Caro Meldrum Hanna email to Mark Tedeschi QC 30 October 2018 Dear Mr Tedeschi, Thank you again for your participation in the ABC TV Factual Documentary about the complex and challenging case of Keli Lane. Following on from the recent broadcast of EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane, the ABC’s 7:30 program is producing a story about the Keli Lane murder trial. Further information has come to light regarding the Births Deaths & Marriages and the School searches, that we seek a response from you about, to ensure accuracy at our end and give you an opportunity to clarify before the story is finalised. The follow-up questions are: 1. During your interview for Exposed you were asked whether there was: Interviewer: “Ever a moment [during the trial] where you were thinking ‘we should abort the trial’ or ‘I have concerns.’ Anything like that?” You responded: Mark Tedeschi: “There was no time when I thought the trial was going off the rails.” We now understand that in October 2010 you expressed concerns to NSW Police that the trial could be aborted due to outstanding school searches. In light of this, we would like to give you an opportunity to clarify that response. Can you confirm you expressed those concerns to NSW Police? If so, do you consider that the concerns you expressed to be consistent with a view that the trial could be aborted and was potentially going off the rails? If not, why not? 2. Regarding the Births Deaths & Marriages and Schools searches by NSW Police: can you confirm whether the searches for any child who could potentially be Tegan Lane (but under a different name) had been finalised and completed by October 2010? 3. If police searches were still continuing and there were outstanding searches in October 2010, do you know why these were not completed and finalised before the trial began in mid 2010 and why they were continuing in October 2010? Kind Regards, Caro Meldrum-Hanna Reporter ABC TV 31 October 2018 Dear Caro, In answer to your email below I provide the following information: 1. There was no time when I thought that "the trial was going off the rails". Justice Whealy was putting enormous pressure on the Crown to complete all remaining searches by a particular date and had threatened to abort the trial if the searches were still continuing past that date. 2. As I told you during our interview, the vast bulk of extensive searching for Tegan had occurred over many years, and had been enlarged by the new batch of investigators after Detective Richard Gaut had completed his investigation. As at the commencement of the trial there was still a few odds and ends that had not been completed, but, as I said in our interview, more than 99% of the searches had been completed prior to the trial. There were several (generally remote) schools that had failed to respond to the police enquiries, and these were being followed up. As I mentioned, the Crown never suggested that the searches could, on their own, prove that Tegan was deceased. 3. Nil comment. Mark 1 November 2018 Dear Caro, Further to my email of yesterday, I have been reminded that when the additional searches had been completed, the trial was adjourned by the judge for a week so that the defence would have a proper opportunity to analyse the additional material that had been served. There were also other occasions when the defence were given additional time to consider the material. I have also been reminded that the defence were given several opportunities by the trial judge to apply for a discharge of the jury on the basis of the additional material that had been served, and they declined to make an application on each occasion and indicated that they wished to proceed. Mark Caro Meldrum Hanna email to Mark Tedeschi QC 1 November 2018 Dear Mark, Thank you for your email. Can you please provide me with further information as to which searches are you referring to below - are these the school searches in mid October 2010? We are specifically referring to the outstanding school searches and schedules in mid October 2010. We’d also like to clarify and seek further information regarding your response that at no time you thought “the trial was going off the rails”. We have a NSW Police Investigation Log entry, dated 12 October 2010, created by Detective Chief Inspector Dennis Bray. That log states you had contacted Mr Bray and expressed a view that investigators weren’t applying themselves and lacked commitment; that there was a big gap in the information relating to the schedules that had been prepared by police, including school searches; and that 100 children hadn’t been accounted for. The log also states that you alleged that if the outstanding information was not made available by the following day, there was a real prospect the judge may abort the trial. Is this log an accurate reflection of that conversation? If not, do you deny expressing those concerns? Kind Regards, Caro Meldrum-Hanna Documentary Projects ABC 2 November 2018 Dear Caro, In answer to your latest email: At no time did I say to anyone that the trial was "going off the rails". I was always of the view that the police investigations, including the searches for Tegan, had been exemplary. The issues concerning the service of material relating to the searches