Australian police yesterday charged a man with four counts of murder over a series of shootings and bombings targeting family court judges in the 1980s.
The man, reported to be 68-year-old Leonard Warwick, was seized in Sydney’s southwestern suburb of Campbelltown and faces 32 charges over seven alleged attacks between February 1980 and July 1985, the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force said.
He was refused bail and is due to face a Sydney court today.
Photo: AP
“These crimes not only were crimes against individuals, they were crimes against our society,” NSW Police Homicide Commander Mick Willing said.
“The pillar of our society is the legal system and these are direct crimes against a pillar of our society,” he said. “They impacted not only individuals, they impacted on the entire country.”
COLD CASE
The cold case — one of Sydney’s biggest unsolved crimes — was reopened in 2012, with investigators able to bring charges against the former firefighter using significant new evidence, historical evidence enhanced by new technology and old and fresh witness testimonies.
“When you add it all up we felt and we feel that we have a very strong case,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas said at the same press conference.
Although Warwick — who was reportedly involved in a bitter custody battle at the time of the attacks — was named in an inquiry, he was never charged.
Police have now charged him with the shooting death of his brother-in-law Stephen Blanchard in February 1980 and the killing of Family Court of Australia judge David Opas, who was shot at point-blank range when he opened the door to his home four months later.
He was also charged over the deaths of Pearl Watson, the wife of Justice Raymond Watson, after their home was bombed in 1984, and Graham Wykes, a minister who died following the bombing of a Jehovah’s Witness meeting hall in 1985.
Other charges relate to attempted murder, the use of explosive substances and breaking and entering a house of worship, police said.
‘GRATEFUL’
The Family Court’s Chief Justice Diana Bryant said in a statement she was “grateful that police have at last made an arrest after so long without any resolution of these crimes.”
The Family Court, in western Sydney, was bombed in April 1984, just over a month after the home of Justice Richard Gee was bombed. He was injured, but survived.
There was also an attempt on the life of a solicitor.
According to media reports, Opas, Gee and Watson all presided over Warwick’s custody case at the Family Court.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese