Denied

Scott Austic Convicted of murder in 2009, Scott Austic spent nearly 13 years in prison before his conviction was overturned in 2020, when the Western Australian Court of Appeal found that there was ‘credible, cogent and plausible’ reason to believe that crucial evidence against him had been planted. Austic was accused of murdering 34-year-old Noongar […]

Darryl Beamish Convicted of murder in 1961, Darryl Beamish, a deaf and non-verbal man, endured 45 years before his conviction was quashed – the longest period between conviction and exoneration in Australia. Just 18 at the time of the crime, he was initially sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. Despite serial killer Eric

Derek Bromley A proud Aboriginal man of the Ngarrindjeri and Narungga peoples of South Australia and a member of the Stolen Generation, Derek Bromley, now 69, has spent only 45 days free from state care. Convicted of murder in 1985 on the basis of fundamentally flawed evidence, he is currently the longest-serving prisoner in the

John Button In 1963, on his 19th birthday, John Button was charged with wilful murder for the hit and run killing of his girlfriend, which subsequently resulted in a conviction of manslaughter. Despite serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke confessing to the crime in 1964, Button served over five years of hard labour before his release.

Terry Irving Proud Gadigal man Terry Irving was wrongfully convicted of armed robbery in 1993, spending nearly five years in prison. His conviction was largely based on the identification of his vehicle as the getaway car and the testimony of three bank tellers. Despite significant discrepancies in witness descriptions and the absence of physical evidence

Susan Neill-Fraser In 2010, Susan Neill-Fraser was convicted of murder following the mysterious disappearance of her partner from their yacht on Australia Day. The case, highly publicised and deeply controversial, divided the Hobart community, leading to a 26-year sentence, later reduced to 23 on appeal. With no body, murder weapon, eyewitnesses, confession, clear motive, or

Lloyd Rayney Lloyd Rayney, a former Perth barrister and Senior Crown Prosecutor, became embroiled in one of Australia’s most contentious legal battles following the 2007 disappearance and murder of his wife. Publicly labelled by police as the ‘prime’ and ‘only’ suspect, Rayney was charged, tried, and then acquitted. Enduring years of intense scrutiny and severe

Graham Stafford Graham Stafford was convicted in 1992 for the brutal murder of his girlfriend’s 12-year-old sister, whose mutilated body was discovered in bushland near Redbank Plains, Queensland. Despite the absence of a clear motive and significant flaws in the forensic evidence, Stafford was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. In 2009, after