NEWS > 12 December 2006

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The Australian - Sydney,Austra
12 December 2006

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Policeman's fall a mystery

A CORRUPT high-ranking policeman who trafficked drug precursor chemicals to the underworld will be out of jail in less than three years after a judge accepted the drug squad detective's insistence that he was motivated by a desire to smash the networks of Melbourne's drug lords.
Wayne Geoffrey Strawhorn has no remorse and is still adamant that he is innocent of trafficking 2kg of pseudoephedrine to slain underworld figure Mark Moran, the Victorian Supreme Court heard.

The architect of Victoria's controversial controlled chemical delivery program - which has since been scrapped - will appeal his sentence of seven years, with a non-parole period of four years, handed down yesterday.

Judge David Habersberger said the reasons why the gun detective with "a most impressive record of dedication, competence, intelligence and integrity" had "so drastically fallen from grace" would remain a mystery. But the judge was satisfied that Strawhorn, who pocketed $12,000 from the deal, was not motivated by greed, as conceded by the Crown.

Despite Strawhorn being the seventh drug squad detective jailed in the past four years, state Police Commissioner Christine Nixon and Premier Steve Bracks have rejected calls for an independent state corruption watchdog, as exists in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.

Justice Habersberger touched on the corruption potential of the controlled chemical delivery program in sentencing Strawhorn yesterday, saying "the structure was there to be abused quite easily and quickly when an opportunity presented itself".

Yet to be examined are the force's links to the underworld and the state's role in fuelling the gangland war that claimed more than 30 lives, as the availability of precursor chemicals dried up with the end of the chemical delivery program.

Justice Habersberger rejected the prosecution's view that Strawhorn's deal with Moran - in which a police informer delivered the pseudoephedrine in exchange for $12,000 - was orchestrated and carefully conducted. Strawhorn believed that if the highly sought-after precursor chemicals were delivered to Moran, the drug lord would be more likely to maintain a relationship with the police informer, Justice Habersberger said.

"I accept that you were dedicated to the success of (chemical delivery) Operation Vere and your offence was therefore partly motivated by a desire to further the purposes of that operation.

"Nevertheless, that motivation is reprehensible," Justice Habersberger said. "Members of the police force are not above the law and it is simply no excuse that your serious breach of the law may have resulted from some misguided belief that the end justified the means."

The court heard yesterday that Strawhorn had consented to a pecuniary penalty order imposed by the police, in which he must repay the state $12,000.

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Article sourced from

The Australian - Sydney,Austra12 December 2006

Policeman's fall a mystery

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The Australian - Sydney,Austra
12 December 2006