Convicted cop killer Jason Roberts could WALK free over Melbourne Silk and Miller murders

An ex-homicide squad detective who discovered colleagues had omitted crucial evidence in their case against an alleged cop killer may have provided the key that sees him walk free. 

Former sergeant Ron Iddles was on Tuesday called in the second murder trial of Jason Roberts, 41, who was previously convicted of killing Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller in Melbourne in August 1998.

It was Mr Iddles who discovered in 2015 the original statement made by one of the last officers to speak to the dying Miller that night was never included in the brief of evidence used to convict Roberts more than 20 years ago.

Sergeant Gary Silk (left) and Senior Constable Rodney Miller (right) were killed while on duty, investigating a series of robberies in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin

Former homicide squad detective Ron Iddles discovered police had omitted the original statement made by the last cop to speak to a dying Rodney Miller 

Instead, a second amended statement taken at a later date was used as if the previous one didn’t exist.  

That omission was enough to grant Roberts a retrial and may prove crucial in the current marathon trail. 

Roberts, along with Bandali Debs, was found guilty of murder by a jury in 2002, but Roberts has always maintained his innocence.

He had been aged just 17 on the night the officers were shot dead and claims he was not even there. 

On Tuesday, Mr Iddles, who provided his evidence on behalf of Roberts’ defence, was the last of almost 90 witnesses called in the Supreme Court of Victoria retrial that kicked-off back on March 23. 

Officers Silk and Miller had been investigating a series of 10 robberies at outer suburban restaurants and were patrolling a potential target just after midnight on the night they would die.

The pair had been staking out the Silky Emperor Chinese restaurant on Cochranes Road in Moorabbin, 15km southeast of Melbourne’s CBD, when they pulled over what police allege was Roberts and Debs.

When officer Glenn Pullin, who has since left Victoria Police, arrived at the scene, Sergeant Miller was still clinging to life and provided the only eye witness account of what had happened. 

‘He was in a lot of pain, he was conscious, he was asking for help,’ Mr Pullin told the jury in April. 

The jury heard Sergeant Miller told Mr Pullin one offender had fled on foot.

Jason Roberts (pictured with his girlfriend) has always maintained his innocence but has spent more than 20 years in prison

Mr Pullin said he could not be sure how long the conversation lasted. 

‘It could seem three or four minutes, it could be 30 seconds, you know, it’s a bit like, I suppose, a car crash, you see everything seems longer than what it is sometimes,’ he said. 

THE STATEMENT  

The officer made his first statement at 4.45am that morning. 

It read: ‘I heard him say that there was one male offender on foot and I also heard someone mention a small dark coloured car possibly being a Hyundai.’

But the jury heard Mr Pullin would later agree to amend that statement to make it clear Sergeant Miller had referred to two offenders, not one. 

That second statement, which was previously used to convict Roberts, was taken by a more senior officer, George Buchhorn, sometime after the murders. 

The new statement included a line: ‘Were they on car or on foot?’ 

It would later be entered into the brief of evidence against Roberts backdated to the day of Mr Pullin’s first statement, and sworn by him under oath that it was true and correct.  

‘George told me the second statement was needed so as to make all things fit,’ Mr Pullin told Mr Iddles when questioned by him in 2015.

‘I’m not sure if the statement was already prepared for me in advance or I made my second statement to George Buchhorn.’

A young Bandali Debs, who police and the courts have no doubt murdered Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller

Bandali Debs (pictured) was convicted of the cop killings. Police allege Jason Roberts was also involved 

The court heard Mr Pullin had told a preliminary committal hearing into the Roberts trial in 2001 and a 2019 Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission hearing that he couldn’t actually remember how many people the dying officer had spoken of. 

‘When I was called to give evidence at the committal I asked George Buchhorn about my first statement. He told me only my second statement made it onto the brief, and not to mention the fact I had made the first statement,’ Mr Pullin told Mr Iddles. 

Before the jury, Mr Pullin accepted it was possible he had provided false evidence at Roberts’ earlier hearing. 

‘I don’t believe I did, no… Anything’s possible. Unlikely. Highly,’ Mr Pullin said. 

THE ALIBI  

The jury heard Roberts told Mr Iddles in 2013 he was with his then-girlfriend Nicole – Bandali Debs’ daughter – at the Debs’ home in Narre Warren when the shootings happened. 

The alleged killer repeated that assertion in the witness box earlier this month.  

Roberts told the jury he went out to dinner with his girlfriend – who did not give evidence in the trial – to The Bear House restaurant in Cranbourne before going back to her house. 

He claimed Debs had later tried to convince him to join him in casing out a few restaurants to rob, but he refused. 

‘I had a couple of drinks with dinner and I had my 18th that was the following week,’ Roberts said. 

While Roberts denies the murders, he has pleaded guilty to carrying out 10 armed robberies with Debs.   

