CAROLINE JONES, PRESENTER: Hello. I’m Caroline Jones. Well, it’s the happiest of endings - but a decade ago no-one would have predicted it. When Australian Story first met young Detective Sergeant Simon Illingworth, he’d taken a brave stand against crooked colleagues and was paying a terrible price. He’d been bashed, isolated and threatened by police connected to Victoria’s notorious gangland wars. For Simon Illingworth, speaking out was the game-changer. This is his story.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: I first met Simon when we were both working in the police force. I just walked up to him and I said, so, "Hi. I’m Sarah. How are you?" And he looked at me in a daze.

(footage of Sarah and Simon packing garlic into boxes)

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: So where’s this going to?

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: Ah, over to WA.

(End of footage)

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: I said, "Oh, look, you look a little bit down in the dumps. Is everything OK?"

SIMON ILINGWORTH: My spirit had been fairly well crushed by then (laughs) and she said she was going out to some police function that night and she asked me if I’d go. And I said, "Look, I’d better not. I’m in the corruption area and I’d need body armour if I went to that one." I said, "Listen, I’m not going to tell you the whole story of what’s going on in my life but I’m carrying a gun 24 hours a day." And I said I was probably Victoria’s most ineligible bachelor there is. (Laughs)

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: It was: either he was insane, through what he was telling me of some of the situations that he’s been in, or it’s completely true and this is not the police force that I thought that I worked for.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: Well, "whistleblower" is not something that you’d want to sort of plaster all over your CV. I’m yet to meet a CEO of a major corporation that desperately wants a whistleblower. But you take that whole whistleblower tag and throw it away and then you start something new. And we’ve certainly started a afresh.

NEWSREADER (ABC News Radio, Apr. 2004): A suspended police officer is alleged to have provided a gun which was later used in one of Melbourne’s underworld murders.

REPORTER (ABC TV News, 2004): It’s believed out of nearly 40 members under investigation, 25 are from the drug squad.

ROBERT DOYLE, THEN VIC. OPPOSITION LEADER (Stateline Victoria, May 2004): Twenty-seven gangland killings since 1998 directly connected to police corruption.

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: If I go back to about 2003, 2004, I look at it now with a sense of the surreal.

REPORTER (ABC TV News, 2004): There appears to be no sign of a let-up yet to the spate of killings, the likes of which have never been seen before in Australian criminal history.

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: We were in the middle of a gangland war. You know, it was reminiscent of Chicago stuff but here it was, here at home in Melbourne, with the rather chilling suggestion that there may have also been police involvement in this.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: There were police in cahoots. They might as well have worn a balaclava rather than a uniform. You know, it’s as simple as that. They were crooks.

REPORTER (ABC TV News, 2004): Two detectives recently received bullets in their letterboxes. Another alleges he was threatened and bashed.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: If Simon hadn’t decided to blow the whistle, he wouldn’t be the person that he is. If Simon sat back and decided, "No, this is all too hard. I’ll leave this for somebody else," then that would eat away at him.

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: These events were tearing away at the fabric of the very thing that Simon had become a sworn officer to protect. He was one person who stood up against what was really a code of silence, almost, and he paid a great personal price. I have no doubt that his life was in danger.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: My speaking out was a... well, I risked everything: my wellbeing, my job that was over. As soon as I opened my mouth in front of a microphone, that was it. But I was compelled to tell it how it was because I couldn’t do it anymore. It was hell. And, you know I, I turned to Australian Story to tell the story.

(Excerpt from Australian Story, "One Man Standing", May 2004)

JENNY LANG, SIMON ILLINGWORTH’S MOTHER: When Simon first started in the police force, Victoria was thought to be the best police force in the whole of Australia: absolutely no corruption at all.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: I was 19. I'd come straight out of the surf into the academy. (Laughs) Looked pretty naive, I suppose. You know, it was something that was worthwhile.

JENNY LANG, SIMON ILLINGWORTH’S MOTHER: We were really thrilled. We were very proud. We thought it would be just the thing for Simon.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE (watching footage of his graduation ceremony): Never could really march that well, I’ve got to say. (Laughs)

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: Up to the first two years, it was everything that I wanted. You know, there was mateship. I was playing in the police football team. I had got information that led to the arrest of one of the top 10, which was just unheard of. I saved two young kids out of a burning building. It was a dream come true. Two years in and I ran into corruption.

