The Good Cop
Page 29
I should mention two of those officers – Paul Delianis, who was in charge of Homicide when I first arrived there in 1980, and Brian McCarthy, my senior sergeant. Both officers helped to shape my career, and provided me with role models.
The families of victims were a central part of my twenty- five years at the Homicide Squad, and you will not be forgotten. I may not have provided all the answers but I hope my team were able to ease some of your pain.
The legal fraternity, Office of Public Prosecutions and defence counsel, judges of the Supreme Court: thank you for your guidance, wisdom and knowledge. I learnt more during the trials than any classroom could teach me. Court was the arena where every decision I made came under scrutiny. It taught me ‘the decision you make today you will have to justify’.
To all facets of media: without your stories, many of the crimes would not have been solved. I thank you for the support you always offered. Someone once told me that police cannot do without the media, and the media need the police. It is a partnership that has stood the test of time, but maybe of recent times this has not been fully understood by our decision makers.
To friends and acquaintances, now that you have read my book you may understand why I did not attend your dinner, barbecue or function, or why Colleen came alone. I hope I was there in spirit.
Ron Iddles
At an Iddles family barbecue, I said to Ron, ‘You have to be a pretty special person to have a biography written about you.’ Typically humble, he didn’t know what to say, so he acknowledged with a smile that he knew it was something to be proud of.
The information Ron has so generously imparted in our weekly meetings has been eye-opening, sad, funny, heart-warming, astonishing and, most of all, inspiring. So it is you, Ron, I must thank, first and foremost, for being an extraordinary subject, an incredible detective and community leader, and an exceptional human being. You are one in a million and it is a great honour to tell your story in this book.
To the beautiful and gracious Colleen Iddles, who has largely shunned the spotlight until now – thank you for the fascinating stories you have shared with me. (Not to mention the books of Ron’s press clippings you have so lovingly compiled!)
To Ron’s children, Joanne Zammit, Matthew Iddles and Shae Iddles – my enormous gratitude to you for telling me about the dad you so obviously love and admire. I hope this book will be something you can hand down to future generations.
Thank you to Ron’s dad, Bill Iddles, who, at eighty-eight years old, spoke to me from a hospital bed and told Ron that he’d ‘hang on’ so I could interview him. It was a privilege to talk to the father of The Great Man. And to Ron’s brother Barry Iddles and sister, Nancye Lees, thanks for all the funny anecdotes and endearing family photos.
To John Silvester, thank you for generously sharing your expert knowledge of Ron in the foreword. It is an enormous honour to have one of the greats of True Australian Crime contribute in such a meaningful and insightful way.
Anne Stanford from the Supreme Court of Victoria – you are a champion. Thanks for all your time scouring records and going ‘across the road’ to dig up old files.
Special thanks to Julia Taylor and The Five Mile Press, as well as Mary-Anne Toy and The Age for permission to reprint quotes from my previously published stories.
Much gratitude is owed to all the other contributors to the book, whose personal stories and tributes have helped to tell the Ron Iddles story. Thanks to: Jo-Ann Adams, Allan Birch, Joe Bono, Jenny Burke, Louise Burke, Ted Coleman, Paul Delianis, Harry Derix, Paul Evans, Bob Falconer, Lee Gassner, George Halvagis, Paul Hatton, Glenn Heaton, Judy Ip, Mark James, Brian McCarthy, Lindsay McMinn, Bev McNamara, Noel McNamara, Carl Mengler, Tammy Mills, John Moloney, Keith Moor, Mick Long, Bruce Nicholls, Ken O’Connor, Geoff O’Loughlin, Tim Peck, Sal Perna, Margaret Read, Sharon Relf, Ray Relf, Bill Rule, John Silvester, Amanda Sinclair, Ivan Smith, Keith Sutherland and Marion Wishart.
To my publisher, Angus Fontaine from Pan Macmillan, I am ever grateful for the opportunity to tell this special story and for your continued help and guidance. It has been a privilege to write for you.
Thank you also to my brilliant editors – Senior Editor Mathilda Imlah, Foong Ling Kong, Rebecca Hamilton and Mark Evans. What a gun team!
As always, I wish to acknowledge my wonderful agent, John Timlin, who has championed my work from the start. I hope you like this one, John!
Enormous thanks also to those whose enduring love and support encourages me to keep writing – my family and friends who push me ever onwards. I could not appreciate it more.
And thanks to you, dear readers. Because of you, I get to tell amazing and enduring stories like this.
Justine Ford
If you have any information about any of the cases featured in this book, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Need help?
In the case of an emergency, contact 000. If you or someone you know are affected by crime, contact police immediately.
For help with mental illness, contact your trusted healthcare professional. Other organisations, such as Beyond Blue, can also help: www.beyondblue.org.au
If someone you know goes missing, report it to local police straight away.
About Justine Ford
Justine Ford is a true crime author, TV producer and journalist. Her first forays into crime were as a reporter on the top-rating Australia’s Most Wanted. She has covered the Melbourne gangland wars and scores of chilling homicides and missing persons cases. In that time Justine has won the trust of many families who are victims of crime, and developed deep access to police all over Australia, enabling her to bring crucial, never-before-published case information to her reporting. Justine has written three books, Missing You, One Piece of the Puzzle and Unsolved Australia (Pan Macmillan, July 2015). www.justineford.net
Also by Justine Ford
Missing You
One Piece of the Puzzle
Unsolved Australia
Justine Ford
Unsolved Australia
Follow the twists and turns. Piece together the clues. Weigh the evidence. Assess the suspects. Can you catch a killer?
Australia’s most baffling homicides and mysterious missing persons cases are uniquely explored in Unsolved Australia, a remarkable true crime book in which you, the reader, are invited to play armchair detective.
Crusading journalist Justine Ford shines fresh light on 18 infamous cases, unearths jaw-dropping evidence via in-depth interviews with police, criminals and families of victims, and introduces the humble heroes who never stop searching for the truth.
Unsolved Australia is a chilling, thrilling and inspiring book full of drama, emotion … and hope.
Some of the people in this book have had their names changed to protect their identities.
First published 2016 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © Justine Ford 2016
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available
from the National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au
EPUB format: 9781743535080
Typeset by Post Pre-press Group
Cover design: Debra Billson
Front cover photograph: Julian Kingma
The author and the publisher have made every effort to contact copyright holders
for material used in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked should contact the publisher.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this book may contain images or names of people now deceased.
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