Roberts told the jury Debs had later told him he shot Senior Constable Miller after he asked him to open the boot of his car.

‘He said he was standing next to him and he shot him in the side of the chest,’ Roberts claimed. 

‘He then went to Silk who was at the window and shot him twice.’

Silky Emperor Chinese Restaurant (around 2013 before it closed down), which the officers had been staking out on that fateful night

Jason Roberts during his first murder trial 20 long years ago – he has always maintained his innocence

THE DEFENCE 

The jury heard Roberts had admitted to telling all kinds of lies to police during their investigation. 

His barrister, David Hallowes SC, told the jury the teenage Roberts had good reason to lie. 

‘To admit the truth there, would not only need him to tell the police, Bandali Debs, the father of my girlfriend was the person who committed the murders, he’s told me that, but would also have required him to admit those 10 armed robberies,’ he told the jury last week.

Mr Hallowes said Debs had previously made admissions that he had acted alone. 

In 2017, while caged in Goulburn Prison, in New South Wales, Debs allegedly told a lawyer working on Roberts’ case that he would only make a statement if he got something in return. 

‘Bandali Debs said that he wouldn’t sign any document, refused to sign any document to that effect, unless and until he was back in Victoria,’ Mr Hallowes said.

Career crook William Prideaux has also given evidence suggesting Debs was the solitary shooter.

On Monday he told the jury he had been walking his dog in the area when he spotted Debs alone near the hatchback he used in the shootings. 

Prideaux told the court he lied to police about what he had seen that night. 

Officers who drove past Sergeant Silk and Senior Constable Miller minutes before they were shot also reported only seeing one person at the time.  

Police march in their thousands behind the hearse carrying the body of Senior Constable Rod Miller in 1998

Colleagues carry Constable Rodney Miller’s coffin at the funeral service in 1998. Police lined the road for more than a kilometre to honour him in death

Floral tributes are seen at a memorial for two Victorian police officers killed in the line of duty 22 years ago. Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller were gunned down in Moorabbin in 1998. Police lined the streets for more than a kilometre to farewell them

THE PROSECUTION 

In closing the prosecution case over four days last week, Crown prosecutor Ben Ihle QC branded Roberts a rotten liar. 

‘He has told so many lies, to so many people in so many situations, that when he comes before you and says he’s telling the truth, you should be having serious, serious doubts,’ Mr Ihle said. 

He told the jury it was Roberts who cold bloodedly fired a .38 calibre slug into the chest of Sergeant Silk from about two-metres away. 

Sergeant Silk was then allegedly shot twice on the ground with a .357 Magnum – once in the head and hip. 

His body was found still clutching at his chest from the initial gunshot wound when his colleagues arrived. 

Experts found 11 shots were fired from three guns that night – one belonged to Senior Constable Miller who bravely fought for his life. 

Critically injured, the prosecution claims the officer said: ‘Two, one on foot’ and, ‘Get them, I’m f***ed.’

Other officers at the scene had also claimed the dying officer made references to multiple shooters. 

When the call went out that officers were down, those responding were advised to be on the hunt for two offenders. 

Former sergeant Helen Poke was 200 metres away when the call for help came in and she arrived at the scene within 20 seconds.  

She told the jury she had cradled Senior Constable Miller in her lap and reassured him. 

Bandali Debs after his 2000 arrest over the murders of two police officers. He has been in prison for 20 years

Jason Roberts during his 2003 murder trial – he was found guilty but has always maintained his innocence

Ms Poke said he repeated the same phrase over and over as if he had memorised it.

‘He kept the same order – get them, I’m f***ed, two offenders, one on foot, six foot, dark hair, checked shirt, dark Hyundai – and then we’d go back to the start,’ she said.

Senior Constable Lou Gerardi drove at speeds of up to 150kmh to reach the scene in minutes.

‘I didn’t lift my foot until we got there,’ he told the jury. 

Mr Gerardi held Senior Constable Miller’s hand as the dying officer told him ‘I’m f***ed’ and to ‘get them c***s’.

Both claimed their colleague referenced multiple offenders despite failing to use the term ‘offenders’ in their statements.

The jury heard Roberts and Debs would later discuss the shootings using plurals during conversations secretly recorded by police before their arrest. 

‘The older one he just said, “We’re right”, and couldn’t give a f**k and f**king go home. The younger one, one got – wants to chase,’ police allege Roberts told Debs in one recording.

The pair allegedly discussed murdering the widow and infant child of Senior Constable Miller in an effort to throw the scent off them.  

Mr Ihle told the jury the case against Roberts would come together like a ‘jigsaw puzzle’. 

‘Looking at one piece will not give you the overall picture.

‘The picture only comes together when interaction between the pieces comes together,’ he said. 

‘Might there be pieces of the puzzle missing at the end of the day? Sure, it was 22-years ago.

‘The overall evidence is more powerful than the sum of its parts.’

The trial continues.