On 10 November 2015 Karl Hoerr of the ABC reported “Roseanne Beckett: Woman who
wrongfully served 10 years in jail awarded $4m in malicious prosecution case”

The state of New South Wales has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay $4 million, plus
legal costs, for malicious prosecution of a woman who was wrongfully convicted of soliciting
to murder her husband. Roseanne Beckett spent more than 10 years in jail after being found
guilty of plotting to kill her husband Barry Catt and perjury but her convictions were later
overturned on appeal.

Ms Beckett, from Wollongong, was released from jail in 2001, when new evidence came to
light in the case. The charges were quashed in a 2005 appeal, but there was never a re-trial
because the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to pursue the matter.

In August, Ms Beckett was awarded $2.3 million but today the Supreme Court ordered the
state to pay interest on those original damages, as well as her legal expenses in fighting the
case. Ms Beckett said she had been vindicated by the decision.

“Twenty-six years is a long time but by gee there’s a powerful message there, don’t give in
and don’t give up,” she said outside court.

The state has previously indicated that they will be seeking a stay on the order, pending an
appeal against the decision. But Ms Beckett said an appeal by the Government would be a
waste of taxpayer money. “The state is saying they may appeal, but we must make sure they
don’t because they have nowhere to go,” she said outside court.

“Enough is enough and it is a disgrace that it’s taken 26 years to get to this point and a bigger
disgrace as to the amount of money that it has cost the taxpayer.”

Ms Beckett said former detective Peter Thomas should never have been allowed to pursue
her. “And to think that this corrupt ex-cop could do what he did, and use the state’s resources
the way that he did and [bill] the taxpayer pay for it, and he did this up until he died last year,
I think that is criminal and it mustn’t happen again,” she said outside court.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/nsw-government-ordered-to-pay-$4m-overbeckett/6926520
Dr Robert Moles