NEIL O’SULLIVAN, RET. DET. SUPT, VIC. POLICE: Early in Simon's career, he was rostered on duty with a sergeant who'd been newly promoted from the Armed Robbery Squad, who came to the station with a high profile.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: He asked me to take him around where the card games and the gambling took place. All of a sudden, the till's ringing behind me and there's money being stuffed into a pocket. And I didn't want to look back because I knew who it was. And I didn't say anything. We ended up on this night shift and he'd hatched a plan to kidnap a criminal. He spoke about a quarry - taking him to a quarry - and then I asked him what he was going to do, and he made this, you know, "boom". And this was going to be an execution. Everything was going through my head. Do I get out of the police force and just pretend that this plan had just never happened? Or do I stick true to what I said when I was getting into the police force? But what happened then? I went to Internal Affairs and I made a statement.

NEIL O’SULLIVAN, RET. DET. SUPT, VIC. POLICE: "Whistleblower" is a tag: it's like "mobster", "gangster". It's like having a tattoo on your forehead. All the criminals that you’ve locked up, all the times where you've put your life on the line for someone: that becomes incidental - because you're a dog.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: I had to go to court for the committal hearing. Police, detectives from the squads or places where he'd worked stared at me like I was some sort of a freak. And then one of the police took it to another level and pointed at his forehead and went "boom". In my face.

JENNY LANG, SIMON ILLINGWORTH’S MOTHER: From then on, the police force was different for Simon. But he stayed there: he wasn’t going to let them win. But we didn’t know what was to come. And yeah, there were worse things to come.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: One night we went to a pub in Carlton. And I went to take a drink and I was king-hit. I fell down to my knees. I was kicked in the head a number of times. I recognised him. He was a copper. (Fighting tears) It just takes me back. But I got onto my hands and knees... and stood up. I wanted to show that a whistleblower had what it took. And then I fell. Head first. Into the floor. But I'm still here. I thought if I went into the corruption area, that I could actually do some good. I could hopefully make a difference because of where I had been and where I had travelled.

NEIL O’SULLIVAN, RET. DET. SUPT, VIC. POLICE: We had a team of men, up to 16. Simon as a young sergeant was outstanding in his ability to analyse situations. He was very perceptive and quite focussed.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: Investigating corrupt police is probably the hardest thing that you could ever do, because it's not a cat-and-mouse: it's a cat-and-cat. Both of you have the same skills. They know the loopholes. They know to speak in code. They know to write things down and hand them to each other ,rather than speaking over a telephone. They know all those things.

NEIL O’SULLIVAN, RET. DET. SUPT, VIC. POLICE: In 2000 we undertook a search of the St Kilda Police Complex, which yielded a number of exhibits: guns, drugs, other contraband that shouldn't have been found where it was. Simon was responsible for the analysis and review of that material. Once we pulled it together, he was assigned the investigation.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: Things started to open up. It really... To describe it: it was like finding an octopus that was peeling off everywhere. And you were going down different arms.

CAPTION: In 2002 Neil O’Sullivan’s anti-corruption unit was disbanded, leaving only Simon Illingworth.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: I am a taskforce of one. My investigation was given to me and me alone. If I'm not here, you know, happy days - for some. I'm not going to say why this has happened. People can make up their own minds.

NEWSREADER (ABC news, May 2004): Police are investigating reports that a man found murdered with his wife in Kew last night was due to give evidence in a drug case against police.

REPORTER (ABC news, May 2004): It's believed to have been an execution-style murder with gunshots to their heads.

REPORTER (ABC TV news, May 2004): The dead man's lawyer says the killing points to a direct link between the spate of gangland murders and police corruption.

NEIL O’SULLIVAN, RET. DET. SUPT, VIC. POLICE: There's some intelligence been provided that implicates a lot of prominent criminals, a lot of prominent police.

REPORTER (ABC TV news, May 2004): The now disbanded drug squad is at the centre of a police corruption investigation.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: I’ve arrested and charged six people.

JONATHAN HOLMES, REPORTER (Four Corners, Mar. 2004): Victorians have almost grown used to the sight of policemen being led into court by other police.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH(2015 interview): There were three or four that were locked up and received jail.

NEIL O’SULLIVAN, RET. DET. SUPT, VIC. POLICE: I believe Simon has reason to believe that his safety will be in jeopardy. We're playing for high stakes here.

