That Williams’ murder was a pre-planned killing involving corrupted or compromised corrections staff who have never been brought to justice;

That political staffers working for then premier John Brumby and police minister Bob Cameron asked him to ‘‘slice and dice’’ raw crime statistics on the eve of the 2010 state election to give the impression that Melbourne’s streets were safer than they were;

That Victoria Police betrayed the family of Terence and Christine Hodson by failing to tell the detectives who investigated their 2005 murder that Ms Gobbo was a police informant;

That had he been appointed chief commissioner instead of Mr Overland he would have never approved a multi-million settlement to Ms Gobbo which excused her from having to testify against former police detective Paul Dale for the murder of the Hodsons;

That the OPI, instead of being a police watchdog, morphed into a guard dog for Mr Overland and used its coercive powers to weigh into matters concerning internal police politics and personal rivalries. At the time Sir Ken was ousted from Victoria Police, he was the subject of an intrusive OPI investigation into unsubstantiated claims he leaked information to a journalist about the 2010 murder of Williams. He said he saw a pattern in his treatment and the way the OPI was previously used to end the careers of former police union secretary Paul Mullett and assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, a rival to Mr Overland. ‘‘I took the view that a sledgehammer had been used to crack a nut by the OPI and Victoria Police in their joint Diana operation [into Mullett and Ashby] and that the collective view of whatever had gone wrong between Victoria Police and the people targeted was hopelessly clouded by petty personal sensitivities and concerns,’’ he said. ‘‘When I was to be similarly targeted, the OPI and Victoria Police would use the same tenuous assertions to suggest that my agenda involved destabilising the chief and getting his job.’’

Sir Ken said the OPI, in pursuing this ‘‘risible’’ theory, routinely suppressed exculpatory material. Under questioning by counsel assisting the royal commission Andrew Woods, he said that when he first suspected Ms Gobbo had been used extensively as a police informer and provided information against her own clients, he raised his concerns, without discussing Ms Gobbo, to Victoria’s Deputy Ombudsman John Taylor and retired Supreme Court justice Frank Vincent. In his statement tendered to the commission, Sir Ken said he also spoke to the Office of Police Integrity then-director Michael Strong about his concerns regarding the conduct of Victoria Police. "I had tried to get the OPI interested when I raised concerns in the broadest sense with his honour Michael Strong ... we had a conversation in which I was somewhat guarded as I didn't wholly trust the OPI."

Sir Ken said in his statement the meeting was not a success. ‘‘Mr Strong did not react well. He seemed somewhat indignant with me and paraphrased what I said as an attack on the chief, which was not the case. He stood up and showed me the door. I left in a state of unease.’’ When Sir Ken was asked at the commission if he raised with Mr Strong the use of Nicola Gobbo as an informer, Sir Ken said no: "I don't think the Gobbo issue was part of that discussion." "There were just a number of issues I was concerned about and I was trying to test and get Michael's

views on a number of things that I was concerned about." Counsel for Victoria Police, Saul Holt, QC, questioned Sir Ken on why, if he knew Ms Gobbo was an informer in 2010, he approved the use of her as a witness in the murder case against Paul Dale.

Sir Ken Jones with then chief commissioner Simon Overland in 2009. Credit:Paul Rovere Sir Ken said he didn’t have enough evidence then to prove Ms Gobbo’s involvement as a snitch. ‘‘I didn’t have the facts, I didn’t have the evidence to say to them she was in fact a human source,’’ he replied. Sir Ken said it was through his dealings with the Ombudsman that he learnt that his phones were being tapped and his movements watched by the OPI. ‘‘John Taylor came to speak to me and my wife at our home one evening. He told us that he was concerned that our communications were being unlawfully compromised by the OPI and the Ombudsman’s contractors would be coming to our home to sweep it for bugs along with our car.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video ‘‘He also told us he learnt of a plan whereby OPI staff planned to illegally burgle his home and interfere with his computer. My wife was understandably terrified. I felt and still feel so guilty that my attempts to get some daylight into some very dark corners had exposed her to lethal risks and made her so very afraid.’’ During his time at Victoria Police, Sir Ken began wearing a gun and had guards stationed at his home in response to a credible death threat from organised crime. He described the day he was walking around Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens when he saw a red sniper’s laser trained on his chest, his wife, and his dog. ‘‘It wasn’t the sort of laser you buy in a toy store, it was the real thing,’’ he said. Sir Ken tendered his resignation after deciding his position at Victoria Police had become untenable. On May 6, 2011, he was called to Mr Overland’s office and told to immediately clear his desk.

A former chief constable of Sussex Police and president of Britain's Association of Chief Police Officers who was knighted for his services to policing and counter-terrorism, Sir Ken told the royal commission of his humiliation at being forced out of Victoria Police. He said his ousting from the force was an attempt to silence and discredit the concerns he had raised about the use of Informer 3838, the manipulation of crime statistics, cost-blow outs and what he described as ‘‘distasteful’’ practices within the top ranks of Victoria Police. He was told his removal was greeted with ‘‘the chief and my colleagues indulging in some unprofessional high-five gestures’’ inside Victoria Police headquarters. ‘‘We were completely and utterly humiliated,’’ he said. ‘‘My wife was in bits, it was disgusting what was done to us. ‘‘I am pretty aggrieved at what happened to me and no one has ever apologised.’’

Sir Ken said the police use of Ms Gobbo as an informant began as highly irregular and unethical and from there, deteriorated into an illegal and chaotic practice. As the royal commission public hearings near their end, Sir Ken is the first witness to give expansive evidence about the culture within Victoria Police that allowed the Informer 3838 scandal to develop and continue. ‘‘Absolute loyalty to whoever your boss was at the time was demanded and rewarded,’’ he said in his statement. ‘‘In any public service such unquestioning loyalty to hierarchy is toxic and dysfunctional, it sustains and nurtures corrupt cultures and cover ups. This is especially true in law enforcement. Sir Ken said a constable’s first duty should be to the law rather than uncritically following a superior officer. ‘‘I had always been trained to understand that loyalty to the law and doing the right thing always comes first, no exceptions.

‘‘The broader consequences for the Victorian community have been lasting and severe,’’ he said. ‘‘It was and is often claimed that the use of Nicola Gobo as an informer ended the so-called gang killings, that desperate times called for desperate measures, that the community should celebrate. ‘‘That is a seductive yet false and misleading narrative.’’ Sir Ken denied there was animosity between himself and Mr Overland, but conceded there was ‘‘no love lost’’ between them when he left Victoria Police. ‘‘We just didn’t gel,’’ he said.