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Welcome back to our little Lady. In this episode, we're going to take you back to some of the information we shared in the first series of the podcast. You might remember that we raised allegations of grooming behavior amongst some high ranking officials in Saint Helen's. We've never been able to name these people, as they are allegations. Only we heard of the police officer Paul Reynolds, who we now know was a pedophile. In this episode, you'll hear
from a woman that knew him closely. She would see him at the police academy when he would turn up to meet and, in her words, ogul new recruits. We will also hear allegations of another officer who, as we've stated before, offered to let people off traffic infringements if they performed sexual favors. This first person we're going to speak to wants to be known as Larry. He has his own reasons for trying to bring pedophiles to justice and how that might affect the Eden Westbrook case.
So I'm a victim survivor myself. I didn't come to grips with that until I was in my sixties, and I can't have done a really good job of that. But what it has done is spurred on my advocacy around the need for prevention of Chile sexual abuse in communities. I dealt support of the Mission inquiry and I chose
to become the Loud Offense Tasmania coordinator. So for those that are unaware, Loud Offences that international grassroots movement that seeks to raise awareness of child sexual abuse by establishing ribbon fences. So we hope to encourage people to break the cad of silence that currently prevails and reduce the stigma that people that often feel and hopefully courage those people in position of authority to work better at preventing child sexual abuse.
Now, Larry, I'm taking it you live in Tasmania. Now that's correct. Are you familiar with the Saint Helen's area.
Yes. In previous work I had a lot of dealing in fact, all across tasmaning.
Why now, why are you interested in what's been happening down in Tasmania. Has anyone reached out to you?
Yes?
And this was unexpected. When tying ribbons, I become a lightning rod for disclosures and often people would tell me about things that have happened to them, and others would also talk about things that were troubling to them in
their communities. And in this particular case, our previous resident of the community leader from Saint Helen's told me that she'd been approached by young women in Saint Helen's asking her to intervene on their behalf just try and stop an officer un known colloquially into helens As from sexually assaulting them.
We've heard this in the podcast previously, where there are allegations that a police officer who lives and has worked in Saint Helen's had been asking for sexual favors in return for turning a blind eye to what might be police issues.
Yes, well, I was told traffic infringements was the classic thing. So these young women would be pulled over for I suppose a infringement and they would be told that that wouldn't happen if they provide sexual favors to officer.
And how many people have you spoken to in St. Helens that have talked about this allegation as.
Of last week? The helly is now four.
We've beat out the officer's name that these allegations have been made against. It's not new information to us, because we've heard it before from a woman who was asked by this officer for the same thing.
In twenty fifteen. I was seventeen. The police officer and the crop car was right to pride me. So I took my headphone bush and then it was and then he asked me if I wanted to write home. He then requested that I had to pay him do a sexual favor or a cliche rush.
This woman is not one of the four women that Larry says that he was told about. The officer no longer works in Saint Helen's. We're aware of where they are, but we've decided not to publish that for now, as these are simply alligat pats. The officer has moved out of the town and there was a reason for that, But Larry says it wasn't what you think.
The reason I was told for that was that the community we're planning some kind of retaliation vigilanty action against death threats. When I first heard of this matter, I contacted the police Professional Standards Command and provided the name of my informant, who said that you would be happy to talk about this officer and talk about the instance where these young women were coming to her for support.
Then in December of twenty three, I included this officer as a person of concern, along with many other allegations that had been disclosed to me in my loud of fan's capacity, not necessary about the East Coast, but more
to do with greater long system. And then because how many a police did not acknowledge or receipt, I tested them and finally got to give them an actual police statement in June of twenty four and the officer I spoke to there said that she would take up the matter of this officer and talk with my informant, which didn't happen. And I suppose what spurred me on is in the back of my mind, I've always had lingering concerns about an officer characterized as a violent sexual predator
who may in fact remain within the police force. So when I have sent it to a lamby Maker statement in Federal Parliament about her concerns about the Eden Westbrook manor, it spurred me on to do more of my own research and was able to identify an officer who would very clearly fit the description as given to me. And I noticed on his personal Facebook the number of disturbing photographs, including a picture of a hanged girl.
After our call with Larry, he sent me various pictures of this officer and his social media posts. On that same personal Facebook page. Recently, there are pictures of this officer with young girls at a school. The photos have since been removed, but Larry was on the case and screenshotted them before they were taken down.
I've can see this happening, so I took screenshots and I'll be able to share them that the photo is said generic photo. But I suppose as a victim survivor, I find the quite triering to think that an officer would think it right to post something like that on their personal Facebook page.
So, having gone to the police to report what you'd heard as a first disclosure, and they didn't contact you at all, or they didn't contact this person that had come forward to you at.
