In March 1979, Police Constable Maureen Maud Chantler (later Aspinall), registered number PW128, was subpoenaed to attend the Crown Court in Winchester, England, to give evidence in The Queen v Geoffrey Garner case.
After giving evidence, Constable Chantler was attached to New Scotland Yard, London, to obtain witness statements in Spear Creek triple homicide at Mount Isa.
Daily Mirror London, 30 March 1979
Unknown London Newspaper, 30 March 1979
Below is her recollection of the cases:
In 1979, I received a subpoena to attend the Crown Court, Winchester, United Kingdom to give evidence in the matter of The Queen V Geoffrey Garner. Throughout the previous months, I had provided statements of evidence to the Hampshire Constabulary regarding a complaint of Maureen Garner had previously made to me.
It was a long winded and convoluted process providing statements to the Basingstoke Constabulary due to the fact that they had to be forwarded by mail. Those statements were then vetted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the UK. The CPS intended that I could refute Garner’s assertions that he lived in the wild west of Australia where firearms were required by landowners. The accused asserted to Hampshire police that kangaroos and dingoes roamed wild in Wynnum North, and that he used his firearm to shoot them on his house block. Following the void-dire, Judge Ackner ruled that I had the ability to give this evidence.
In 1977, Garner’s wife and a male person made a complaint of domestic violence against him to me at the Wynnum CIB. During this interview, they indicated they were immediately moving to New Zealand and would not be returning to Australia. I conducted an interview with Garner at his Wynnum North residence during which he denied the allegations put to him. At this time, I took possession of his firearm.
In Basingstoke, Hampshire, Garner was charged with unlawfully wounding his ex-wife, some twelve months after I had interviewed him in Wynnum. Being aware that his ex-wife and partner had moved to England, Garner travelled there with the intention of finding her. Upon confronting her, Garner dragged her from a motor vehicle and stabbed her in the chest twice with a paper knife. He was charged with several violent offences.
Prior to the trial starting, there was a void-dire to test my evidence without the jury being present. The Judge, Sir Desmond Ackner, agreed with my ability to give evidence of similar acts/facts. Therefore, I was required to give my evidence twice.
Whilst Garner caused serious physical injury to his wife, she certainly bruised his ego with her evidence and subsequent reporting of the trial in English papers. Due to the salacious nature of the evidence given by the complainant, this case was widely reported in the UK. Garner was found guilty and Judge Ackner sentenced him to three years imprisonment.
I found giving evidence in this matter quite different to giving evidence in Queensland courts. When the judge entered the court, he wore an ornate three-cornered hat. Witnesses were required to remain standing whilst in the witness box. The defence barrister asked questions only once, and his voice was never raised. I found this so different to giving evidence in Queensland courts.
I learnt that Judge Ackner was a keen cricket fan. During a court break, when the accused was removed to the down stairs’ cells, Judge Ackner questioned me about Kerry Packer’s introduction of World Series Cricket. Not being a fan of cricket, I was unable to cast much light on the subject.
After I had given evidence, Judge Ackner took me on a tour of the Crown Court building, where I was introduced to other Crown Court judges. He also arranged a tour of Winchester Cathedral, where the Queen was intending to hand out purses of ‘Maundy Pennies’ to citizens of Winchester on Maundy Thursday, in celebration of Winchester Cathedral’s 900th Anniversary.
On 30 March 1979, I then travelled to New Scotland Yard, where I was required to interview potential witnesses to the Spear Creek triple murder which occurred in October 1978. The three murder victims had each been shot with a single .22 calibre bullet to the head. The decomposed bodies were found lying in the dry riverbed of Spear Creek, some 12 kms from Mount Isa. The victims were travelling by motorcycle from Alice Springs and Hermannsburg Mission to Mount Isa. On their journey, they met up with several British backpackers, who had agreed to provide witness statements. Some of these witnesses attended at New Scotland Yard, where I took their statements. Later, with the assistance of Detective Sergeant Yvonne Gratehead, I interviewed other witnesses at Bath and Bristol. To this date, no person has been charged with these murders.
On arrival at New Scotland Yard, I was assigned to a Criminal Investigation Squad. Shortly afterwards, I was horrified to hear a very loud explosion, which shook the building. This detonation was caused by Irish National Liberation Army supporters, who had positioned a bomb in the motor vehicle of Airey Neave, the Member of Parliament for the seat of Abington, in Northern Ireland. As he was departing the House of Commons’ carpark, the assassination was carried out and caused the death of Airey Neave. Whilst the Palace of Westminster was very close to New Scotland Yard, I was assured by detectives that the windows and curtains in the building [were] ‘bomb proof’. As this was an act of terrorism, security in London was on high alert.
New Scotland Yard was not an open police station for the reporting of crimes. To gain entry, I was required to produce my Australian passport which was checked for its authenticity on each occasion. Any vehicles entering the building were thoroughly checked with underneath mirrors, and passengers were not permitted in the car park. Detectives used their own vehicles and claimed a mileage allowance when police vehicles were not available. Unlike the Brisbane CIB in 1970-80’s, witnesses and defendants were interviewed in rooms in the basement of the building.
New Scotland Yard had a police club, known as ‘The Tank’, which was also in the basement. This club could only be frequented by serving police officers. There, I socialised with many bobbies (male officers) and WPC’s (female officers). Whilst there was no view, the company was excellent.
I was also given a tour of the Police Museum, known as the Black Museum, which was not opened to the general public. This museum was used as a CID training tool for prospective detectives. The exhibit pertaining to the Kray brothers, the notorious gangsters from London’s East End, was most interesting. The battering ram, known as Big Bertha, was proudly displayed, as this was used in a drug bust that involved the Rolling Stones.
Being required to travel to the UK to give this evidence and take statements in relation to the Spear Creek murders was, indeed, a unique experience for myself as a young female Detective. This memorable experience enhanced my ability as an investigator in the Queensland Police Force.
News of the World London, 1 April 1979
This story was written using materials provided by Maureen Maud Aspinall (nee Chantler), formerly PW 128. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
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“FROM the VAULT – Constable Maureen Chanlter at New Scotland Yard, 1979” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode