POST
investigations
The POST has a proud history and track record of award winning investigative journalism that has at times led to significant outcomes including the overturning of wrongful convictions. We run regular stories about crime and justice matters, including major murder convictions and related matters. You can find a collection of major articles below.
Button & Beamish convictions
An arresting photo on the front page of the POST in February 1994 kicked off an 11-year campaign by the POST to solve two historic murders. A selection of pages from the years in between tell the stories of a serial killer, two wrongfully-convicted men and the final verdicts in their fight for justice.
True murderer revealed
The serial killer who stalked the western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia sixty years ago left a horrific legacy, plus two enduring mysteries. The big question was: were two teenagers, John Button and Darryl Beamish, wrongly jailed for two extra murders claimed by the serial killer, whose confessions to those murders were disbelieved? The cases of these two men for decades split opinions and raised passions in public, police, political, legal and media circles.
Then in 1996 the POST teamed up with former journalist Estelle Blackburn to re-open one of those cases, a motor vehicle hit-run murder. The POST conceived and organised forensic tests that proved in court the innocence of John Button, the jailed innocent man, 37 years after he was convicted.
Remarkably, this new court verdict also opened the door for the second innocent man, Darryl Beamish, freeing him from the crushing stigma of his conviction for a vicious axe murder 46 years earlier.
Although based on a completely different set of facts, this second case was swung by the verdict in the first – that the serial killer had been telling the truth about those two murders all along. The POST also took a leading role in that appeal.
The tests: A Case of Science and Justice, The Skeptic – 2002 Vol. 22 No. 3
The full story of both cases is examined in the book, Presumed Guilty: When Cops Get it Wrong and Courts Seal and Deal; by Bret Christian, published by Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne. Scroll down for the link.
The POST soon became drawn into many other cases in which the police had targeted the wrong suspects, who in some cases were convicted of murder but later released.
Christie disappearance
A 42-year-old Susan Christie, mother of two, once a brilliant academic and pianist, was seen chatting cheerily with her neighbour outside her flat in Daglish. She was never to be seen again, alive or dead. Six months later her ex-husband Rory Christie was charged and jailed for her murder.
But that was not the end of the story. POST editor Bret Christian, and three other individuals has severe doubts about the evidence, until finally justice was done.
2003
2004
2005
Christie’s new hope.pdf
Last words told of visit by doctor.pdf
Mystery of mustard coloured jaguar.pdf
Two caught in murder trial spotlight.pdf
Former partner tells of crucial days.pdf
Sexual dalliances began at local bars.pdf
Drycleaner throws doubt on Christie’s tie.pdf
Series of shocks that freed Christie.pdf
Freedom cost 1 million says Christie.pdf
Claremont serial killer
When 27-year-old lawyer Ciara Glennon became the third young woman to vanish from Claremont’s entertainment strip, it became clear that a serial killer was stalking the town’s up-market streets.
The families of the victims, and their entire communities were traumatised. It would be 24 years before the crimes were finally resolved.
The POST took a sceptical view of the investigation from the early days, and made many revelations that turned out to be uncannily accurate.
1997
2015
2020
Corryn Rayney murder mystery
Like Hansel and Gretel tracking dropped bread-crumbs, a police helicopter followed a trail of oil that had leaked from a damaged car as it limped through the dark bush roads of Kings Park, in central Perth.
Police made a horrific discovery at the point where the oil trail started: the body of a mother of two, buried in sandy soil off a rough fire-trail.
Ten years later the murder remained unsolved, but the case was still making waves as the dead woman’s innocent husband fought back persistent accusations that he had killed his wife. The POST was there every step of the way, its investigations revealing many hidden details about this extraordinary case.
2012
Hit-man label is hurting Montani.pdf
Judge: Was it a bungled sex attack.pdf
Rayney organised party before verdict.pdf
Who owns blond hair found on Corryn’s grave.pdf
Defence: Reasonable doubt on every front.pdf
Doubt cast on evidence.pdf
Lover: Rayneys given up on sex.pdf
Support cop was intelligence gathering.pdf
2014
Rayney-car
Publications
Delve further into the remarkable true accounts of some of the western suburbs’ biggest crime stories from POST editor Bret Christian.
Books can be purchased direct from the POST offices or online via the links below.
I’m only 40 pages in but already I can’t put this book down. It just shows how wrong the justice system can be and how the truth can be framed. How many more innocent people are there in our gaols?
Reviewer
Presumed Guilty
by Bret Christian
“Explosive … A page turner” – The West Australian
At the centre of this in-depth and often chilling book is the tragic murder, in 1959, of twenty-two year-old Perth woman Jillian Brewer, and the mostly inconceivable wrongful arrest and conviction of a young deaf man, Darryl Beamish, for the act.
Charting in extraordinary detail the procedural errors, fantastical egos and often deliberate obfuscation of truth that took place in the Beamish conviction, along with many other cases, Christian reveals the startling array of potholes and pitfalls that continue to threaten the execution of proper justice in our society.
Readers will be glued to their seats as they encounter the jaw-dropping recollections Bret Christian has compiled of badly interpreted forensics, biased testimony, mismatched and botched statements of fact, and downright dirty policing tactics. All at once horrific, mind-blowing and puzzling, the stories Christian has unearthed might well be fiction but tragically, are all true.
Bret Christian️ tells this true story brilliantly, he rightfully points out that due to the oversights and a shockingly bad police investigation the killer remained at large for over 20 years.
Candi, Victoria
Stalking Claremont
by Bret Christian
Winner of the 2021 Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime
The gripping true story of the notorious Claremont serial murders and the nation’s longest and most expensive investigation to catch the killer.
In the early hours of January 27, 1996, after an evening spent celebrating in the Perth suburb of Claremont, 18-year-old Sarah Spiers called a taxi. But when the cab arrived, she’d already gone and was never seen again. Four months later, 23-year-old Jane Rimmer disappeared from the same area, her body later found in bushland south of Perth. When the body of a third young woman, 27-year-old Ciara Glennon, was found north of the city, having vanished from Claremont in August 1997, it was clear a serial killer was on the loose, and an entire city lived in fear he would strike again.
A massive manhunt ensued. However, almost 20 years later, after the investigation had failed to make an arrest, until forensic evidence linked the murders to two previous attacks – and an unlikely suspect.
A riveting story of promising young lives cut short, a city in panic, an investigation fraught by oversights and red herrings, and a surprising twist that absolutely no one saw coming.
Making the news in this week's edition...
Locals disrupt battle of Zempilas v Tonkin
The much-anticipated battle between Christine Tonkin and Basil Zempilas just got far more competitive..
A new Churchlands group is searching for a community independent candidate to contest the state seat at next year’s election.
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Bret Christian
Wheely good fun on Cott freedom ride
“Cycling is a great way to get around when you have a climate like ours, even if you’re not into lycra.”
The freedom and thrill of a bike ride became more accessible last week when Curtin MP Kate Chaney launched a new wheelchair-friendly bicycle at Curtin Heritage Living in Cottesloe. Photo: Paul McGovern
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Louisa Wales
Walk through a world of art in Freo
In May, artists will open their studios and engage with art lovers in Artwalk Freo.
An engaged community is a healthy community, says Ros de Souza, the driving force behind moves to bring the Fremantle arts community together.
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Sarah McNeill
High and mighty in City Beach
“We love the everchanging view of the ocean and the boats.”
Whale-watching from the kitchen bench is one of many perks of this beachfront house on a 1050sq.m site in south City Beach.
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Julie Bailey
