Wrongly Released: Free To Kill

In January 2006, two sisters Colleen and Laura Irwin were raped and murdered in the unit they shared in Altona North. Initially police were at a loss to identify a suspect, until a local factory owner reported an employee missing – an employee who harboured a sinister past. William Watkins lived next door to the sisters and had a long rap sheet that included rape and aggravated burglary. He also disappeared. He was eventually stopped by a WA patrolman, thousands of kilometres away after stealing gas from a service station. In the ensuing fight, Watkins was shot and killed. The programme features emotional interviews with the girl’s friends and family who, even today, are still angry with the justice system who failed Colleen and Laura. It was only in the subsequent inquest that the full horror of Watkins past offending was revealed and how lenient sentencing and legal manouevering had allowed Watkins to live amongst the public. The programme also features a chilling interview with Shane Gray, the WA police Officer who fought for his life before ultimately killing William Watkins on a lonely stretch of desert highway.

In September 2012, Melbourne was rocked by the news of the murder of Jill Meagher. The response to her death resulted in a public outcry demanding that the Victorian parole system be investigated. But the subsequent inquiry came too late for 22 year old Sarah Cafferkey – killed by serial offender Steven Hunter – a man who had murdered another young woman 26 years before. The episode includes interviews with Sarah’s mother Noelle Dickson as well as legal professionals Gavin Silbert QC and Fiona McLeod SC, who were both directly involved in the case. The documentary reveals the fatal errors that led to Sarah’s death and the tragic shortcomings in the justice system that let Steven Hunter out of prison and failed to monitor him as he hunted for his next victim. The programme also features a revealing interview with Professor James Ogloff who conducted an investigation into the corrections system and highlighted potential failings in the process months before Sarah and Jill’s deaths.