All, they didn't. That's right, And whys the police are not consistently doing what I understood that they would do, which is they should officially receive these u uniquely identified such reports, and they're not. And I'm also aware now that having spoken with the Westbrooks, that they had similarly raised concerns about this officer with professional standards command and got no kind of satisfaction at all through that particular route.
As Larry said, he's a victim survivor and before he joined loud Fence as a coordinator in Tasmania, he was a business manager at the Lonceesston General Hospital. This was in the years preceding the appointment of James Griffin, the nurse who killed himself after being found to be a child sex abuser. Larry made his own submission to the Royal Commission.
At my own instigation, was some cultural context to the wrongdoings that I saw happening at the hospital. I felt created the culture that permitted Jim Griffin to be a pedophile clearly observed for a period of something like eating years.
For those that don't know the story of James Griffin, who was regularly referred to as Jim, the allegations against Griffin date back to nineteen eighty when he was in his thirties. He would take thirty years for him to be arrested. In that time, he gained access to children, primarily through his role as a nurse on the pediatric ward of the Lonsessant General Hospital and as a massage
therapist for junior sporting teams. Police had numerous chances to stop Griffin, including in two thousand when a man bought a laptop from Griffin and told police it contained possible child abuse material. His email was ignored. Griffin worked as a registered nurse during his life, including on the Spirit of Tasmania, the Ashley Detention Center and the Pediatric Center
in Lonceston General Hospital. As a result of him working with children, he was required to acquire a Working with Vulnerable Person's accreditation, which he did so in June of twenty sixteen. After he was found out, Much like Paul Reynolds, police started to close in. They seized computers and more people came forward. Griffin was arrested but out on bail. While on bail, Gryffin contacted his son asking for help. His son said he went to his dad's house. They
chatted and the son left. A short time later, the sun texted his dad to see if he was okay. There was no response. The son went back to the dad's house the next day and found his dad in the chair in the lounge room with discharge coming from his mouth. He was taken to hospital and died from
a prescription medication overdose. The government held a Royal Commission into Tasmanian government's responses to institutional child sexual abuse and hand it down as fire and recommendations in twenty twenty one, but it was too late. Griffin had already killed himself and wasn't held accountable for what he did. The commission was largely brought about by media attention and in particular the Australian podcast Called a Nurse, which was released in
twenty twenty. But the particulars around that case and what we've heard about Paul Reynolds, the man who was attached to this case, about Eden Westbrook, sounds like they're from the same school. And that's what shocked Larry most. How does this make you feel, knowing that you've uncovered an officer of the law who's allegedly doing these sorts of things.
I am extremely alarmed. I am distressed because I think anybody who suffered cholds actould abuse and would understand the harms that these young people have experienced. And also with the knowledge and understand that he remains unchecked and he remains serving police officer doubly so because the Tasmanian Police Facebook page has multiple photos of him this officer clearly
engaging with primary school age children and disabled women. So this is the classic modus operandi of a pedophile, and with multiple allegations from a range of what I believe credible sources identifying him as a violent sexual predator, I think that all parents should be extremely alarmed.
Welcome back to this episode of Our Little Lady as we look into new allegations about a pedophile who was grooming up the five women in Saint Helen's. Christine was married to a police officer in Tasmania for seventeen years. They're no longer together, but Christine herself worked inside the police department as a civilian.
So I first got into government at the age of fifteen after I sat the Tesmay State Service Exam. Then I started working for TGIO, which is no longer there.
And then from there I.
Worked for the Education Department, and then I moved to Brisbane worked for emergency services. There after I met my now ex husband. We had a child and he's Maori, so we decided to go to New Zealand. Three year I worked for police in New Zealand for a year and he worked for the prison.
And then I didn't.
Really like New Zealand as much as I thought I would have, and my family's actually based here in Tasmania. So I applied for a job as an executive officer within Department of Police for emergency Management and I got that position, and I was in that position I would have been four and a half years. And then I got promoted to a position at the Tasmania Police Academy and I was in that position and kill a complaint was made against me, which I was striking through an industrial commission.
Because the report was totally biased.
Christine no longer works to the government, and we'll get to that story at the end of this podcast, but it does go to show something that Jackie Lamby mentioned previously in the podcast a few episodes ago.
Oh my god, if you want to cover it up, she's in the institution, she'll get covered up. And that's what it is. It's just a bloody cover up up there. Disgusting anything that's institutional, whether it's a universities, whether it's defense, whether it's politics. The first thing that they're taught, especially the hierarchies, cover the institutions asked.
At all costs.
At all costs, doesn't matter whether you're taking people's lives, you will cover the institutions asked at all costs.