were the subject of many discussions in open Court by the parties and are recorded in the trial transcript. It is clear from the transcript that the accused was given ample time to consider the additional material and that the trial judge was willing to consider any application to discharge the jury. No such application was made. The school searches for Tegan were the last to be completed. They were just one category of numerous searches done by the police over the years to try to find Tegan, if she was in fact alive, and to locate Andrew Morris/Norris. The Crown from the beginning of the trial to the end maintained that these searches on their own could not prove that Tegan was dead. It was led to show how the police had made a serious and detailed search for Tegan over many years, and had followed up all reasonable leads, but that none of them had led to Tegan being found alive. The searches for Tegan included: Searches by Det. Richard Gaut during 2002-2006: a. The only other girl born at Auburn Hospital on 12 September 1996 was still-born; b. No paternity payment has been paid out by Centrelink and no application has been made to Centrelink in relation to any child born on 12 September 1996 whose father was listed as Andrew Norris; c. No child who was born on 12 September 1996 with a surname of Norris has travelled out of or into Australia; d. Tegan Lane was registered on Keli Lane’s Medicare card in September 1996. There has not been any use of her Medicare card on behalf of Tegan Lane. Nor has any individual Medicare card been issued to Tegan Lane; e. Tegan Lane’s birth was not registered in New South Wales until ordered by the Coroner in July 2005. Since then no person (other than the NSW Police on instructions from the Coroner) has applied for her birth certificate; f. No birth was registered in any other Australian State or Territory as a female child born in 1996 with a father listed as Andrew Norris; g. Tegan Lane has not been identified as a result of a search for any girls born on 12 September 1996 who had a father listed as Andrew Norris in all government, catholic, independent and home schooling in each State and Territory in Australia; Searches by Ms Sharon Swinbourne, NSW BD&M, during 2005 -2008: h. Of all the children whose births were registered in New South Wales between 1995 and 1999 with a father by the name of Andrew Morris or Andrew Norris, not one of them could possibly be Tegan Lane; i. Out of the 86,430 children whose births were registered in New South Wales as being born in the period 31 March 1996-30 September 1997, not a single one of them could be Tegan Lane under a different name; j. Of all the children whose births were registered in New South Wales as being born in September 1996 and whose mother was named Mel, Melinda, Melanie, Melissa (or other variations), not one of them could possibly be Tegan Lane; k. Tegan Lane was not registered in NSW as a foundling or a baby whose place of birth was unknown in 1996 or 1997; Searches by the Homicide Squad during 2006-2010: l. There is no Guthrie Card for Tegan Lane held by the Newborn Screening Unit at Westmead Children’s Hospital; m. There were no reports to police of any abandoned babies anywhere in New South Wales in 1996; n. There is no child who was born in the month of September in 1996 whose birth is registered anywhere in Australia with a first name of Tegan (any spelling) who could possibly be Tegan Lane; o. There is no child who was born in the month of September in 1996 whose birth is registered anywhere in Australia whose mother’s first name is Mel, Melinda, Melanie, Melissa (or other variations) who could possibly be Tegan Lane; p. Of all the children who were born on 12th, 13th and 14th September 1996 and registered in Western Australia and Tasmania, none of them could possibly be Tegan Lane; q. Of all the children aged 12 months or less whose parents had applied for passports on their behalf between 14 September 1996 and 31 December 1996 (207) none of them could possibly be Tegan Lane; Schools Searches: r. There is no female child anywhere in Australia whose primary school enrolment shows she was born on 12 September 1996 who could possibly be Tegan Lane; s. There is no female child anywhere in Australia whose primary school enrolment is in the name Tegan or Lane who could be Tegan Lane; t. There is no child anywhere in Australia whose primary school enrolment lists a father called Andrew Morris or Andrew Norris who could possibly be Tegan Lane; Miscellaneous Searches: u. None of the children who were adopted in New South Wales between September 1995 and September 1997 could possibly be Tegan Lane; v. Tegan Lane was not adopted in any other State or Territory of Australia between September 1995 and September 1997; w. None of the children who were living in Western Australia on 20 February 2009 and who appear in the Medicare records with a surname of Morris or Norris and who where born in the month of September 1996 could possibly be Tegan Lane; x. None of the children who came to the attention of the police and resulted in further investigation could possibly be Tegan Lane; Many of the searches for Tegan were cross-checked against the extensive searches done over the years for Andrew Morris and Andrew Norris. Mark Tedeschi