Name Colin Winchester | ||
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Born 18 October 1933 ( 1933-10-18 ) Died January 10, 1989, Deakin, Australia | ||
Colin Stanley Winchester APM, (18 October 1933 – 10 January 1989) was an assistant commissioner in the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Winchester commanded ACT Police, the community policing component of the AFP Australian Federal Police responsible for the Australian Capital Territory.
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Death
On 10 January 1989, at about 9:15 pm, he was shot twice in the head with a Ruger 10/22 .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle fitted with a silencer and killed as he parked his police vehicle in the driveway of his house in Deakin, ACT. David Harold Eastman was convicted of Winchester's murder on 11 November 1995 after a four-year surveillance investigation. Winchester is Australia's most senior police officer to have been murdered. The story was dramatised in Police Crop: The Winchester Conspiracy.
Following his murder the Winchester Police Centre, Benjamin Way, Belconnen, was established as the ACT Policing Headquarters. The Complex houses ACT Policing's Executive, administrative and support sections and elements of the Territory Investigations Group (TIG).
Murder conviction of David Eastman
In 1995 David Harold Eastman was tried and convicted of the murder of Winchester and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Eastman, born in 1945, is a former public servant from Canberra, Australia. During the 85-day trial, Eastman repeatedly sacked his legal team and eventually chose to represent himself. Eastman also abused the judge during his trial, and during later legal proceedings and appeals. Subsequent to his conviction, Eastman continuously appealed his conviction, attempting to win a retrial on the basis that he was mentally unfit during his original trial. On 27 May 2009, Eastman was transferred from a New South Wales prison to the ACT's Alexander Maconochie Centre to see out his sentence.
A new inquiry relating to his conviction was announced in August 2012. In 2014, the inquiry, headed by Justice Brian Ross Martin, found there had been "a substantial miscarriage of justice", Eastman "did not receive a fair trial", the forensic evidence on which the conviction was based was "deeply flawed" and recommended the conviction be quashed. However Martin said he was "fairly certain" Eastman was guilty but "a nagging doubt remains".
Legacy
The headquarters of ACT Policing are named in honour of Winchester.