Did a ‘Canadian technique’ police sting and a bogus Mr Big leave an Australian murder probe fatally flawed?
- Glen Weaven was sentenced to 20 years in jail after an undercover cop posing as a crime lord encouraged him to confess to murdering his partner
- Nearly a decade on, researchers at Melbourne’s RMIT are seeking a review of police methods that led both to his conviction and that of many others
At a luxury Melbourne hotel in September 2009, crime boss Gary Butcher made Glen Weaven an offer that promised to make his problems go away.
Weaven’s involvement started small and initially stayed within the confines of the law. At Berwick Springs Hotel in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs in July, he accepted an offer of A$200 (US$150) to surreptitiously take notes during a meeting between his new acquaintance and another man.
Before long, Weaven graduated to taking part in the gang’s most serious criminal endeavours, in which tens of thousands of dollars could change hands, from collecting protection money from sex workers and blackmailing a cheating spouse, to smuggling guns and counterfeit cigarettes.
At the Crown Towers Melbourne hotel in September, Butcher was ready to give Weaven his chance to become a full-fledged member of the gang. Membership promised spectacular rewards. From the gang’s next big job alone, Weaven could expect a cut of A$100,000, Butcher said.
“It is a sensational lifestyle,” the crime boss said, describing a life of excess where “if you ding a car, you don’t fix the friggin’ thing, you just go and buy another one”.