Perth Mint Swindle

The Perth Mint Swindle is the popular name of a 22 June 1982 gold robbery at the Perth Mint in Perth, Western Australia. A total of 49 gold bars weighing 68 kg were stolen. The value of the gold at the time was A$653,000.

Three brothers, Ray, Peter and Brian Mickelberg were sent to court and were sentenced in 1983 to twenty, sixteen and twelve years in jail respectively. The convictions against all three were eventually overturned.

To date the case remains unsolved and continues to be fought by the Mickelbergs who maintain their innocence and allege a conspiracy by the police to frame them.

The Mickelberg brothers

Soon after the robbery police investigations focused on the Mickelberg brothers. According to the police, the Mickelberg brothers stole cheques from a Perth building society and then fooled the mint into accepting those cheques in exchange for gold bullion, which it was alleged, the brothers had picked up by a courier. The gold was picked up by a security company who delivered it to an office in Perth and then to Jandakot Airport, from where it seemingly disappeared.

After serving nine months of his jail term and having his conviction overturned on appeal, Brian was released from jail but died in an air crash in 1986 when the twin-engine plane he was flying ran out of fuel and crashed near Mundaring Weir. Whilst in prison, Ray and Peter embarked on a series of seven appeals against their convictions, essentially on the grounds that their confessions had been fabricated. Ray and Peter served eight and six years of their sentences respectively before being released on parole.

In a bizarre twist, in 1989 55 kg of gold pellets, presumed to have been from the swindle, were found outside the gates of TVW-7 (currently Channel Seven Perth), a Perth television station, with a note addressed to one of the station's reporters, protesting the Mickelbergs' innocence and claiming that a prominent Perth businessman was behind the swindle.Fact|date=May 2008

In 2002, midway through a State Royal Commission into police corruption, a retired police officer who had been at the centre of the case and who was present at the interviews with the Mickelbergs, Tony Lewandowski, made a confession of his involvement in fabricating evidence which was used to help frame the brothers. He was subsequently charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, making false statements, fabricating evidence and perjury. In May 2004, just before facing trial, Lewandowski committed suicide.

Lewandowski's senior officer during the investigation and the other person who had been present at the brothers' interviews was Detective Sergeant Don Hancock who later went on to become head of the State Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). Hancock was directly implicated in fabricating evidence by Lewandowski's confession. In September 2001 in an apparently unrelated issue, Hancock was murdered after a car bomb planted under his car exploded outside his home in Rivervale, killing him and a friend Lou Lewis.

In July 2004 the Western Australian Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the brothers' convictions after seven unsuccessful attempts. The judge ruled that with the suppression of their sentence, they were entitled to a presumption of innocence. The Assistant Police Commissioner, Mel Hay, expressed disappointment with the decision which prompted a threat of a defamation lawsuit from the brothers. The brothers subsequently sued the Western Australian government for libel, and as part of the settlement, the West Australian police issued a public apology in December 2007. [cite news|url=http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=337171&rss=yes|title=Police apologise to Mickelberg brothers|date=Saturday Dec 15|work=www.ninemsn.com.au]

After lodging claims for compensation, in January 2008 State Attorney-General Jim McGinty offered $500,000 in ex-gratia payments to each brother for the "injustice done to them". [cite news|url=http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=54634|title=Mickelberg payment satisfies neither brothers nor police|work=thewest.com.au|date=16th January 2008|accessdate=2009-02-17] The payment followed $658,672 paid to cover legal costs of their two appeals. The Mickelbergs’ lawyer had asked for $950,000 in compensation for Ray and $750,000 for Peter.

A book about the case

Author Avon Lovell wrote a book about the case, "The Mickelberg Stitch" (1985) in which he described questionable investigation practices by the Western Australian Police Force and made allegations of unsigned confessions and a forged fingerprint. The police union collected a levy of $1 per week from each member to fund legal action against Lovell and his publishers and distributors to suppress publication of the book. It was estimated that between one and two million dollars was raised.

The book was in fact banned by the State Government, but was still freely available to be read at the J S Battye Library. The ban was eventually lifted.

ee also

*Crime in Western Australia

Notes

References

* "MelbourneCrime" [http://www.melbournecrime.bizhosting.com/bhancock.htm Don Hancock and the Perth Mint Swindle] "(read: September 7 2005)"
* "Sydney Morning Herald [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/03/1033538678821.html?oneclick=true Mint swindle officer seized] "(read: September 7 2005)"
* "Post Newspapers" [http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/20020615/ This time, the stitch is by Lovell] "(read: September 7 2005)"
* "ABC News online" [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1145443.htm Micklebergs cleared over Perth Mint swindle]