Soviet spy, West Australian diamond hustler, pornography importer and also a High Court judge. Previously secret papers from an inquiry into Justice Lionel Murphy reveal an avalanche of allegations against prime minister Gough Whitlam’s attorney-general.

The papers, released yesterday by the Federal Parliament despite reservations from the judge’s family, show serious allegations put to Justice Murphy, including trying to plant a spy inside the Federal police and of trying to get a deal with reputed organised crime boss Abe Saffron to secure the Sydney Luna Park lease.

As attorney-general from 1972 to 1975, Justice Murphy oversaw the creation of the Family Court and paved the way for no-fault divorce.

He was appointed to the High Court in 1975, the last politician to go to the bench.

But his career, especially through the 1980s, was marred by allegations of corruption.

Camera Icon Abe Safron at the Lynwood Arms Hotel. Credit: WA News

He was found guilty in 1985 of perverting the course of justice but was acquitted on appeal.

The following year, a special commission investigating many allegations against him was closed as the former judge was diagnosed with cancer.

He died in 1986.

Among the allegations examined by the commission was that a diamond had been bought for Justice Murphy’s wife for $7800, with the evidence a cheque butt supplied by WA businessman Christo Moll.

But an inquiry by the AFP revealed Moll, at the centre of a tax avoidance scheme involving Perth doctors, created the fake butt as well as diamond valuations supposedly to back the claim Mrs Murphy had got a cut-price diamond.

Camera Icon Former NSW Premier Neville Wran leaves the Supreme Court. Credit: WA News

Another allegation around Justice Murphy was raised by then WA Liberal Wilson Tuckey in the Federal Parliament which went to a letter purportedly written by a Perth doctor seeking assistance from the judge.

The commission found that the letter was most likely a forgery and part of a campaign by Moll to attack many of those he crossed during his time in WA.

“No theory has been advanced by any of the parties interviewed as to why Mr Justice Murphy and his wife may have been included in these possibly false documents other than the suggestion that he was a prominent public figure at that time,” it found. Forty-one allegations were investigated by the commission with 22, including those surrounding the diamond for Justice Murphy’s wife, dismissed.

The inquiry also rejected the suggestion he was a spy, which came up as claims could be made with impunity and in secret by those motivated to attack Justice Murphy. Fourteen allegations were put to the judge with another, not detailed, set to go to him before the commission was wound up.

Among the most serious allegations was that Justice Murphy, in late 1979, told police detective Don Thomas that he wanted someone on the inside of the soon-to-be created Australian Federal Police, who could “tell us what is going on”.

He was also alleged to have agreed to make representations on behalf of Abe Saffron, who would be dubbed “Mr Sin” for his alleged role in organised crime, to then NSW Labor premier Neville Wran to get the lease for the Sydney harbour-side Luna Park property.