From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Christinamiot. It's Monday, June two, twenty twenty five. There are fears China could launch an invasion of Taiwan, triggering a global conflict. Cooperation on security and military exercises between Australia and the United States has been bumped up in anticipation of such
an event. The Coalition says it's open to striking a deal with the government on its proposed superannuation tax, but only if Treasurer Jim Chalmers drops Labour's tax on unrealized capital gains. That exclusive story is live right now at the Australian dot com dot au. The New South Wales police unit tasked with solving cold case murders won't share crucial documents and information with victims families and it's all because of a podcast by The Australian that exposed a murderer.
Today why police are gun shy about podcast investigations After the global success of The Teacher's pet In twenty twenty one, Kelly Slater Reagan spoke on the phone with Detective Inspector Nigel Warren, the boss of the New South Wales Police Unsolved Homicide Unit. Kelly is herself a former cop, but this wasn't a chinwag about her time in the force. Nope.
Kelly had questions about the status of the investigation into the murder of her second cousin, the notorious gangster Johnny Reagan, who was assassinated in a Merrickville backstreet in nineteen seventy four. The crime has gone unsolved for more than half a century and it is investigated in the Australian's newest podcast series,
The Gangster's Ghost. Kelly was on a quest to uncover evidence that might finally unmask the three or four shooters who pulled the trigger on that September day in nineteen seventy four, and the homicide file, held tightly by the cold case unit within the New South Wales Police Force, was a crucial piece of the puzzle.
And then he said, oh, that we probably wouldn't get a homicide file because it's seemed to still be an active case. And he said, like they're never suspended, they're just sitting there waiting for more information.
It was a blow for Kelly, who, like many members of his family, has been haunted by Johnny Reagan's criminal reputation. They want to know once and for all if it's deserved.
And I said, oh, so, when was the review done. And he said, well, we did an investigation into the death of two thousand and four, and then in twenty sixteen the matters are reviewed again and they plan on reviewing them every five to ten years. And I said, well, no, nobody from my family was contacted.
But here's the thing. If that thirty seven minute phone call had happened just a few years earlier, the outcome might have been very different.
And then he said, we're a bit gunshoy giving out information because there was a podcast where the next of kin did a podcast on Lynett Dawson.
The Australians podcast The Teacher's Pet revealed in twenty eighteen that Lynette Dawson, who's now known by her maiden name Lynette Simms, had been murdered by her husband, Chris Dawson, at their Bayview home in nineteen eighty two. It was a global smash hit, thrusting the mystery of what happened to the young mum into the spotlight. Chris Dawson was arrested and charged with Lynette's murder in December of twenty eighteen.
He was convicted by Justice Ian Harrison in twenty twenty two, following a long legal fight for a permanent stay of proceedings.
Christopher Michael Dawson on the charts that on are about eight January nineteen eighty two, at Dayview or elsewhere in the state of New South Wales.
You did murder Lynette Dawson.
I find you guilty or message family.
Dawson is currently serving a twenty four year sentence for the crime, but maintains his wife left their home on the Northern Beaches of her own accord. He's applied for special leave to appeal his conviction in the High Court, arguing he suffered a forensic disadvantage improving his innocence due to the almost four decade delay in bringing charges. The Unsolved Homicide Unit is also at the center of Headley
Thomas's latest investigative podcast for The Australian. It probes the nineteen ninety three disappearance of lennox Head mother Bronwyn Winfield, and family members like Bronwyn's brother Andy Reid, say they've been left out of the loop by police. iiO basically said for their hands.
A tried.
We can't do any more than what we've done and we don't have any new evidence.
They've got no intention of putting any more work into it.
The New South Wales Police told The Australian they conducted a review into Johnny Reagan's murder earlier this year and they say there's not enough new evidence to justify formally reopening the investigation. We've used AI to bring that police statement to life.
The case remains open under State Crime Commands Homicide Squad, Unsolved Homicide Team, where it continues to be actively monitored for any new information or evidence that could assist in advancing the investigation. Police remain committed to providing regular updates to the victims family, whilst also ensuring the integrity of the investigation is preserved and that no potential future investigative avenues are compromised.
Look, this is not a problem I have not encountered before being a police reporter of a certain vintage, I have grown up with what you could only call a perennial disconnect between journalists who are pursuing matters involving the police and the police themselves. And I understand that I understand its evolution.
Matthew Condon is a senior reporter with The Australian and the host of The Gangster's Ghost podcast.
However, in twenty twenty five, we're in a situation where the game has changed completely, certainly from a journalistic perspective, and with the advent specifically of podcasting, whereby a journalist now has a platform where they can indeed examine a case over many hours of audio. Behind those hours of audio are many, many hundreds of thousands of words of script, hundreds of interviews with people, a very very deep dive
into subjects. So you have the evolution of technology which is providing storytelling on a depth and breadth that has never been possible before. And you have, in my view, and it's not a criticism, but you have the police who have stood still as the technology has marched forward beyond them and out of sight of them, I believe.
