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Detective threatened to kill me: informer
By Peter Gregory
Chief court reporter
March 12, 2005
 

Senior policeman Wayne Strawhorn threatened to kill an informer if he spoke to the Victoria Police ethical standards department, a Supreme Court jury heard yesterday.
 
The informer, who gave evidence by videolink, said he had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Strawhorn after selling ingredients used to make amphetamines to the Bandidos motorcycle club.
 
He said police had told him he would go to jail for drug trafficking unless he co-operated in helping to catch other criminals.
 
The informer, known as 4/199, said Strawhorn, a former detective senior sergeant at the disbanded drug squad, had been interested in having him sell chemicals to criminals that could be used in making amphetamines.
 
The aim was to get the amphetamines and for police to shut down the laboratories making them. In return, 4/199 would get a "good word at court".
 
The informer said he got drugs and cash from the Bandidos in return for drugs supplied by Strawhorn and another policeman, described as Strawhorn's right-hand man.
 
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AdvertisementHe said Strawhorn arranged for him to receive cold tablets or pure pseudoephedrine to sell to the Bandidos. The amphetamines sold wholesale for about $80,000 a kilogram.
 
The informer said he was not making money, because he had costs, and he was passing money on to Strawhorn and the other policeman.
 
He said Strawhorn told him in late 2000 or early 2001: "If you speak to ESD (ethical standards department) I'll f---in' kill you."
 
The informer said he stopped delivering chemicals to the Bandidos when they finally got "busted", and later did some work on (the now dead) alleged criminal Lewis Moran, whom police had described as their "ultimate goal".
 
Strawhorn, 49, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of trafficking pseudoephedrine, one in a commercial quantity, between October 28, 1999, and May 19, 2000.
 
He has also pleaded not guilty to making a threat to kill a police officer who was investigating police corruption.
 
The trial continues.
 
 

 

 

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