Blackened Tanner : The Dennis Tanner Story

TRUE CRIME AUSTRALIA LAW

  “In the minds of most Australians, I am a murderer. Yet I did not kill anybody, and I know nothing of the deaths blamed on me.” Denis Tanner

Denis Tanner was a member of Victoria Police in 1984, when his sister-in-law Jenny was found shot dead at her home outside the village of Bonnie Doon. Eleven years later the remains of a transsexual prostitute, Adele Bailey, were found in the nearby hills. Rumour linked Denis Tanner to both deaths, and a massive police operation was launched. In 1997 a coronial inquest found him responsible for Jenny’s murder.

Yet years of surveillance had failed to produce any evidence that would allow police to charge Denis Tanner with a crime. He has never had a day in court or a chance to clear his name. The only court in which he has been charged is the court of public opinion.

In Blackened Tanner: The Denis Tanner Story, former detective Ron Irwin shows in forensic detail how Denis Tanner was wrongly accused and reveals one of the most disturbing miscarriages of justice in Australian history.

This book uncovers the incompetence and tunnel vision that led police astray and exposes how media outlets became Tanner’s judge and jury. Ron’s persistent search for the truth led him to reinvestigate the case himself, using the skills he honed in his career investigating crime. He has written this book to set the record straight and make the case for a new inquest, which he is sure will declare Denis Tanner innocent.

• xi, 289 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), facsims, maps, ports. (some col.) ; 24 cm. #060324
• Tanner, Denis
• Due process of law — Victoria
• Judicial error — Victoria
• Obstruction of justice — Victoria
• Criminal investigation — Victoria
• Murder — Victoria
• Australian