NEWS > 15 December 2005

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Daily Telegraph - Sydney, NS W
15 December 2005

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Justice catches up with bent c

SELF-confessed corrupt detective Christopher Laycock should face a raft of criminal charges, the Police Integrity Commission recommended yesterday.

But while the former officer may be charged with stealing, extortion and perverting the course of justice, he is unlikely to be charged over his most serious crime - even though he has admitted to it.

The most serious offence involves Laycock and career criminal David John Hopes accepting $10,000 from a suspect in the murder of Andrew Heavens, in Rozelle, in 2003.

Because Laycock admitted the offence before the Commission under objection - and there is no independent corroboration - the evidence cannot be used against him in a prosecution.

Yesterday, the PIC handed its report to Parliament on Operation Cobalt, which probed the relationship and activities of Laycock, former police officer Chris Walker, and Hopes.

Laycock was grilled during public hearings between October 2004 and January 2005, when he admitted his role in a variety of crimes.

Yesterday's report found a "startling level of corrupt conduct" between the three probably dated back to 1996, when Laycock and Walker worked together at Newtown police station and Hopes was Walker's known registered criminal informant.

Laycock was sacked from the force in November last year.

The PIC yesterday recommended disgraced Laycock be charged over:

THE theft of $70,000 of gold and cash from a Glebe woman;

THE robbery of $23,500 from a Burwood restaurateur's home during a fake firearms audit;

EXTORTING $10,000 from a man at Chiswick;

LOOKING up an accused criminal's internal police file and advising him as to whether he could flee the jurisdiction;

TIPPING off a Burwood child pornography suspect that he was about to be raided in return for a $3900 payment; and

THE planned extortion of an Asian woman.
The report found Laycock accepted payment from a murder suspect in return for filing a police report "deflecting attention away from the suspect".

Laycock admitted accepting $10,000 from the suspect - a man known for committing serious crimes - but later said Hopes had received $10,000 and he only $3000. He denied being paid to file the report.

Laycock also faces possible prosecution for giving false evidence to the PIC.

The report also recommended consideration be given to criminal charges against Walker, Hopes and other associates.

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Article sourced from

Daily Telegraph - Sydney, NS W15 December 2005

Justice catches up with bent c

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Daily Telegraph - Sydney, NS W
15 December 2005