More idiocy from Victoria

[Black Orchid]

Victoria Police has lost its latest bid to suppress the identity of Informer 3838, the lawyer whose role as a police informant at the height of Melbourne's gangland war sparked a royal commission.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and the lawyer at the centre of the legal scandal had applied to the Court of Appeal to prevent the former barrister's name being revealed.

However, the newly established Royal Commission into Management of Police Informants argued in court that the identity of the informant, also known as Lawyer X, should be revealed.

The Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecution, along with the Victoria Office of Public Prosecutions, also fought against the application to suppress her identity.

It is the latest attempt by Victoria Police to stop the identity of the lawyer, already known in legal and criminal circles, from being made public.

Victoria Police spent at least $4.52 million on legal battles to keep the identity of Informer 3838 suppressed due to fears she and her family "would be murdered".

But the Court of Appeal today ruled that the latest applications from police and Informer 3838 herself to prevent her identity being made public should be dismissed.

The lifting of the suppression of Informer 3838's identity was stayed until next Friday to allow Victoria Police and Informer 3838 time to lodge a High Court appeal.

Due to today's hearing occurring in a closed court, the reasons for the dismissal of attempts to extend the suppression order were not published.

Convictions at risk
Informer 3838 represented some of Victoria's most serious gangland criminals including Carl Williams, drug kingpin Tony Mokbel and Mokbel's associate, drug trafficker Rob Karam.

Over several years she provided information to Victoria Police about her clients, in an arrangement previously described by the High Court as "reprehensible".

The Office of Public Prosecutions last year wrote to 20 convicted criminals, including drug kingpin Tony Mokbel, to inform them of the lawyer's role as a police informer in their cases, believing that those people could move to have their convictions quashed.

The Court of Appeal ruled last year that the risks of prosecutors informing criminals of the informer's actions were outweighed by "the public interest in the right to a fair trial with the assistance of independent legal advice".

The revelations sparked a royal commission into the use of Informer 3838 and Victoria Police's management of police informants more broadly.

Its chair, Margaret McMurdo, said in her opening address that the commission's legal team had been "steadily addressing existing suppression and non-publication orders to ensure the commission has access to all relevant materials".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-21/ ... d/10835656

This could result in the release of many dangerous and violent criminals. Informants are imperative in moving cases towards the court and subsequent convictions. If their lives are going to be put in danger who is going to step forward? Duhhh!!

[Serial Brain 9]

Why would you identify Lawyer X signing their death warrant?

He/She is as good as dead.

I also believe that there were a number of informants. Punish the police who allowed this to happen.

[Valkie]

If a lawyer betrays their clients

They deserve to be dead.

[cods]

Why would you identify Lawyer X signing their death warrant?

He/She is as good as dead.

I also believe that there were a number of informants. Punish the police who allowed this to happen.

this is a tough one but we are not stooopid and the police need all the help they can get...

otherwise so many crooks would all be walking the streets.....

to expose this informer why have they exposed her like this????????.. they have named the crims she worked for.....its not rocket science to know which legal they are talking about......Mr and Mrs average dont need to know her name....

what is behind this??...as we all know now she needs to go into hiding for the rest of her life........ is that fair??????>.

no way would I help the Vic Police....wouldnt even give them a rego number.

[Black Orchid]

what is behind this??...

The million dollar question!

[Black Orchid]

Former defence barrister Nicola Gobbo can now be revealed as Lawyer X, the police informer at the centre of a 15-year legal scandal that risks overturning the convictions of dangerous underworld criminals.

The identity of the lawyer, also known as Informer 3838, can be made public after a Court of Appeal suppression order was lifted, marking the end of a multi-million-dollar legal fight by Victoria Police to keep its use of Ms Gobbo secret.

Ms Gobbo's role as a registered informer between 1995 and 2009 has brought into doubt multiple gangland convictions and is now the subject of a royal commission, along with Victoria Police's management of at least seven other legal professionals it used as sources.

The order was lifted after the royal commission, Victoria's Office of Public Prosecutions, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and media organisations successfully argued her name should be made public.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-01/ ... o/10826958

I don't like her chances for a very long life and so many convictions may be overturned because of this. Our legal system is a disgrace.

[Redneck]

Former defence barrister Nicola Gobbo can now be revealed as Lawyer X, the police informer at the centre of a 15-year legal scandal that risks overturning the convictions of dangerous underworld criminals.

The identity of the lawyer, also known as Informer 3838, can be made public after a Court of Appeal suppression order was lifted, marking the end of a multi-million-dollar legal fight by Victoria Police to keep its use of Ms Gobbo secret.

Ms Gobbo's role as a registered informer between 1995 and 2009 has brought into doubt multiple gangland convictions and is now the subject of a royal commission, along with Victoria Police's management of at least seven other legal professionals it used as sources.

The order was lifted after the royal commission, Victoria's Office of Public Prosecutions, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and media organisations successfully argued her name should be made public.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-01/ ... o/10826958

I don't like her chances for a very long life and so many convictions may be overturned because of this. Our legal system is a disgrace.

What were they thinking!!

OMG she will need a bodyguard!

[Black Orchid]

386 convictions now put in doubt

[cods]

why have they seen fit to only expose her even down to a picture......

what about the police officers she gave the info too... why are their names and pictures in the media....

you cant have only half of the party guilty...surly

even if it is Victoria...where its hard to know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are...

its almost as if they whoever they are want her dead...this is how it looks....

what will she be charged with???....last I heard being an informer/whistleblower wasnt a crime....


is this another John the Baptist...sacrificial lamb...

[cods]

I am just wondering what about the Police Ministers....would they have known about this? it was going on for years...

if they didnt know.... why didnt they know?.....