'Unreasonable and obsessive': Police doubts over key witness in Keli Lane case

Updated

A cache of internal NSW Police reports about the controversial Keli Lane case reveals damning findings about a key prosecution witness and his history of serious complaints against the force.

The ABC's Exposed program has been investigating one of Australia's most notorious crimes — the disappearance of baby Tegan Lane and the controversial murder trial of her mother Keli.

The confidential police reports, seen by the ABC, were written several months before Lane's 2010 murder trial began, but none were disclosed during the trial or included in the NSW Police Disclosure Certificate list of evidence.

In the most extraordinary revelation, multiple internal reports written by a senior detective found a key prosecution witness was "unreasonable" and "obsessive", and that many of his theories about the case were baseless and "unreasonable".

The police's findings about the key prosecution witness are the opinions of NSW Police, not the ABC.

The ABC can reveal the identity of the key prosecution witness at the centre of the secret police reports is former NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS) child protection case worker John Borovnik.

Now, a senior police source has told the ABC that the adverse opinions and findings about Mr Borovnik were not made known because they could have been used by Lane's defence team to discredit him.

"The reason it's not known is because it would have tainted the evidence that he could give," the police source told the ABC.

"We needed to keep him on a tight leash to get what we needed from him, to get the relevant information we needed, and still maintain his credibility as a witness. And that's why it's not known, that's why it's not out there.

"If it was known, it would have tainted all of that, all of what he said."

The internal police reports also reveal Mr Borovnik was so concerned about how the investigation had been handled by NSW Police that he privately complained to the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) in 2007, sparking a lengthy internal probe.

The internal police reports, which shed light on significant behind-the-scenes complaints, internal inquiries and opinions, could have been used by Lane's defence team to challenge the credibility of Mr Borovnik and expose his history of complaints against the police.

But none of the documents appear to have been disclosed or obtained by Lane's defence team during the 2010 trial.

Allegations of 'police conspiracy'

John Borovnik was the first person to discover Lane had secretly given birth to baby Tegan in 1996 and lied about her whereabouts, doggedly pursuing the matter and lodging a missing person's report with police.

His discovery sparked the decade-long police investigation, eventually leading to Lane's conviction for murder, making him a crucial prosecution witness.

Upon the guilty verdict, Mr Borovnik was publicly commended by authorities.

He also publicly praised police, describing their work as "outstanding".

But documents seen by the ABC reveal behind the scenes, Mr Borovnik had made multiple complaints against the police force spanning several years.

One of his complaints was to the NSW PIC, the organisation responsible for the prevention, detection and investigation of alleged serious misconduct in the police force.

According to the internal police reports, the PIC responded by interviewing Mr Borovnik in March 2007.

But come February 2008, Mr Borovnik is reported to have contacted another officer involved in the Lane matter, alleging there was "a police conspiracy to not investigate the disappearance and suspected death of Tegan LANE".

The internal police report says Mr Borovnik had previously "reported this mater [sic] to the Police Integrity Commission but has not heard from them".

The cache of documents seen by the ABC further reveal "a number of concerns and theories were raised [by Mr Borovnik] relating to the Police investigation" including claims:

An investigating officer told Mr Borovnik to 'leave out' information from his police statement

An investigating officer had a personal relationship with Lane resulting in a conflict of interest

Someone had influenced police to 'shelve' the investigation into Lane early on

An investigating officer deliberately wasn't called by police at the Coronial Inquest

According to the internal police reports, the PIC referred Mr Borovnik's claims to the Unsolved Homicide Squad to answer, the same squad that was building the case against Lane.

One of the most startling allegations made by Mr Borovnik against police is detailed in a separate set of documents and information obtained by the ABC.

According to the material, Mr Borovnik claims an investigating officer suggested to him the case against Lane wasn't strong enough to warrant anything more than a coronial inquiry, and that his police statement and the coronial inquest were merely a "formality".

He says an investigating officer privately told him prior to the coronial inquest commencing: "Oh, don't worry about it, this won't go far, while you're doing a report for the coroner, it won't go any further than that."

Mr Borovnik adds that he found it "odd" and "concerning" that an investigating officer had told him "don't worry about it, it won't go far".

According to the internal police reports seen by the ABC, Mr Borovnik's complaints to the PIC were at least twice referred to the Commander of the Unsolved Homicide Squad in 2009 for detailed responses.

The squad was still responding to the PIC's requests in late July 2009, seven months after the police brief against Lane had been sent to the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The documents ultimately acknowledge there were clear inadequacies with a significant portion of the decade-long police investigation, but no evidence had been found by the squad to substantiate many of Mr Borovnik's claims.

The internal police report also stated that "Borovnik has most likely misinterpreted or misunderstood what [the officer] has said about this matter because of his obsessive belief that corruption was occurring in relation to this investigation".

Borovnik was 'obsessed' and 'unreasonable'

Mr Borovnik was publicly praised and his work lauded by many upon the conclusion of the 2010 murder trial.

The then Crown Prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi QC, was among those who acknowledged Mr Borovnik's importance in the case, publicly describing him as "a most diligent DoCs worker" who did "a splendid job in alerting the authorities".

"In my view, it was John Borovnik who brought this to the attention of the authorities in a very responsible and dignified way," Mr Tedeschi QC also told the ABC's Exposed program.

But internal police reports seen by the ABC reveal senior officers held serious concerns and adverse opinions about Mr Borovnik, who left DoCS in 2006.

The documents reveal a senior investigating officer tasked with looking into Mr Borovnik's claims to the PIC found it "became apparent that his departure from DoCS was acrimonious".