DET. SGT SIMON ILLINGWORTH, VIC. POLICE: You don't know whether you're gonna turn a corner and get a handshake or a bullet. And I don't like that.

(End of Australian Story, "One Man Standing", May 2004 excerpt)

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: I was working in the Victim Advisory Unit when I'd met Simon, so I’d been there for about six years. And so we looked. We worked closely with the homicide squad. My unit was heavily involved with a lot of the underworld killings, facilitating crime scene cleaning.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: If I’d met someone who didn’t have the experience that she had, well, the relationship wouldn’t have lasted. It’s as simple as that because, you know, who in their right mind would walk straight head-first into that?

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: I worried a lot about Simon. These people were just relentless and even just going out for a walk, I worried about him.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: Someone in the police, I believe, has risked my life and my family's lives, for whatever reason, by handing over my address to criminals. I have had to sell my home. I have had to carry a firearm. I’ve probably moved, I don't know, three or four times in the last few months. I don't believe that, physically nor mentally, a person can continue being put in the situations that I've been put in. You know, it's like you've been at war for 16 years. That's what I feel like.

(Excerpt from Stateline Victoria, ABC TV, May 2004)

KATHY BOWLEN, PRESENTER: What changed your mind?

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: I talked to the policeman at the coal face. I talk to the people who have lived this. And the stories they have told me were enough to convince that we do have a systemic problem with crime and with corruption in the police force.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: I got in contact with Robert Doyle who was the leader of the Opposition in Victoria at the time.

ROBERT DOYLE (Vic. Parliament, 2004): That these registration numbers were leaked from Victoria Police.

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: It was Simon and his experiences who really shaped my responses to the killings that were going on around us.

ROBERT DOYLE (2004): This could be a tip of the iceberg. What else is known to the underworld and what use are they making of it?

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: I remember Simon going through the decision process with Sarah about whether they would do Australian Story or not. And I think they were very nervous about that. You know, it would make him the public face - but the innocent public face - of what had been going on.

(footage of Simon watching his Australian Story on computer)

SIMON ILLINGWORTH (2004): Someone in the police has risked my life and my family’s lives.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: We actually thought that it may give him some protection. It was less likely that something would actually happen to him because he had been the one that exposed it. And that was what we were hoping for.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: You know, I don’t like watching it because it does bring back a lot of the memories. But you know, I’m proud, you know?

SIMON ILLINGWORTH (2004): My dream is to have a family, ultimately, and have a house that has a white picket fence and not something that is to keep people out - it's just to keep children in, you know. Ultimately, I’d like to live like everyone else does and not, you know, as a whistleblower.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: When Australian Story went to air, we felt like we immediately had an army of people behind us. It had just been aired and this old lady came up and she said, "Oh, you’re that bloke on the TV," you know. And she goes, "No, no, no, it's all right. I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to give you a hug." (Laughs) It was, oh… Honestly, it was just, it was awesome. Yeah.

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: When Simon Illingworth spoke out, that was a galvanising factor for the public and helped the public to understand this wasn’t just crooks knocking each other off.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: It was one of those moments, I think, that you can sort of, if you’re plotting it on a graph: the whole game changed from that point on because, I guess, I had the balls to stand up and I told it how it was. And look, there were detrimental effects for me.

NEWSREADER (archive): Detective Sergeant Simon Illingworth has told the ABC's Australian Story...

NEWSREADER (archive): The night before, police whistleblower and corruption investigator Detective Sergeant Simon Illingworth breaks down in tears on ABC television...

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: When Simon Illingworth’s story blew up, it was important that Simon and Sarah could get away somewhere remote and be completely anonymous - and therefore, of course, safe as well. And so arrangements were made for Simon and Sarah to go up into quite remote New South Wales and stay in a guest house there. Can you imagine how I felt when I had sent to me a page from the guest book of that guest house, demonstrating that someone knew that Simon and Sarah were staying at this supposedly most secret of locations? My blood ran cold. I thought to myself, "He is in danger." And we had to let him know.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: It’s all very well to make, I guess, an ethical decision - the right decision or whatever that everybody wants you to make. But what do you do when that transfers to someone else? The people that you love are then fair game.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: I was very frightened. Victoria Police would give me a car. I would rotate cars daily so that it would be less likely for somebody to be able to track my movements.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: Sarah was losing her hair. There was just this underlying stress of: what’s going to happen next? It’s a horrible way to live.