But right now I wanted to know from Christine about the reports of pedophile behavior in the police force in Tasmania. When we spoke first, you mentioned that you're aware of pedophile behavior within the Tasmanian Police Force. We've heard about detective Senior Sergeant Paul Reynolds.
Yeah, so I was interviewed over that as well, because Senior Sergeant Reynolds or I knew him as both would come to the academy and stay overnight. And it was quite interesting because the question I was asked was did I ever see him over or look at recruits? You know, uncomfortably for everything. Your officers do that with every recruit, you know, like I saw senior officers doing that, so
it didn't matter. Some of the recruits co in the seventeen and as long as they're raising when they graduate, doesn't been with the male or female I have seen it. I've known of that will actually just show up for recruitment days and twos, you know, because they're young and good looking or whatever. So am I aware that there are pedophiles in Tasmania police one percent one And it's not that I've seen them openly in talking about it. But that's only from the reports that I've read. Weak
and play have been made against police officers. Some for my understanding, have been found to be correct and they're still in the job. But as for Sergeant Reynolds, there was always rumors going around. But I really liked I know that, but I really liked him. He was very rambunctious, he was very endearing. It was easy to talk to. He was great fun. But that's how they do what they do against That's just how they do what they do.
When you heard the news about Paul Reynolds and it broke, did it surprise you?
No.
What surprised me the most was that the department was able to cover it up and keept it quiet for so long because they had known since two thousand and eight. Was the first complaint that came in. I don't know how many have come in since two thousand and eight, but obviously enough for him to have been caught, for the department to have known that and for it to be reported to one now senior officer who knew back then to even support and I will use that word
support a state police funeral. I was just disgusted over that, because you've got your police officers, and there's some fantastic police officers out there, especially the ones that are on the street that are doing hard every day. There's lots of fantastic police officers, so I want to emphasize that. But for them to stand there and salute somebody that the upper echer on knew was a pedophile, it just blows my mind and astowns me.
We heard at the start of the podcast that Christine used to work at the police recruit headquarters. That was until her house was raided by police and she spent five years trying to battle to clear her name. It ended in a secret payout that she can't disclose, but it was substantial and in the seven figures. I wanted to know what led her.
So the findings were that I was guilty. They found me guilty of sexually harassing or grooming openly gay male young police recruit for the sexual satisfaction of my husband, which is so far from the truth, and which I was surprised with because when I was told there was
a complaints made. I actually believed it was from another recruit who turned out to be this young male's best friend, because she was using her fingers to get bread out of a bread wind and I asked to use tongs and she said, I don't know how to use tongs. And I said, how could you not know how to use tongs or give your clowns guns, which I did say, and that really upset her, because this young male recruit
told me that I'd upset his bessie. And I did have a discussion with this young male recruit previously to him when I was working at the academy. I've had five senior people when I first started at the academy being autistic and I was employed on the disability framework or was fully disclosed. I didn't realize and I still don't get it in a lot of ways. But they said that I've got social awkwardness, which I agree with,
and I lacked communication skills. But senior officers were showing up to where the kitchen door was in vehicles expecting me to put curtains of alcohol in the vehicles for senior officers, and I wouldn't do it. And that caused me a lot of problems, not that I saw them, but people were saying to me, you're not very well liked. And I couldn't understand why I wasn't liked because I was happy to put curtains of alcohol into these senior officers' cars for them to take back to their offices and
consume if it was put in writing. And it was never put in writing to me, ever.
Can I just ask, so, the reason that you were in charge of the bar at the academy.
Is that right?
Yes, I was the licenseee. I was also in charge of purchasing the alcohol and therefore balancing that against sales.
Now I'm guessing, and I don't know the rule, but it's illegal for a public officer to take goods out of something that has been purchased by the government the police.
In this case, well, it definitely is. I mean I thought it was corrupt behavior. That's the word that I use. I shouldn't be expected to purchase alcohol for it to then be given to police officers for them to go and consume in their own officers in the city for the most senior management. I should not have done that.
So you became a whistleblower around this particular instances of high ranking police officers taking alcohol for their own conser and also.
I had it in writing where the last seeing after I worked for he actually invited all staff for free drinks at the Academy bar, and I asked him how I'm supposed to balance it. I included the utility officer because there's always two people that did stock take, so there was two people with a count of cash. There was always a speechsheet when I was over or under from bar nights that the police officers would have. We always had the two people because I'm made sure of that,
so there wasn't any issues. And I asked him verbally first, how am I supposed to balance these bar nights that you're putting on for free?
How do I balance it?
And he said I can do this if I want to do it, like we actually can't, not within a delegated authority because I understood the Treasurer's guidelines. So then I emailed him because he didn't give me a response. He then flew into my office and said, don't you ever put that in writing to me again? I said, all I'm asking for is every third Friday you've been buying start.
