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 woman Stacey Thorne in 2007. Thorne was 22 weeks pregnant with Austic’s child when she was stabbed 21 times at her Boddington home. Sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 25 years, three pieces of evidence proved crucial in Austic’s conviction: a knife with traces of Thorne’s blood found in a paddock between their homes; a bloodstained cigarette packet discovered on Austic’s veranda; and a Jim Beam can with Austic’s DNA found on the verge near Thorne’s home. However, a post-conviction review by forensic scientist and criminal defence lawyer Dr Clint Hampson raised serious concerns about the integrity of this evidence.

While reviewing photos and video footage, Dr Hampson uncovered troubling inconsistencies. The cigarette packet appeared in digital images of the scene but was absent from video footage taken a day earlier. The Jim Beam can surfaced only after forensic teams had already processed the area. Most concerningly, the alleged murder weapon – a knife – was ‘discovered’ in an open field that had been thoroughly searched the day before, with no reports of it at the time. UK-based forensic pathologist Dr. Richard Shepherd, who has conducted over 23,000 autopsies and is renowned for his work on the Princess Diana inquiry and investigations following 9/11, determined that the knife could not have caused Thorne’s injuries. He stated, ‘In 40 years, I’ve seen many things, but I’ve never, ever seen such a blatant attempt to plant incriminating evidence in a case. I’ve seen evidence lost, mislaid, or misinterpreted, but never such a blatant attempt to pervert the course of justice.’

After years of legal battles and a petition for mercy, the Court of Appeal overturned Austic’s conviction, citing grave concerns about the integrity of the investigation. A retrial was ordered, and in November 2020, a jury acquitted him in just two hours and 16 minutes. Despite his acquittal, no officers have been held accountable for the alleged evidence tampering. Austic’s case has heightened concerns about police misconduct, forensic integrity, and wrongful convictions in Western Australia.