Alexander Heights: terminally ill man charged with wife’s murder granted bail, wanted to ‘put her out of her misery
A TERMINALLY ill man charged with murdering his 83-year-old wife in Alexander Heights told police he wanted to put her out of her misery, a Perth court has heard.
Harold Barclay (85) is accused of strangling to death his wife Nancy, who had Alzheimer’s disease, at their home on January 24.
Mr Barclay was initially taken to hospital but was later moved to Casuarina Prison.
The WA Supreme Court heard on Wednesday during a bail application hearing that Ms Barclay failed to take her sleeping tablets and Mr Barclay found her sitting at a dining table at 5am the next day.
Ms Barclay collapsed when he tried to help her and he then allegedly strangled his wife, later telling police he wanted to put her out of her misery.
The couple had been married for 63 years and Mr Barclay was her full-time carer.
The State did not oppose Mr Barclay’s bail application.
Justice Lindy Jenkins also accepted it was an exceptional case and granted Barclay bail with conditions, including a $50,000 personal undertaking and $50,000 surety.
He must also live with his daughter and abide by a curfew between 9pm and 6am.
Outside court, Mr Barclay’s lawyer Mark Andrews said his client was “gravely ill”.
“His prognosis is very poor,” Mr Andrews said.
“This is a most unusual circumstance, very extenuating.
“In all the circumstances, we all agreed that it was fair and just that he be granted bail.”
Mr Barclay is next due to face Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court on March 28.
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Female high school teacher in court over ’48 sex offences’
A HIGH school teacher has appeared briefly in a Perth court today charged with 48 child sex offences.
The 34-year-old Canning Vale woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was employed at a metropolitan high school when the abuse was alleged to have happened.
Police issued a statement in September which said they had charged the woman with 12 child sex offences relating to one female student.
The incidents were alleged to have happened between 2015 and this year when the girl was aged between 15 and 17 years old.
During a short hearing in the Perth Magistrate’s Court today, the woman’s lawyer, Mark Andrews, said the woman was now facing an extra 36 charges.
The case was adjourned and the woman’s bail was renewed on a $5000 personal undertaking.
She is also required to comply to several strict conditions, including that she surrender her passport and not contact the alleged victims or be unsupervised around children under 16 years old.
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Ex-cop jailed for looking up women’s details on WA Police restricted system
An ex-police officer from WA who accessed the personal details of almost 100 women using a police computer, the majority of which he found through dating websites or apps, has been jailed for six months.
Adrian Trevor Moore, 48, pleaded guilty to 180 charges in total, including 177 unlawful computer access-related charges.
Moore was also caught with videos and images of women engaged in sex acts with dogs and horses when internal affairs detectives searched his Kelmscott home last year.
Extensive details surrounding Moore’s offending were revealed for the first time in the Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.
The court was told between 2006 and 2018 Moore, while a Senior Constable with WA Police, accessed the personal details of 92 women.
The majority of the women whose details he accessed via the restricted access police system were women he had dated or was considering dating via Tinder and Plenty of Fish.
The court was told 33 of the women had details including their date of birth and addresses accessed multiple times.
One victim was looked up 13 times over several years, while another victim was searched six times.
Moore joined the force in 1990 and was nominated for police officer of the year in 2011, the court was told.
He looked up the women’s details while working at the Perth and Cannington police stations.
His defence lawyer Mark Andrews told the court Moore had “struggled to find his soulmate” and that his past relationships with women had left him with emotional scars.
He said he looked the women up to essentially find out if they were people he could associate with and to make sure they did not have any criminal associations, given his role as a police officer.
“That’s really what motivated his offending from beginning to end,” Mr Andrews said, adding his client had suffered a “high degree of public ridicule” since the charges came to light.
Moore was stood down from duty in March once he was charged by internal affairs investigators.
He resigned from the force in May and is now a boilermaker.
The internal investigation was launched after one of Moore’s female victims came forward to police in January last year.
Moore told the author of a psychological report that he carried out his crimes partially due to curiosity but also boredom with his job and during slow periods at work.
Magistrate Geoff Lawrence said Moore’s offending was too great for a suspended jail term because he had abused his position of trust within the police.
He said Moore’s crimes were a gross breach of trust and that he had effectively embarked on a process of “vetting” potential partners since 2006.
“He did it intentionally, he knew the dangers,” Mr Lawrence said.
“This man knows that he’s done wrong. You (Moore) made a serious error. You made it time and time again.”
Mr Lawrence said such offending had the capability to cause the public to lose confidence in public officials.
Outside court Moore’s defence lawyer Mark Andrews said he had no instructions to appeal the jail term.
“I think the case sends a signal to anyone who has access to a restricted access computer,” he said.
“He understands that he did the wrong thing and he’s paying the price for that.”
His six month term will start from today.
He was also fined $2000 for possessing the bestiality material.
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Man found guilty to reckless driving, on way to church
A man used the excuse he was running late for a church service when he was caught more than 40 kilometres over the speed limit earlier this year.
In the Northam Magistrates Court on Monday of last week James Richard Bagshaw pleaded guilty to driving at 97 kilometres per hour in a 50 kilometre zone on Throssell Street after he was captured by a speed camera at 7.30pm on April 4.
Mr Bagshaw’s lawyer Mark Andrews, from Perth, asked the court to take into account his client’s early guilty plea and co-operation with police.
Police prosecuting sergeant Maria McComish told the court that the father of four had previously lost his licence after accruing too many demerit points.
Perth Magistrate Gregory Smith denied an application for a spent conviction and was not convinced that Mr Bagshaw would not reoffend, given his previous record.
Mr Bagshaw was fined $1000 and $188 in court costs.
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Global porn ring: WA detective jailed over child images
Lynton John Moore, 30, was one of hundreds of men arrested after a global operation to track down the client list of a Canadian-hosted website which allowed customers to trade and purchase child sex images and videos.
In June, Moore was raided by his WA police colleagues who found more than 20,000 images and videos featuring boys as young as seven being exploited.
He also refused to hand over the password to the hard disks containing the images – which Judge Ronald Birmingham said were “vile and degrading”.
“To say these images were disturbing is an understatement,”
Judge Birmingham said.
Moore, who briefly worked as a teacher before joining the police, was a decorated detective when he was arrested, having received a commendation for attempting to revive a murder victim, and being involved in church activities.
But lawyer Mark Andrews said his client also had deep underlying emotional and psychological issues including a lack of strategies to cope with job stresses.
He had lost his job as a result of the charges, Perth District Court was told, and as a former detective he will have to serve his sentence in a segregated special handling unit.
Moore pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing the material found in his home, and was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. He will be eligible for parole.
In all, more than 60 men and over 400 charges have been laid as part of Operation Thunderer, the Australian arm of the global operation emanating out of Canada.
That operation, codenamed Project Spade, was launched three years ago by Toronto police and is believed to have disbanded a global child abuse ring, and led to the arrest of almost 350 suspects worldwide.
Seven men from WA – including priests and teachers – were last week charged with various offences related to their alleged involvement.
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US tourist Jerome Rubin jailed over head-on Perth crash which killed his wife, 2yo girl
An American man has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for causing a crash on Perth’s outskirts that killed his wife and a toddler, and injured four others.
Jerome Rubin, 61, from Massachusetts drove on the wrong side of the road in Bedfordale in March this year, and crashed head-on into another car.
Rubin’s wife Joan, 60, died at the scene, while a two-year-old girl who was in the other car, Carmen Julius, died in hospital the next day.
Rubin’s daughter was injured along with the father, mother and grandfather of the toddler.
The District Court was told despite road signs showing the road was a single lane, Rubin believed he was still driving on a dual carriageway.
His lawyer Mark Andrews described his client as a man of “impeccable character” who had no previous traffic or criminal convictions.
He said Rubin had wanted to take part in mediation with the toddler’s family but they had refused, and Mr Andrews said his client respected their decision.
“He sits before you a broken man,” Mr Andrews told the judge.
“He’s racked with the guilt knowing he caused the death of his own wife … and Carmen … and caused serious injury to his own daughter and three other people.”
Mr Andrews said the crash was the result of Rubin’s unfamiliarity with driving in Australia and he had otherwise been an extremely cautious and conscientious driver.
Judge Michael Bowden accepted that Rubin was genuinely remorseful and that he was of otherwise excellent character, but he said the offences were so serious that an immediate jail term was needed.
He also accepted that jail would be difficult for Rubin because of his age and poor health and because he was far away from his family.
“[But] at the end of the day, it’s so serious because of the deaths of two people, the grievous bodily harm to three others and the bodily harm to another,” Judge Bowden said.
“Regrettably, a suspended sentence would fail to adequately reflect the serious nature of the offences.”
Rubin will have to serve nine months before he can be released.
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Elderly man who allegedly strangled wife granted bail
A TERMINALLY ill man charged with murdering his 83-year-old wife told police he wanted to put her out of her misery, a Perth court has heard.
Harold Barclay, 85, is accused of strangling to death his wife Nancy, who had Alzheimer’s disease, at their Alexander Heights home on January 24.
Mr Barclay was initially taken to hospital but was later moved to Casuarina prison.
The WA Supreme Court was told on Wednesday during a bail application hearing that Mrs Barclay failed to take her sleeping tablets and Mr Barclay found her sitting at a dining table at 5am the next day.
Mrs Barclay collapsed when he tried to help her and he then allegedly strangled his wife, later telling police he wanted to put her out of her misery.
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Law confusion keeps drug seller out of jail
A Perth woman caught selling synthetic cannabis from her Innaloo gift shop has avoided jail after waiting 31/2 years to be sentenced because of confusion surrounding synthetic drug laws.
When police raided Vivienne Hill’s Morris Place store Chuffed Gifts and More in May 2013, they seized 4.6kg of “green leafy material”, $12,000 in cash and a further $250,000 at her Bayswater home.
After an extensive analysis of the material, it was found 927g contained the banned psychoactive substance UR-144.
Hill pleaded guilty to possessing a synthetic cannabinomimetic with the intent to sell or supply. A cannabinomimetic substance has similar effects to cannabis.
She was not convicted in relation to the remainder of the material because the prosecution could not prove it was illegal.
The maximum sentence for that offence is up to 25 years jail and a fine up to $100,000, but District Court Judge Michael Gething last month gave Hill a 12-month suspended jail term and a $25,000 fine, partly because of the “significant delay” between her being charged and sentenced.
“You’ve had this offence hanging over you for a period of three years and in particular hanging over you the very real prospect of going to prison,” Judge Gething said.
The $262,000 was returned to Hill after it was found the money was proceeds of her legitimate business.
Prosecutor Hannah Milligan said the State had grappled with what was a “fairly new type of prosecution” because the law surrounding the prohibition of synthetic cannabinomimetics was different to the law surrounding other illicit substances.
Ms Milligan said the delay was also because prosecutors needed to obtain an expert neuropharmacological report to establish whether the chemical compounds were prohibited.
Hill’s lawyer Mark Andrews said his client did not set out deliberately to sell illegal drugs and went to “considerable lengths” to ensure the products she stocked were lawful, however she relied solely on information from her suppliers.
Mr Andrews said his client was not prosecuted for a majority of the material because she was charged when synthetic drug manufacturers were playing a “cat-and-mouse” game with the government by tweaking chemical compounds as soon as they were banned.
“I think it’s fair to say that most of that delay, and no criticism is levelled at the State for this because it was an uncertain area of the law, is attributable to the fact that there was some confusion over the prevailing lawful position,” he said. “So of course if our legislatures and prosecutors and courts are somewhat confused about the true position, one can readily understand how someone like Ms Hill could likewise be led into error in relation to whether a substance is prohibited or not.”
State Parliament passed new legislation in October 2015 to clamp down on the sale and supply of synthetic drugs, closing the legal loophole exploited by manufacturers.