CAPTION:

Simon and Sarah Illingworth decided to resign from Victoria Police.

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: I think the police force let him down at that time. I think they let him down by not supporting him when he was trying to do his job. I think they let him down when he became a whistleblower. I think they let him down when his identity became public as a whistleblower.

(Footage of Sarah and Simon looking through newspaper archive)

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: Headline after headline. It just keeps coming.

(End of footage)

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: I couldn’t go back to the police force. And they offered me $250,000.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: When that offer was put on the table, there was also the gag clause: that Simon could not speak to anybody about his dealings within the underworld; with the way that the Victoria Police had, had handled Simon’s situation.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: No immediate prospects for a job; I owed the bank plenty of money; and, you know, my world had turned upside down. And I thought, well, you know, "In for a penny in for a pound." (Laughs) "I’m not going to sign that." Not now, after all of that. So anyway, we walked away. And the headline was: "You Can’t Gag Me" and then it had underneath, "Whistleblower turns down $250,000." And then the phone rang sometime after it that there’d be a massive misunderstanding (laughs) and I didn’t have to sign the gag clause after all.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: He called me and said that he’d picked up a bottle of wine because, he said, "It’s over. It’s finished. And I said, That’s, that’s great." And I had tears welling in my eyes and thinking, "That's... he doesn't... He just deserves this."

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: I said, "You’re not drinking your champagne. It’s a good bottle, not the usual stuff." (Laughs) And she said, "No. That’s because you’re going to be a father." And I... You know, you could have dropped me. It was just a wonderful... Oh, it was a great day.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: I knew in my heart that we would be married, because if we could get through everything that we had and still be able to smile at the end of the day, we saw the worst of each other and the best of each other within such a short amount of time.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: In 2006 we moved to live by the coast. We’ve started a new life. Well, I pretty much had to be self-employed and farming came up and then, you know I enjoy working in, with my hands and so on. And also, you know, there, there’s the other side of it, too. Like, I mean, it’s an honourable occupation: farmer. You know, they feed people. They keep people alive.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: We now have two children enjoying the life around them. It’s a wonderful community to live in. And we've said, "This is our last stop. We’re not leaving." We just love it.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: We’re not hobby farmers. This is what feeds our kids. You know, growing garlic, four tonne of garlic, selling that online, doing dairy calves. We don’t get an opportunity to sit down and sort of reflect on what’s happened before, nor do we want to. And so that’s pretty much our lives, now, is that: you know, we’re moving on.

SARAH ILLINGWORTH, WIFE: We’ve just set up a little honesty system down in the town. And Simon thoroughly enjoys it. And when he comes home, I’ll say, "So how did we go? Do you think we got very much stolen?" He goes, "No, no, no. Everybody’s been really, really honest. And it’s terrific. There’s a little smile on his face.

(footage of Simon at his roadside stall)

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: Like, they always get garlic first and work around. And also the potatoes and...For someone who should think of: every, everyone’s corrupt; hardly anything seems to be missing. There you are: I mean, human nature right there.

(End of footage)

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: I do dread the day that, you know, my son says, "I’m going to join the police" or my daughter says, "I’m going to join the police." But, you know, realistically it’s a bloody good job. I enjoyed it. I just had a really rough, rough time of it.

ROBERT DOYLE, MELBOURNE LORD MAYOR: Whistleblowers more often than not, in my experience: they finish up embittered and broken. And that could have been the way that Simon Illingworth went. But it is a mark of the man that he determined that that would not be the defining feature of his life and his future. The Simon Illingworth story led to political responses like an anti-corruption commission and a change of culture within Victoria Police. And I think he should be very proud of that.

SIMON ILLINGWORTH: I often get asked, you know, "Was it all worth it?" If people need to ask that question, they need to go down to the beach and watch some kids playing with a ball. You know, of course it’s bloody worth it because, you know our, our community relies upon it. It relies on people standing up for doing the thing. I wouldn’t want to do it again but, you know, my number came up and now I’m going to enjoy the rest of my life.

END CAPTIONS:

Simon Illingworth says he is continuing anti-corruption and ethics work by talking to corporations, government agencies and schools.

He has just finished planting a new garlic crop and is "hoping for a wet winter and good surf."

(End music: 'Something Beautiful' by Robbie Williams)