Convicted murderer Arthur Greer is unlikely to be granted parole, despite new evidence that suggests he may not have killed 14-year-old Sharon Mason, according to former attorney-general Jim McGinty.
Greer has served 16 years of his life sentence, more than double the minimum term set by the Supreme Court, but has had his parole request continually knocked back by the Prisoners Review Board.
His pro bono lawyer Jonathan Davies has applied to the board to allow Greer parole in light of the new evidence, which may explain his long-standing refusal to accept responsibility for the schoolgirl's murder.
The evidence uncovered by John Button, who was also wrongly convicted over a murder committed by serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, was presented to the Innocence Project in WA and Edith Cowan University law students, as well as criminologists and psychologists.
His years as a builder meant he was able to find a discrepancy about where the plumbing was on the Mosman Park site where Ms Mason's remains were found.
It is now suggested that the remains were above pipes that were installed after the girl's disappearance in 1983, and were not located under a shed then-belonging to Greer, which was thought to have concealed the burial spot.
Greer has a violent criminal record, including being convicted of sexual assault, and has been described as "a sexual, predatory psychopath".
Yet advocate Estelle Blackburn said the hairs found in Ms Mason's underwear, when her body was recovered, did not match Greer's, nor did fingerprints found on the rubbish bags that housed Ms Mason's remains.
Ms Blackburn said witnesses attested that they saw Ms Mason running down Stirling Highway at 10 o'clock at night looking distraught after police alleged she had been murdered.
She said she had her own theories about who killed Ms Mason but ruled out Ms Mason's father, who committed suicide after coming under the spotlight during the police investigation into her disappearance.
Ms Mason's mother, who was divorced at the time of her daughter's disappearance, was haunted by reminders of her daughter's gruesome death every time Greer came up for parole, Mr McGinty said.
Mr McGinty was in his role as attorney-general when Greer's parole was first considered in 2001 and said he considered deporting the Liverpool-born Greer but the board rejected parole on the basis that it needed to protect the larger community, not just in Western Australia.
"If there was new evidence like there was in many, many cases such as the Micklebergs, Mallard and Beamish I would have had no hesitation in bringing it for reconsideration before the courts but I can't really comment on this (evidence)," Mr McGinty said.
He said Andrew Mallard, who was wrongly convicted over the murder of Mosman Park jeweller Pamela Lawrence, had "significant evidence proving his innocence" and Greer's case was "not as conclusive", despite many lawyers arguing that his conviction was based on circumstantial evidence.
Mr McGinty said even Mr Mallard had to remain in custody well after he was cleared by court, pending a new trial that was eventually abandoned by the Department of Public Prosecutions.
He said it was unlikely the Prisoners Review Board would grant Greer parole to compile an appeal and ultimately the decision would have to be approved by the current Attorney-General Christian Porter, who could take into account public sentiment.
"It would be unusual for someone to be released on parole in a murder case and from what I know of this case I wouldn't at all be enthusiastic over the prospect of release."
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/mason-murderer-will-remain-inside-mcginty-20110303-1bgak.html#ixzz1OIhnku23
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Greer Likely To Remain In Prison
Convicted murderer Arthur Greer is unlikely to be granted parole, despite new evidence that suggests he may not have killed 14-year-old Sharon Mason, according to former attorney-general Jim McGinty.
Greer has served 16 years of his life sentence, more than double the minimum term set by the Supreme Court, but has had his parole request continually knocked back by the Prisoners Review Board.
His pro bono lawyer Jonathan Davies has applied to the board to allow Greer parole in light of the new evidence, which may explain his long-standing refusal to accept responsibility for the schoolgirl's murder.
The evidence uncovered by John Button, who was also wrongly convicted over a murder committed by serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, was presented to the Innocence Project in WA and Edith Cowan University law students, as well as criminologists and psychologists.
His years as a builder meant he was able to find a discrepancy about where the plumbing was on the Mosman Park site where Ms Mason's remains were found.
It is now suggested that the remains were above pipes that were installed after the girl's disappearance in 1983, and were not located under a shed then-belonging to Greer, which was thought to have concealed the burial spot.
Greer has a violent criminal record, including being convicted of sexual assault, and has been described as "a sexual, predatory psychopath".
Yet advocate Estelle Blackburn said the hairs found in Ms Mason's underwear, when her body was recovered, did not match Greer's, nor did fingerprints found on the rubbish bags that housed Ms Mason's remains.
