Radio personality Lauren Phillips has taken to the airwaves to apologise to the mother of a murdered child she had mocked during a disastrous ‘on air’ chat.
Aspiring dancer Rachel Barber was just 15 when Caroline Reed Robertson strangled her to death with a telephone cord in a plot to steal her identity in 1999.
Last week, Phillips disgusted the family and friends of the murdered dancer when she laughed on Melbourne’s KIIS 101.1 while listening to a podcast describing her brutal murder.
Rachel Barber, a 15-year-old dance student, was murdered by strangulation in Melbourne in 1999
Lauren Phillips used the horrific murder of a Melbourne child as part of an on-air chat
Caroline Reed Robertson was 19 years old when she murdered Rachel Barber, pictured here after her arrest
‘Am I a psychopath?’ Phillips asked during the conversation with co-host Jason ‘Jase’ Hawkins, outraging Elizabeth Barber, her friends and family.
Phillips told listeners on Wednesday she had been unaware the audio producers played during her conversation had been taken from the the very real life CASEFILE series of true crime podcasts.
The chat saw Phillips describe how she had used the podcast discussing Rachel’s tragic murder to cheer herself up.
Phillips cackled with laughter in the segment, which was later posted on the radio station’s own social media platforms.
The 34-year old explained she had just had an argument with her boyfriend when she decided to listen to the podcast.
On Wednesday, Phillips claimed she had become aware over the weekend that the snippet she had laughed at had been ripped from a TikTok video.
Choking back tears, Phillips said she had never intended to use audio of a real life crime to go with her on-air chat.
‘All of us here on the show were devastated when we realised what we had done. The show takes full responsibility and our background checks on the source of audio should have been more thorough,’ Phillips said.
Hawkins too apologised for his limited role in the conversation and thanked Rachel’s mum for taking their calls to apologise in person.
‘She didn’t have to do that and we both had chats with her and yeah we appreciate her taking the call,’ he said.
Lauren Phillips upset the friends and family of murder victim Rachel Barber with an insensitive segment on Melbourne radio
Rachel Barber’s murder shocked all of Melbourne in 1999. The beloved child was only 15 when she was cruelly murdered.
Rachel had been a talented dancer in her short life. Her cruel death still haunts Melburnians
Phillips added that the incident had impacted deeply on the entire production crew.
‘We really, from the bottom of our hearts, are very sorry that that audio was used, but we are deeply sorry and we will do everything in our power to ensure nothing like that ever happens again on our show,’ she said.
Daily Mail Australia revealed on Monday the shocking impact of Phillips’ cruel discussion on the friends and family of Rachel Barber.
The story saw Phillips viciously trolled online, with some going so far as to make threats against her life.
On Thursday, Mrs Barber said she had accepted Phillips and Hawkins’ apologies and thanked them for doing it again on-air.
She expressed concern for Phillips’ welfare amid the brutal fallout from the disrespectful on-air conversation with her co-host.
‘It was a tough lesson for Lauren in particular, but I do hope it will make her more considerate. We did feel that the vitriol in the comments was a bit overboard,’ Mrs Barber told Daily Mail Australia.
‘It was also tough reading some of the comments because people can also be very cruel. We all make mistakes. What is important is that we learn from them and become better people for it.’
Rachel Barber with her parents Elizabeth and Michael just before she was killed
Elizabeth Barber has accepted an apology from a pair of radio presenters who had laughed about the murder of her precious daughter Rachel (pictured)
The Barber family stuck thousands of posters up around Melbourne in the hope of finding their daughter alive
Lauren Phillips had a good laugh while listening to a podcast describe how Rachel Barber was killed
The backlash against Phillips whipped into high gear when Mrs Barber revealed to Daily Mail Australia she had attempted to contact the radio identity, but was not allowed.
Instead, the show’s executive producer claimed she had given the all-clear for the discussion because they all believed the clearly labelled true crime podcast had been fictional.
‘I said Lauren should apologise on air out of respect, so that maybe another occurrence of a similar situation does not arise again,’ Ms Barber said at the time.
It is understood the radio station was bombarded with complaints, but the social media posts promoting the conversation were only pulled down on Monday after being contacted directly by Ms Barber.
In 2000, Reed Robertson, then 19, was jailed for 20 years after pleading guilty to the murder of Rachel, with a non-parole period of 14 and a half years.
She would be released from jail in 2015 with the forgiveness of Ms Barber’s parents.
It was a case so twisted that it inspired a star-studded 2009 Australian film, ‘I Am You’ (also known as ‘In Her Skin’), starring Guy Pearce, Miranda Otto, Sam Neill and Rebecca Gibney.
The murder of Rachel Barber will never be forgotten in Melbourne.
Rachel Barber and her parents before she was murdered
Rachel Barber’s life was just about to begin when it was all ended in the most horrific of ways
Robertson was the victim’s former babysitter, a trusted family friend and neighbour, who lured the teen to her death by manipulating her trust.
No one realised that she was plotting to kill her beautiful neighbour and assume her identity for a new start.
The Supreme Court heard that Reed Robertson had convinced herself that after killing Rachel she could in some way assume her identity.
As Rachel’s devastated family desperately searched for their daughter, Reed Robertson wrapped the body in two rugs and took a taxi to her father’s Kilmore farm, telling the driver she was moving a statue.
Rachel’s body was buried in a shallow hole, bizarrely positioned next to the grave of the murderer’s pet.
Not long after, Reed Robertson was arrested by police. She confessed to the murder and 12 days later Rachel’s body was found – the cable used to kill her still tightened around her neck.
Lauren Phillips has made an on-air apology over an awful conversation she had on Melbourne radio last week
Lauren Phillips and co-host Jason ‘Jase’ Hawkins have apologised to Rachel Barber’s mum
Lauren Phillips claimed she had no idea the podcast she was laughing at was about the true life murder of Rachel Barber
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