So something's not working. It's no longer a feasible relationship because we are seeing stories of great depth and research that really require on behalf of the public require a response, and that gulf no longer applies or just appears to be either ignorant stubborn or imprudent. I think that there needs to be a sort of deatons and where in
the middle, whereby we can assist each other. I mean, the ambition is the same resolution for the public, for society at large, resolution for the families of victims, which is the most pertinent. And I think if we're all heading towards the same target, we could in fact help each other.
So is it loyalty or a lack of resources that's preventing police from moving these cold case investigations forward.
Their work schedule is utterly relentless, twenty four to seven, three sixty five days a year, and they should be really congratulated, if not revered, for the work they do on our behalf. So just let me make that very clear. But I'll give you a specific example with my research with the Gangster's Ghost. Kelly Slater, Reagan and I have been working on this for over four years. Four years is a long time to work on a single story, and in those four years you talk to an enormous
volume of people. The thing with the Reagan case is it might be fifty years, but there are still people alive with brilliant memories, with stories with anecdotes and with information as we've discovered that fills in the picture even after all these years. But that requires patients, it requires the time itself, and the police are permanently on a mouse wheel trying to resolve hundreds, if not thousands of issues.
But the podcast then allows us to establish the background, to lay out the research and then present the findings. I do understand the issue when you know, we ask for cooperation and information and they're just in this unending, forward moving frenzy of their own work. I've discovered with these cold cases of some vintage, and certainly with the Gangster's Ghost and the Reagan case, certainly with the Tea
each is pet and certainly with the Bronwin case. In all three you have a scenario whereby newer generations of police are unfortunately put in the position whereby they are having to deal with sometimes shocking ineptitude of prior investigators thirty, forty, fifty years ago. But you will not find a police officer who will today, who will disparage the work of their predecessors, because it's fellow members of a great tradition
in terms of the police and detective work. And I totally understand that, but often this has to do with not wishing to lift the rusted piece of corrugated iron because you're afraid to see what's underneath it. And most of the time they know what that is, and it is a failure of initial investigators, be it through a lack of technology, be it through a lack of knowledge, or just critical errors that were made back in the day.
That then becomes a factor in why one should not release certain informations, especially historical information, because it can emerge as a discredit to the grand tradition of the force itself.
Coming up inside Kelly Slater Reagan's search for the truth about her gangster cousin, Kelly Slater Reagan applied to join the New South Wales Police Force on a dare from a girlfriend. The ghost of her notorious gangster cousin followed her up the ranks, his name popping up in conversations with colleagues and in interviews with higher ups. At some point before she left the force, Kelly looked up Stuart John reagan extensive criminal history and found it on microfilm.
But years later, when she decided to delve deeper into her family's past, she was told that criminal history said to fill ten boxes was missing. After months of back and forth with the New South Wales Police Unsolved Homicide Unit, and perhaps when it became evident Kelly wasn't going away, an expert archivist located the records attached to another matter where Reagan was a person of interest.
I've read through it like there's some interesting stuff in there. A lot of stealing, load of traffic offenses, absolutely no charges for murder. There is charges in there for rape and a lot of drop charges which I find interesting.
Kelly's search for coronial documents from a nineteen seventy seven inquest into Johnny Reagan's murder was equally fraught. Statements made by more than one hundred witnesses before the introduction of digital archives, as well as ballistic reports and bank and real estate records, had also vanished. Here's how the New South Wales Coroner's Court explained it. We've used AI to bring this correspondence to life.
It appears the file was retrieved at some previous time in the past along with some other files, and then refiled with another slash other files instead of being returned to its correct location.
Though it's not immediately clear where the records were found. They also eventually landed in Kelly's inbox.
Thank God, like this is the mother lad. I'm grateful to those that helped us get there. Obviously they've gone through a hell of a lot of boxes.
Well, she's been astonishing. But the very first time I ever met Kelly in person, I just knew this woman was an investigator to be reckoned with. She is absolutely no nonsense. She does not take no for an answer. Kelly is a force of nature and I was in total admiration at how she was utterly relentless and how she managed to be told that documents have been completely lost and two years of still banging on the door
for portions of files to bob to the surface. Because of Kelly changed the shape of the investigation itself and gave us some much greater and fuller picture than we might have had. So I credit her extraordinary personality, perseverance and muscle in many respects with that success.
Matthew Condon is a senior reporter with The Australian and the host of the Gangster's Ghost podcast. Subscribers here new episodes first at Gangstersghost dot com dot AU. And remember you can access all the nation's best journalism anytime at the Australian dot com dot au