Winning grin: Melissa Maree Goodwin secured a court victory last Wednesday when her ex-lover’s statement against her was ruled inadmissible by a magistrate
A prisoner known as ‘The Little Rat’ scurried away from sensational sex claims he made about a female prison officer apparently out of fear of reprisal from Rebels bikies.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal how the criminal case against western Sydney warden Melissa Maree Goodwin, 26, suffered a devastating setback this past week.
Just over a year ago, police accused Goodwin of repeatedly performing oral sex on inmate Corey London, 21, at Silverwater’s Metropolitan Remand Centre.
Detectives claimed the trysts occurred in a jail storeroom five times in as many months, between December 2019 and April 2020.
Goodwin has since admitted to a charge of engaging in an intimate relationship with London. The police had obtained a letter she wrote to him which said: ‘Miss you heaps … If only you were out before Valentine’s Day.’
But in order to prove the most serious allegations against her – the sex claims – prosecutors had to rely on London standing by his sordid story. There was no CCTV footage of their apparent rendezvouses.
That was the weak point her barrister Robert Wood exploited to great effect in Burwood Local Court last Wednesday.
Jailed armed robber Corey London – referred to as prison circles as ‘that little rat’ – refused to testify against Goodwin in court after his jaw was broken in prison
London is escorted back to a prison van after he refused to say a word in court and was charged with contempt
About three weeks ago, it became clear that London was wavering on his commitment to stand by his word.
London was shaken after he was bashed on May 14 at the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre in Kempsey.
It was bad enough he was taken to hospital and transferred to Parklea prison in Sydney, the Mail has learned.
Goodwin sported a fresh neck tattoo
Eleven days after the incident, London met with the prosecutor and officer in charge of Goodwin’s case.
‘You don’t know what he’s going to do to me,’ London told police and prosecutors on May 25, the court heard.
‘I have a broken jaw. I’m not getting up in court.
‘He’s going to make my life hell.’
London didn’t explicitly say who ‘he’ was.
But the court heard Goodwin’s lover after London, ex-convict Caleb Valeri, was an associate of the Rebels bikie gang.
At the legal meeting, London also tried to recant his evidence.
The criminal suddenly claimed what he had previously alleged about sex acts in the storeroom with Goodwin was ‘all false’.
But later in the meeting he flipped – saying ‘yep’, he wasn’t actually lying.
Love triangle: Goodwin pursued an entirely legal relationship with Rebels bikie associate Caleb Valeri after her arrest – infuriating London
Magistrate Daniel Reiss sarcastically described Corey London as a ‘real catch’ in court on Wednesday. Goodwin laughed
Goodwin will be sentenced over a charge of engaging in an intimate relationship with an inmate at a later date, and has pleaded not guilty to two charges of smuggling in contraband to prison
On Thursday morning, London was taken from his new cell at Parklea prison, loaded into a prison van and whisked to the cells underneath Burwood courthouse.
But when Magistrate Daniel Reiss formally called London as a witness, the court was told he was refusing to come out.
Asked why, London’s lawyer Hannah Dempsey said: ‘He just refuses to talk and doesn’t want to discuss any comments that he’s made so far.’
Magistrate Reiss charged London with contempt of court, but the offence doesn’t carry a hefty penalty – just 28 days imprisonment. He still wouldn’t budge.
Prosecutor Timothy George was left trying to explain to the court why London had recently flip-flopped about whether the alleged sex with Goodwin happened or not.
‘He had his back to the wall trying to get out of giving evidence,’ Mr George said.
Goodwin’s lawyer, the barrister Robert Wood, seized on the prosecution’s stumble.
London’s no-show had essentially pulled the rug from underneath his sex claims, the court heard.
Mr Wood also slammed London’s credibility, arguing he was just a ‘nasty criminal’ motivated by jealousy when he briefed police about his alleged trysts with Goodwin.
‘The little f***en’ s*** she is … She’s a f***en’ little dog,’ London fumed in a call to his mother about her moving on with Valeri.
London told his mother in a phone call that he was ‘burning’ over Goodwin dating ex-convict Caleb Valeri
Mr Wood mocked London’s dossier of alleged sexual encounters with Goodwin as a ‘wish list’.
Goodwin shared a post this week which said: ‘Loyalty is an expensive gift, don’t expect it from cheap people’
‘Your Honour would think a maximum security prison is used more like a brothel house,’ he said.
Prosecutors sought to use London’s statement as evidence without him – but the magistrate was unconvinced and ruled it inadmissible in a major blow to police.
The prosecution is now considering its position on two outstanding contraband smuggling charges against Goodwin, which she denies.
Goodwin will be sentenced for her intimate relationship with London at a later date, once the prosecution and defence agree on the facts of the case.
As for London, he’s been returned to prison until at least mid next year, keeping his secrets to himself.
Magistrate Reiss was left with a dim view of London. ‘(He’s) a real catch,’ he sarcastically remarked in court on Wednesday. Goodwin laughed.