Andrew Mallard

Australian wrongfully convicted of murder

Andrew Mark Mallard (16 August 1962 – 18 April 2019) was a British born Australian who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Almost 12 years later, after an appeal to the High Court of Australia, his conviction was quashed and a retrial ordered. However, the charges against him were dropped and Mallard was released. At the time, the Director of Public Prosecutions stated that Mallard remained the prime suspect and that if further evidence became available he could still be prosecuted. He was released from prison in 2006 after his conviction was quashed by the High Court, and was paid $3.25 million compensation by the state government. The Western Australian Commission on Crime and Corruption investigated whether there was misconduct by any public officer (police, prosecutors or members of parliament) associated with this case and made findings against two policemen and a senior prosecutor.

Andrew Mark Mallard was born in England on 16 August 1962 to parents Roy and Grace Mallard, who already had a 10 year old daughter. The Mallards immigrated to Perth in 1967, and Andrew, unusually tall for his age, had trouble settling in to their new life, and was bullied throughout his school life. The print had been found on the top of a display case in Lawrence's shop, which was significant, as it had been the practice of the shop staff to wipe the top of that case after each customer left. Rochford's appearance, in particular his beard, was more consistent with the original accounts of eyewitnesses than was Mallard's. On this basis the review became a cold case review. The weapon used by Rochford to kill Dickens was a steel collar of the type used by weight lifters to secure weights to a bar. Rochford had attached the collar to a broom handle and used it to club Dickens to death. The actual collar could not be located in 2006 but its dimensions were known and a photograph was available. The shape and dimensions of the collar were consistent with the form of the wounds in Lawrence's skull. The photograph of the collar indicated that it was painted blue and a rucksack belonging to Rochford was found to contain blue paint flakes which were identical in chemical composition to those removed from Lawrence's wounds. Later, at about 7:45 am AWST on 19 May 2006, the body of Simon Rochford was discovered in his cell at Albany Maximum Security Prison by prison officers, just hours after he had been named as "a person of significant interest" in the Pamela Lawrence investigation. On 12 May 2006, five police officers were stood down by the West Australian Police Commissioner in relation to the original investigation into the murder. On 11 October 2006, the commissioner announced that the cold case review was complete, that Mallard was no longer a person of interest in relation to the case; that there was sufficient evidence to implicate Simon Rochford and that, if he had still been living, the police would have prepared a brief of evidence against him for the WA Director of Public Prosecutions. The police commissioner apologised to Mallard for any part the police had played in his conviction. The Premier of Western Australia indicated that the government would be considering compensation, though the state's attorney general stated that no decision could be made until the Commission on Crime and Corruption had completed its investigation. However, on 22 November 2006, the Adelaide Advertiser carried an AAP story stating that Mallard had received a AUD$200,000 ex gratia payment as partial compensation.

The Commission on Crime and Corruption (CCC) announced that it was studying the report of the cold case review and would be holding public hearings in 2007. In the meantime it had asked the police to not release the full report, either to the public or within the police service, and in particular, to ensure that police involved in the original investigation had no access to it. The CCC hearings into whether police and/or prosecutors behaved unethically or illegally in the Mallard case began on 31 July 2007. On 7 October 2008 the CCC announced its recommendations that disciplinary action be taken against two assistant police commissioners and the deputy director of public prosecution. The two police officers subsequently resigned, thereby removing any chance of disciplinary proceedings going ahead. In May 2009, Mallard was offered a payment of $3.25 million as settlement, though the premier of the state, Colin Barnett, said that were Mallard to take civil action against those he held responsible for his wrongful conviction, the government would support any servant of the state in that event. Mallard pledged to spend it on his mother and sister and rebuilding his life. “I want to be like everybody else. I want to have a wife and a family and to provide for my family through my own efforts,”

A documentary titled Saving Andrew Mallard was directed by Michael Muntz and produced by Artemis International, focusing on Mallard's family, its struggle to have him freed, the deception undertaken by the original police investigation team and the evidence uncovered that eventually led to Mallard's freedom. It was first aired on ABC Television on 4 May 2006. It was short listed for a Walkley Award, and Muntz won the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award in the WA Screen Awards. The documentary's epilogue noted that the DPP still considered Mallard a prime suspect in its investigation at that time. A book about the case, Murderer No More: Andrew Mallard and the Epic Fight that Proved his Innocence, was written by Colleen Egan, the journalist who campaigned on Mallard's behalf for eight years, was published by Allen & Unwin in June 2010. A Casefile True Crime Podcast detailing the case was released on 29 May 2016. He was engaged to be married, and frequently travelled to Los Angeles where his fiancée lived. In the early hours of 18 April 2019, he was fatally struck by a motorist while crossing a road in Hollywood.