Queensland orders inquiry into death of Shirley Brifman, who was due to appear as chief witness in a police corruption case

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A Queensland coroner will delve into the death of a police corruption whistleblower who supposedly overdosed while under police protection 45 years ago.

The Queensland attorney general, Yvette D’Ath, has ordered the state coroner to “make inquiries” into the death of Shirley Brifman, who died shortly before she was due to appear as chief witness in a perjury case against a notorious detective.

D’Ath referred to people having information that could shed light on Brifman’s death, saying a coroner’s inquiries could determine whether a full inquest should be held.

Brifman died on or around 4 March 1972 in what police at the time ruled was a drug overdose at a police “safe house” in Clayfield, in Brisbane’s north.

The brothel madam and sex worker was due to testify the following month in a perjury case against a senior detective, the late Tony Murphy, a close associate of corrupt police commissioner Terry Lewis.

Brifman had told police investigators that Murphy had coached her to give false evidence at a royal commission into police misconduct at Brisbane’s National hotel in the mid-1960s.

Brifman, who attested to paying off police for decades while involved in illegal prostitution in Brisbane and Sydney, including running brothels in Kings Cross and Potts Point, also went public with corruption claims via national media in 1971.

The case against Murphy, who went on to become assistant police commissioner and coined the term “the joke” to describe Queensland’s system of corrupt police kickbacks, was withdrawn after Brifman’s death. Murphy died in 2010.

Brifman’s body was found by her daughter, Mary Anne, who said she was never interviewed by police and pushed to have her mother’s death examined by the landmark Fitzgerald inquiry in the mid-1980s. The inquiry concluded there was no evidence of Murphy’s involvement in Brifman’s death.

Mary Anne petitioned D’Ath’s office in 2015 for an inquest.

Mary Anne told the Courier-Mail’s Matthew Condon, who has written extensively on police corruption under Lewis, that she had several witnesses ready.

“My mother’s death had a horrendous impact on my life,” she said. “I think I have a right to a voice at last. I need to express it. There is a trail of evidence to be followed up.”

D’Ath said: “No inquest has ever been held in relation to [Brifman’s] death and I believe that Ms Brifman died in such circumstances as to require the coroner to make inquiries.

“I understand there also may be some people in possession of further information relating to Ms Brifman’s death.

“In recent years there has been some public interest around the circumstances into Ms Brifman’s death and I believe it is in the interest of justice for the coroner to make further inquiries.

“The coroner will, upon making those inquiries, be in the position to determine whether an inquest should be held.”