The new laws banned the sale, supply, manufacture, advertising and promotion of any psychoactive substance that was not already captured by existing legislation.
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Ben Cousins ‘likely to avoid jail’ over drug charge
A LEADING Perth criminal lawyer says there is “little chance” that fallen footballer Ben Cousins will be jailed if convicted over his drug charge.
Mark Andrews said Cousins, 33, would most likely escape with a fine or community order and the charge of possessing a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply might be downgraded to simple possession.
It comes as an ex-staffer at the Teen Challenge rehab facility, where Cousins was receiving treatment, said it was likely he would be given a second chance to attend the program.
Cousins was charged with possession of 4.56g of methylamphetamine at Esperance airport on Tuesday.
Mr Andrews said the amount went beyond the 4g threshold, meaning the case must go to the District Court instead of being dealt with by a magistrate.
“At the end of the day, 4.5g is not a lot of drugs,” Mr Andrews said.”I have got clients who use up to 1g a day.”
Last year Mr Andrews represented WA Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan’s son, Russell, who admitted attempting to manufacture methylamphetamine and was sentenced to 16 months jail.
“Even if (Cousins) was convicted of possession with intent, I think it is very unlikely he would be sent to jail,” Mr Andrews said.
“It is more likely he would be sentenced to some form of intensive supervision order, where he would undergo rehab and regular urine testing for drugs, or a conditional suspended term of imprisonment which is the same thing coupled with a suspended jail term.
“If he breaches that sentence by not doing rehab or reoffending, he would likely be ordered to do the jail time.”
Mr Andrews said Cousins’ lawyers would almost certainly argue the drugs were for his personal use only.
“Because the amount is in excess of 2g, there is a legal presumption that he intended to sell or supply the drug,” he said.
“But it is a rebuttable presumption, and it has only got to be rebutted on the balance of probabilities, which is the lower standard.”
In a sign of hope for the fallen football star, a staff member who worked at Teen Challenge for eight years said it was likely the Esperance rehabilitation facility would let him return if he wanted to get better and comply with the rules.
The staff member, who did not want her name published, said returning to the program could change Cousins’ life.
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Arrest warrant is the shock of Hughes’ new trial
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of the eminent historian and art critic Robert Hughes, who failed to appear in an Australian court to answer dangerous driving charges.
Mr Hughes’ lawyer said that the Australian-born critic, who still suffers injuries from the crash, was advised by an orthopaedic surgeon that he was not well enough to travel from his home in New York to Perth, where he was due to present himself before magistrates.
Mr Hughes, 64, has long been derided by scornful Australians as “the fatal bore”, after his most famous work, The Fatal Shore. But his transformation into one of Western Australia’s most wanted men is the latest twist in an extraordinary saga which began when he almost died in the car crash on a west-coast fishing trip three years ago.
The prosecution argues that Mr Hughes, who was also filming the BBC documentary Beyond the Fatal Shore at the time, was speeding and driving on the wrong side of the outback road when he collided with another vehicle.
The charges of dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm were dropped when two witnesses were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The witnesses, one the driver of the second car, had tried to extort £10,000 from Mr Hughes in exchange for false testimony. “It’s amazing what sort of low-life you can run into on the road,” Mr Hughes said when the case was dropped in May 2000.
Six months later the Australian supreme court ruled that the trial should be reopened.
Mr Hughes’ lawyer, Mark Andrews, said he was mystified by the prosecution’s pursuit of his client, who is internationally respected but in Australia shares the scorn many reserve for high-profile expatriates who criticise the country they have left.
“He’s no Christopher Skase,” Mr Andrews said, referring to the fugitive Australian businessman who evaded arrest for years in exile in Spain.
In a statement from New York, Mr Hughes said: “Let me make this quite clear: nobody has a greater desire to dispose of this matter than I. When I last appeared, voluntarily and without any compulsion, I was acquitted.”
Mr Hughes travelled to Australia last year for the funeral of his son, who committed suicide in the Blue Mountains.
The court has set another hearing date for July 4 to give Mr Hughes time to recover.
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