Ms Blackburn said witnesses attested that they saw Ms Mason running down Stirling Highway at 10 o'clock at night looking distraught after police alleged she had been murdered.
She said she had her own theories about who killed Ms Mason but ruled out Ms Mason's father, who committed suicide after coming under the spotlight during the police investigation into her disappearance.
Ms Mason's mother, who was divorced at the time of her daughter's disappearance, was haunted by reminders of her daughter's gruesome death every time Greer came up for parole, Mr McGinty said.
Mr McGinty was in his role as attorney-general when Greer's parole was first considered in 2001 and said he considered deporting the Liverpool-born Greer but the board rejected parole on the basis that it needed to protect the larger community, not just in Western Australia.
"If there was new evidence like there was in many, many cases such as the Micklebergs, Mallard and Beamish I would have had no hesitation in bringing it for reconsideration before the courts but I can't really comment on this (evidence)," Mr McGinty said.
He said Andrew Mallard, who was wrongly convicted over the murder of Mosman Park jeweller Pamela Lawrence, had "significant evidence proving his innocence" and Greer's case was "not as conclusive", despite many lawyers arguing that his conviction was based on circumstantial evidence.
Mr McGinty said even Mr Mallard had to remain in custody well after he was cleared by court, pending a new trial that was eventually abandoned by the Department of Public Prosecutions.
He said it was unlikely the Prisoners Review Board would grant Greer parole to compile an appeal and ultimately the decision would have to be approved by the current Attorney-General Christian Porter, who could take into account public sentiment.
"It would be unusual for someone to be released on parole in a murder case and from what I know of this case I wouldn't at all be enthusiastic over the prospect of release."
Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/mason-murderer-will-remain-inside-mcginty-20110303-1bgak.html#ixzz1OIhnku23
Arthur Greer conviction of Sharon Mason Murder - Unsafe
New bid to overturn Mason murder verdict Aja Styles
watoday.com.auWeb. .March 3, 2011
A prominent Perth barrister is advocating the release of convicted murderer Arthur Greer, saying fresh evidence has since surfaced proving he was not responsible for killing and burying Sharon Mason in 1983.
Greer, who is now 73, was jailed in 1994 for the 14-year-old school girl's murder on the grounds that her remains were found on a Mosman Park site where he had owned a dress shop at the time of her disappearance.
The remains were excavated by building workers nine years after she went missing from the area and were found on top of plumbing pipes, partially intact with flesh still clinging to the bones.
Advertisement: Story continues below The prosecution case relied on the theory that Greer had buried her body, despite it being a well-frequented area, by lifting the floor of his backyard shed in order to dig the deep hole.
Law students at Edith Cowan University, under the auspice of the Innocence Project set up in WA in 2006 to exonerate wrongly-convicted felons, have since traced the manufacturing year of the pipes and utilised aerial surveillance to demonstrate the shed's location was not over the burial site.
Tom Percy QC, who is on the board of the Innocence Project, said the pipes were manufactured many years after the girl's disappearance and long after Greer had moved from his shop.
"There was no evidence at all apart from his very, very bad (criminal) record which was tied to running someone down and assaulting his wife," he said.
"The trial was run on his record because the evidence was threadbare."
He said the body may have been refrigerated and stored and buried on the site at a later date, which "would account for a lot of the flesh still being on (the body)".
"Which totally removes him from the location, so it could not possibly be Greer," Mr Percy said.
He said Greer had never been granted parole since becoming eligible in 2001 because he refused to take responsibility for the murder.
"He says 'I can't admit guilt on this because I didn't do it'," Mr Percy said.
Barrister Jonathan Davies is working pro bono on Greer's behalf and has applied to the Prisoners Review Board to grant him parole to assist him to prepare the new evidence for an appeal.
The decision will ultimately rest with the Attorney-General Christian Porter, who has to sign off on any recommendation for parole.
Mr Davies has overturned the convictions against John Button and Darryl Beamish over the Eric Edgar Cooke serial killings from 1959 to 1963.
Greer also has the backing of Supreme Court Chief Justice Wayne Martin, who worked pro bono as a lawyer at the time of his conviction to take the appeal to the High Court because the evidence was so limited.
"It's awful thinner than (Andrew) Mallard.. He was never convicted of wilful murder but murder, which means he killed her but didn't mean to by causing her serious harm, back in the day when wilful murder was still a charge. How do you deliver a guilty verdict based on that?," Mr Percy said.
"It was the most ridiculous verdict ever known. It's been a devil that has perplexed legal experts for years.
"We find the conviction absolutely bewildering."