For free drinks.
I'm asking you how do I balance it? Then he really lost it at me and he said, I'm the most popular. Everybody loves me. I don't know what your problem is. And then I said, looking dick doesn't make yours any bigger. That was wrong of me to say,
but he's already pushed every button of mine. And so I then wrote to Reckon, the second most senior person in the department, with an email with a copy to the utility officer, because he was the one with me doing the stock take, asking how do I balance this? These is continually giving away free alcohol? How am I supposed to balance it? And ten days later I was stood down on a complaint and I haven't been back
to work since, and that was in twenty nineteen. It took a long time because initially I wasn't going to settle and I needed to go down and be rabbit hole as in I lodged complaints where I was told that they lodged on the police systems to only find
out through rite to information. After being rejected several times through write to information on appeal, on appeal, on appeal, I was then told that on another scene that none of my complaints have ever been registered and that's what they've never been addressed.
I did go to the.
Premiers with it and the Minister's office. I've got emails he where I've written to them. I rang the Minister's office to talk to them about I finally got the redacted information I needed on briefing notes about me to the minister when initially the Department said they never had written anything about me. That was a lie because one of the corporate ghosts, can I say, actually told me that there were briefing notes, Yet the Department put in
writing there weren't. I knew that there was, because I believe this person will lie. Turned out there work wanted to meet with the minister, the Minister would meet with me. So I have never been able to get an audience face to face with the Minister about my concerns.
My complaints have.
Never ever been lodged. The Integrity Commission told me that since the complaints related back to twenty nineteen and twenty twenty, especially with the Serious and Organized Crime Unit raiding me on a fourth warrant, that it was historical and the public wouldn't be interested in the senior police officers drinking or the alcohol for nothing and wouldn't be interested in this same senior officer a sanctioning a raid on my house, which obviously caused my marriage to break down.
Can I ask the settlement what was that in regards to So that was.
In relating to discrimination. I was discriminated against where I really inquished my job after I was raided, so I just wanted to get on with work. Actually, but during the Tasman Industrial Commission, the senior representatives of the Police Department, of the Department of Police for Emergency Management stated, I don't look any different. So if I was to go back, the need to be signage so that people knew that I was autistic. Stonage was on my or to warn
people that I was autistic. It's said person athoritism present. But I wasn't allowed to use the same toilet, didn't have access the same access as everybody else that went through an equal opportunity Tasmania where they were found guilty of it. So the payout that I got was in relation to the discrimination that I suffered, the negligence of the raid on my home. And also you'll never get
an apology from Tasmania Police ever ever, ever. But the amount of money that I got was a reflection on how the government, I would say, has treated me throughout five and a half years. So it was substantial. But there there is confidentiality because on that. But I wouldn't have got any more money than what I did. There's no way I would have got it. But I wouldn't have taken it if they said that I had to sign a disparaging clause and I definitely wouldn't have taken it if I didn't have.
A voice talk to me about what a disparaging clause is.
So that's where I wouldn't be able to talk to you, causes where I've said, you know how they tread me, how that closed rank. Once you caught in the crosshairs, you're done, You're actually done. I did have a senior officer supporting me, and he ever received threatening letters from higher up from the apparentilon, so much so that he relinquished his position that he held and transferred out and went sideway. So they do have a lot of power
and none of them will come forward. I actually had a very senior officer approached me saying what was done to me and what was being done to me he didn't agree with, and not to hold him accountable, and I just said him, you're complicit. You're standing by and allowing this to happen to me. You know what they're doing. And then I was told I just should have played the game, and I said, well, I don't know what
the game is. And again I would have been happy to let them have the alcohol and do what they wanted if they would just put it in writing and I could balance the books. End of that, what happened, there was no way. They will never back down. They were never back damn. And that's got the full support of the current government as well.
Christine. Can I ask one final question? How has all this affected you?
Oh, that's a hard one.
Get a bit emotional. I've lost my reputation, I've lost my career, i lost my husband, I've lost my mental health. I've lost my son who's auto sick becaus. When they raided the house, I didn't actually take my computer. They took my sons, which I've never been on, never been on, which really impacted him because the words were said similar to I could go to jail for two years. Of course, threats were made that night. My son had an attachment disorder,
So I've got cameras up everywhere. Do I live in fear, No, No, But I'm very cynical of the government, I think because Mane it definitely is a silent state. When the most senior legal person said they were going to take my house and they were going to break me because of the amount of money that I had to pay for lawyers to fight them, and I've still.
Got another matter pending, he wasn't wrong. He hasn't yet.
The department haven't yet taken my house, but yet they have broken me.