The report states Mr Borovnik "appears to have become obsessed with this investigation since reporting Tegan Lane as a Missing Person in November 1999" and that another officer had also expressed the opinion "Mr BOROVNIK had become obsessed with this matter".

The report goes on to reveal that "[Mr] Borovnik has continued to contact investigators proposing possible theories and ideas he has formed relating to the investigation".

The senior officer's report concluded: "It is my opinion that many of the theories proposed by Mr Borovnik to investigators had no basis and on many occasions were unreasonable."

The internal police reports indicate that by mid-2009 senior investigating police had repeatedly documented serious concerns, opinions and findings about Mr Borovnik.

Despite this, Mr Borovnik went on to become a key prosecution witness and the internal police reports were not made known during the trial.

The Director of RMIT University's Innocence Initiative, Dr Michele Ruyters, has told the ABC she's "stunned" by the material.

"It's extraordinary that such significant pieces of information were not disclosed to the defence," Dr Ruyters says.

"The opportunity to discredit a prosecution witness was clearly denied to the defence.

"[Mr] Borovnik's evidence and apparent motivation for pursuing the inquiries was the whole reason this eventuated in the first place."

Court transcripts also confirm Mr Borovnik wasn't questioned by the prosecution or the defence during his time in the witness stand about his history of complaints against the police.

Mr Borovnik has previously told the ABC's Exposed program that he did complain on more than one occasion about the police's conduct, including to the PIC, "because I felt that they'd done the wrong thing," but that he didn't want to talk about it further.

"It's a really, it's confidential, in terms of Police Integrity Commission and how they've dealt with it, and yeah. I don't want to brought it up [sic] because it's not relevant," Mr Borovnik told the ABC.

The ABC asked Mr Borovnik what his response was to the findings made by NSW Police that he was "unreasonable" and "obsessive".

In his written response, Mr Borovnik declined to address the police's findings.

He told the ABC he would: "be lodging a formal complaint on your biased, one sided account of the murder of little baby Tegan Lane. What a sick joke."

'Extraordinary': documents omitted from police disclosure list

The ABC has been analysing a series of police Disclosure Certificate lists, which record all the documents and materials obtained by the police during its investigation into Lane.

NSW Police is obliged to disclose all relevant information that might reasonably be expected to assist the case for either the prosecution or the defence.

But the ABC has discovered there are inconsistencies between the police's internal disclosure list and the final disclosure list that was eventually tendered in court.

In the police's internal Disclosure Certificate list the adverse reports about Mr Borovnik and the serious allegations he made against the police are included.

But in the police's final Disclosure Certificate list signed by a senior male officer and served in court in August 2010, the adverse reports are no longer included.

Dr Ruyters says the information now revealed by the ABC is "extraordinary."

"This seems to indicate there was a systemic pattern, the removal of material that could have assisted the defence to challenge witnesses the prosecution produced.

"And it certainly removed any real possibility of securing an acquittal."

Dr Ruyters says the documents seen by the ABC further strengthen the Innocence Initiative's petition to the NSW Attorney General to urgently review the policing and prosecutorial practices leading to Lane's conviction.

"I have great misgivings about how justice was actually enacted in this case. There's an awful lack of clarity around how disclosure occurred from the police to the prosecution and from the prosecution to the defendant."

The ABC asked NSW Police to explain why its adverse findings about Mr Borovnik and his history of complaints against the police were not included in the Disclosure Certificate list tendered in court, and whether they were disclosed to the prosecution or defence at any other stage.

After being given two weeks to reply, NSW Police told the ABC it was unable to provide a response at this time.

In a written statement, NSW Police said: "Homicide Squad detectives are making inquiries with the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission and internal business technology systems to review records in relation to your inquiry."

"The outcomes of these inquiries is expected to take some time."

'Very worrying': trial judge calls for an investigation

The former Supreme Court judge who presided over Lane's 2010 murder trial, The Honourable Anthony Whealy QC, has told the ABC the potential withholding of information that could have substantially discredited prosecution witnesses requires an investigation.

"This is something that requires significant investigation, without doubt, to ensure this and others were not held back. Whether it is important remains to be seen," Mr Whealy QC told the ABC.

Mr Whealy QC also questioned why the police's own reports documenting adverse opinions and findings about Mr Borovnik were not disclosed or obtained by Lane's defence team.

"On the face of it, this information could have discredited the witness substantially," Mr Whealy QC told the ABC.

"There's no doubt that keeping back from the defence something as important as this, on the face of it, looks highly irregular.

"The point that's very worrying is the point where it wasn't shared with defence."

It's the second time this year Mr Whealy QC has publicly called for an investigation into the potential withholding of evidence in the Lane case, following an ABC investigation in March.

A decade-long police investigation and a nationwide search failed to find the man Lane claims she gave her baby to in 1996 or to find Tegan.

Other parts of Lane's story could not be substantiated by police.

Lane's long history of serial lying was revealed during the coronial inquest and the trial, where it was discovered she'd told dozens of untruths about her multiple secret pregnancies and had also changed her story about what happened to Tegan.

She was also criticised for making minimal efforts to try and find the father or her daughter once Tegan was officially realised as a missing person.

Tegan's body has never been found.

Lane was found guilty of murder in December 2010 by a majority verdict of 11 jurors to one.

Her appeal was unsuccessful. Lane continues to maintain her innocence.

She is eligible for parole in 2024.

Editor's Note: The ABC does not suggest that Mr Borovnik's evidence during Ms Lane's trial was false. The significance of the internal police reports discussed in this article is that the failure of police/the Crown to disclose them potentially deprived Ms Lane's defence of access to documents which they may have wished to explore at trial.

Do you know more? Contact exposed@abc.net.au

Topics: police, crime, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, sydney-2000

First posted