy.
You would have seen Jackie Lambee last weekend put a large ad in the Sunday Tasmanian, which is the local newspaper on Sunday. That ad basically asks two questions. The first is why count the family have a copy of the autopsy photos for their expert and in this case we're talking about doctor Byron Collins, who's been on the
podcast previously. And the second question they have is do you think that Paul Reynolds, who was the pedofil cop who it has now been proven that was quite lax in his work over a number of years, whether he delivered all of the information that he needed to to the coroner. On those two grounds, you would think there are still more questions to be answered, leaving everything else aside.
Oh, certainly, and I completely agree. The situation is the family aren't even saying that they want.
To see the autopsy photographs.
They are asking for an independent forensic pathologist who is highly qualified to view them on their behalf to make his assessment.
So I don't understand the reasoning.
Behind why they have not released the autopsy photographs because it has nothing to do with the psychological impact this could have on the family, because the family aren't.
Requesting them for themselves.
The second point she raised about Reynolds, when I first found out about Paul Reynolds, that does call into question because he was the officer at the coroner's court overseeing Eden Westbrook's case.
It calls into.
Question his integrity as a police officer and any of the cases that he has worked on should be reviewed.
What is going on because it it does not make sense. There is too many questions that are unanswered, and quite frankly, I think puts Tasmania in a great spot to have the courage to say, you know what, maybe there is a problem here and to really have a look at this.
When I hear stories like this, I just sit there and go.
It doesn't surprise me because Australia's coronial system is so broken.
There's been mistakes may belong along the way, so be here, but let's correct them now. I mean this Eden was twenty would have been twenty five years today, you know. I just we need to know. But leaving this, we're all sitting here wondering if there was any doubts whatsoever, and whether you're child committed suicide or not. You'd want to know the truth and we need to know the truth. Thank you so much.
While all this is going on in Tasmania, Jason and Amanda reached out via a signal to me to talk about some hopeful news in their search for answers.
Well, Jackie's been dynamic as per usual. She's put in another RTI, which that means three.
Amanda is a mum. How does it feel to sit with someone like Jackie so who's also he mum? And she was really vocal about talking. If this was her child, she would not stop and she's not going to stop until she gets the answers she needs about Eden. How does that make you feel?
I am not quietly confident anymore.
I'm super confident.
Jackie is very, very fierce. She walks the walk and talks to talk. She believes in what she stands for. She believes in a decent society. Her morals are very much aligned with mine, just about across the board. Yeah, Jackie, I'm just super proud, super proud to be sitting.
Sid Jason and Amanda. You had to go to Hobart last week and you were going for a meeting that you've been waiting for for a long time. Tell me who you met with.
God by it Mate in his office standing home, and his assistant, senior assistant Amber.
So for those that are listening at home, Guy Barnett is the current Attorney General of Tasmania.
A Guy gave Amanda a hug and he shook my hand, and Amber gave us both a hug and immediately said that they're deeply sorry for what's happened to our family and to our daughter, and they wanted us. They reassured us that they are here to listen and to go through it with us today and to see where what they can do to help. And I again, Jay felt he was sincere. I felt Amber was very I sat beside Amber and Guy sat at the head of the table. Amanda sat opposite me.
The rest of the seats were empty, obviously, and.
At different times Amanda was with Guy having a conversation and I was talking to Amber and I don't want to get too personal, Jay, but you could see there was an emotion in Guy that was sad, and Amber she was quite upset when she was talking to me about certain parts of what we've experienced as a family, especially when Eden was left.
Why she was that attected her.
There was a lot of respect in the room, thinking I as soon as Guy embraced me, I'm afraid.
I was useless from that point. I was in tears and sobbing somewhat throughout it, and gathered myself for a short time. But Jason really delivered. We went in with some speaking points, and we went in with not only the problem, but a solution, a strategy that we emailed to Ambers straight away so she could peruse through that as we were having our meeting, and Jason just went through our speaking points of.
The last nine years.
We got halfway through, and as I said, there was a lot of respect in the room.
There was empathy there.
There was probably a little shock about what we were presenting, I almost felt like, yeah, this was definitely the first in some cases of what they'd heard and seen.
I felt like.
Guy was prepared to talk about not being able to help us get the inquest opened the same path as we traveled with they did with Jari, And when we first started speaking, we thanked them for their time and then we said, we also understand that you can't help
us with that. So I was just so upset when some people's names were mentioned throughout the speaking points, and everything for me has been right on the surface in terms of I'm feeling a little upset, as I said last time I spoke to you, and yeah, the lead up to Edie's birthday, the birthday and the after her birthday has been a different experience this time around for me, I've got to say. And I feel like it's almost that the support is so strong and the people are
truly genuine and it's not just their words. When I'm talking about people like Jackie Lamby and the Torpedo and the Golden Thread, they've proven that they're in this for
truth and justice and sincerely truth and justice. And as I said, Jackie's been in the picture for since twenty seventeen under the radar, not getting any publicity throughout that time from me, and now she's put it out there in full swim that she's one hundred percent behind this and has no intention in the backing down until we get solid answers and some.
Real results.
Just for clarity that mister Barnett, Guy Barnett, as the Attorney General can't do what he did or what was done by the Attorney General a lase archer at the time in the Weiss's case. He can't instruct the coroner to investigate Eden's death because the case is closed and the legislation doesn't allow for that to happen. As the attorney General.
Well, that's what we know is fact. So we didn't want to go down that path with him to get a know and waste the time that we may have had with a meeting to share some of the content of our correspondence back and forth. And he was quite shocked at what was written to us some very high up people and really disappointed the.
Questions that we wanted to speak to Guy about. I just was fortunate enough to have him in front of me, Jay and I was able to go through each bullet point, and as I did, I was asking Guy and Amber if there's any questions they needed to me to clarify on those bullet points or go into detail. Unfortunately, with Guy Jay, he only had one hour and I, as you know, I can talk pretty quick, mate, and I only got halfway through what we needed to discuss in
that meeting. Guy explained and apologized he had to go to another meeting, and I could see on his rostered board he was in four meetings that day and he apologized. He said this, in no way this meeting is over. He said that whether it's another face to face sit down meeting with us, or whether this is a a correspondence, continual correspondence, we're going to get to the bottom of this, and we're going to be working with you guys to We need some correspondence from you guys, and we'll be
in touch. And as we walked out at his office, there was probably twelve people waiting.
For him to his wife and family. Yeah, and the wall to storm the way down and then you know, make sure.
That we were assured that this very much the beginning of what we're embarking on for with Guy.
So yeah, look he's asked for specific documentation. He asked us specific questions on a couple of subjects which.
He was concerned with. Yeah, I'm happy to talk to you Jay about this off air because I just don't.
Feel it's something I want to Yeah, and he would.
Like to see what we have, and I've actually.
We also reached out to Guy Barnett's office to see if he'd be willing to give an update on the podcast. It may be a little early for that, but we thought we'd try anyway. We're hoping to get a response next time on our Little LEADYE Don't Forget. You can sign the petition for an Independent Inquiry into Eden's death at change dot org. We've put the link in the show notes, and if you'd like, you can also join
us for a special live recording of the podcast. Numbers are really limited and we're almost full, so if you'd like to join the waiting list, that link is also in the show notes.