Senior Queensland police officers gave a presentation that explained controversial comments made by a detective in the wake of the Hannah Clarke murders were part of a police “media strategy” that “went wrong”, documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal.
Det Insp Mark Thompson told a press conference in the days after the murders in February 2020 that police were keeping an “open mind” about the case in which Clarke’s estranged husband, Rowan Baxter, was seen pouring petrol on and setting the family car alight, killing Clarke, their three children and himself.
“We need to look at every piece of information,” Thompson said. “And, to put it bluntly, there are probably people out there in the community that are deciding which side, so to speak, to take in this investigation.
“Is this an issue of a woman suffering significant domestic violence and her and her children perishing at the hands of the husband? Or is this an instance of a husband being driven too far?”
The comments were heavily criticised and condemned as “victim blaming” by domestic violence campaigners and Thompson was removed from the case by the former police commissioner Katarina Carroll.
This year Thompson – since promoted to superintendent – and the assistant commissioner Brian Swan ran a seminar about the Clarke homicide investigation at the prestigious Management of Serious Crime program run by the Australian federal police.
Guardian Australia was not present at the seminar but a copy of slides and speaking notes for the presentation, released to the Guardian by the Queensland police service, shows Swan disagreed with Carroll’s decision to stand Thompson down.
Swan’s notes say Thompson’s “intent was right” when he made the controversial comments: “Mark should have remained.”
“My gut feeling was that this was a wrong decision,” the notes say. “Was I firm enough with the [commissioner]? Probably not – but it was too late – the decision was made without me.
“We lost an opportunity and could have controlled the narrative and kept control of the messaging.”
The speaking notes suggest that Thompson’s comments were part of a deliberate “media strategy” that had been planned with the regional crime coordinator. It was designed to encourage people who had previously supported or believed Baxter to come forward but according to the notes it “went wrong” after widespread community backlash.
Guardian Australia’s Broken trust investigation has revealed what happened next.
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Two witnesses who had supported Baxter came forward and gave statements that claimed Clarke had fabricated domestic violence allegations. Detectives investigating her brutal killing then questioned the “veracity and motive” of her disclosures in the months before she and her children were murdered.
Broken trust revealed that police made potentially critical errors in the months before Clarke’s death, as well as raising concerns about the subsequent investigation.
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The speaking notes say Baxter had recruited allies and employed false narratives and that police were “seeking to draw the narrative out and negative it”.
Kate Pausina, a former senior detective with significant experience reviewing domestic violence homicides, said the comments – regardless of intent – were “problematic and dangerous”.
She said the idea that the case required a “media strategy” was “nonsensical”.
“This was a coronial investigation, not a criminal one,” she said. “There was no person of interest. It makes no sense that there was a need for a covert strategy.
“The initial comment was extremely problematic and dangerous, regardless of its intent. A victim is never responsible for the violence they experience and also for their own death.”
At a press conference announcing Thompson had been stood down, Carroll said police would investigate their own dealings with Clarke. “We will go back, as will all other agencies, and this will go to the coroner to look at exactly what happened [and when],” she said.
“Could interventions be done earlier? Could we have prevented this? What do we learn from this? This is the conversation that we need to always have, because we’re always getting better at this.”
Guardian Australia revealed that Queensland police did not conduct a mandatory “contact audit” to examine all dealings between officers and family violence victims. Nor did the force conduct an internal review of its own actions for the inquest.
According to the speaking notes, Thompson felt he had been isolated from sporting and community groups amid public reaction to his comments.
“The negative allegations about me had the positive effect of focussing on the need to ensure positive cultural change among men (and in the organisation),” the notes say.
The Queensland police service did not address questions sent by Guardian Australia, including whether it had endorsed the presentation or approved the content.
The QPS referred to previous responses in relation to its handling of the Clarke case.
In an interview with the Guardian for the Broken trust investigation, a then deputy commissioner, Cameron Harsley, was asked about Thompson’s comments and said he believed attitudes towards domestic and family violence among police were beginning to change.
Swan is the officer who led this year’s 100-day review into police operations, which argued that domestic violence case management was not “core business”. It found that the “perceived primacy” of family violence meant it took up a large amount of police workload.
Critics say the findings are evidence that police attitudes towards domestic and family violence remain problematic.
Do you know more? Email ben.smee@theguardian.com
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
