1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Last week on Life and Crimes. He goes into Margaret's 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: bedroom and sees Margaret's body in bed, and he went 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: close enough to realize that she was dead. And he 4 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: goes into Shawna's bedroom and he sees Shanna dead on 5 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: the bed, and it really affects him because he had 6 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: a little girl the same age. One thing they did 7 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: find that probably is the only strong clue to the 8 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: killer's identity worth some unidentified footprints left by a Dunlop 9 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: Volley Sanchu. I'm Andrew Rule. This is Life and Crimes. 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 2: Last week we looked at the first half of the 11 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 2: story of the Tap murders, the murder of Margaret Tap 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 2: and her little daughter Shawna back in nineteen eighty four. 13 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: It's forty years ago. This week, we're going to pick 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: up that story and expand it and look at all 15 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: the potential leads that were or were not followed. The 16 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: thing about Margaret Tap is that she knew so many people, 17 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: and so many people liked her. She got along well 18 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: with people. She knew a lot of blokes, a lot 19 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: of them became her lovers. It was known the police 20 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 1: discovered that there might have been half a dozen who 21 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: worked at the William Anglis Hospital that at some point 22 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: either had been her lovers or were suspected of same. 23 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: And this of course led to a lot of complications 24 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,279 Speaker 1: for the police in trying to navigate their way around 25 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: such tricky social areas where you've got married professionals who 26 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: are very well lawyered up and who don't want to 27 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:44,120 Speaker 1: be caught out. And so the police had their hands 28 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: full checking out those leads. But the man that she 29 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: really loved, the one she really wanted, was doctor John Bradkey. 30 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: Now John Bradkey was a doer. He was a South 31 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: Australian of you know, the sort of German extraction over 32 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: in South Australia. There's a lot of those Lutheran German 33 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,720 Speaker 1: people that are farmers by origin. We see the names 34 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: crop up always, you know, out of the Clare Valley 35 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:19,239 Speaker 1: and all that. And he was a successful, hard working doctor. 36 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: He was married, he had I think three children, and 37 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: he and his wife had a lovely property with trees 38 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: and all sorts of beautiful stuff and it was a 39 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: showpised property. 40 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 2: You know. 41 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: He clearly was a man of wealth and taste. But 42 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: his weak point in this case was Margaret Tap. Margaret 43 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: Tap was a striking woman. She had red hair, she 44 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: had high cheek bones, she had sort of green eyes 45 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: like a cat, and she had a bright and bubbly personality. 46 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: She was intelligent, she was vivacious, and she liked men. 47 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: Men liked her, and clearly she had a bit of 48 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: a hypnotic effect on people because so many people fell 49 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: for her. But John Brakie was the love of her life, 50 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: she told friends. And we know this because a you know, 51 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: he actually bought her the house that she lived in 52 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: at Calvin Drive, the one she later was able to purchase. 53 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: She had to pay out half of it by paying 54 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: out Bracky's widow. We know it because we know that 55 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: before Brakey's death, at one point Margaret, who was quite excitable, 56 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: she went up to break his house in the Dandy Knocks, 57 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: to break his home and she stripped off her clothes 58 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: and lay down in their garden and created a terrible 59 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: scene to embarrass him. At another time, she damaged his 60 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: much loved DA's and sportscar, the one in which he 61 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: was killed. Actually, she has to scratch the paintwork or 62 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: keyed it or whatever, the usual sort of stuff that 63 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: angry lovers get involved in, and all of which tells 64 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: us that this love affair between the doer doctor and 65 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: the dashing, beautiful nurse was mercurial and dangerous. It was 66 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: years of living dangerously and after breakis death on the 67 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: first of March nineteen eighty three in his car driving 68 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: down the hill too fast to deliver a baby. He 69 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: was heading off to the hospital to deliver a baby. 70 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: After his death, it would appear that Margaret in some 71 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: respects settled down in that she paid out the house 72 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: and she got her son to move in with her parents, 73 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: and she and Shauna lived in the house while she 74 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: took up studying law and these other things. But she 75 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: also I suspect, having missed out on John Brake and 76 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: grief stricken over John Key, she started to knock around 77 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: with whichever blog her eye fell on, and one of 78 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: them was one of the fellow law students from one 79 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: as UNI. One of them was the allegedly the guy 80 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: that was teaching her to drive trucks, one of them 81 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 1: was somebody else, and one of them was somebody else. 82 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: So there were a whole heap of people that had 83 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: come into her orbit. One of the things that was 84 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 1: obvious to me was that there were just so many 85 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: candidates for the police to check. Now, in the nineties, 86 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: DNA came to be a thing. In the eighties, DNA 87 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: had been science fiction. In the nineties, suddenly it was 88 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 1: a police tool. Not as good a tool as it 89 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,039 Speaker 1: is today, but it became a very useful tool for 90 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 1: the police. And what they had was a semen sample 91 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: that had been deposited on Shawna's night dress. Now this 92 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: would suggest that the killer, of course, is a sexual deviate. 93 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: That this murder is not a burglary gone wrong. This 94 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: murder is not a case of a rapist looking to 95 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: attack Margaret, the thirty five year old mother. It is 96 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: a sexual deviate who has an interest in a nine 97 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: year old girl. There's no way around that. That's what 98 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: it is. And it certainly doesn't look like a hit, 99 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: a paid hit. They were both strangled and there is 100 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: seamen found on the little girl's night dress. This is 101 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: unlike any other hit in history. If it's a hit, 102 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 1: so I'm tipping it's not. That didn't stop the homicide 103 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: squad at one stage floating a fairly bizarre theory that 104 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: Dr Bradkey's widow had paid a person a man to 105 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,919 Speaker 1: kill Margaret Tap out of spite and anger and revenge 106 00:06:57,960 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: and all the rest of it, to kill her dead 107 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 1: husband's ex lover. This would appear to be highly unlikely. 108 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: The doctor's widow was outraged by this suggestion, and in 109 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: fact got a press counsel ruling that stories making that 110 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: suggestion overstep the mark. And I think she made her 111 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: case very well and very strongly that it was a 112 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: fairly bizarre thing for the police to suggest. And one 113 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: of the problems of that theory was they said she 114 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: paid this man a large amount of money. Well, the 115 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: fact was, she says she and her husband brad Key, 116 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: when he was alive, had lent this particular man money, 117 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: and by the time Margaret was murdered in nineteen eighty four, 118 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: that man had paid back most of that money. So 119 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: the police's information was sort of out of kilter, deliberately 120 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: or what. I don't know, but it just didn't really 121 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: stack up. But what stacked up more to a neutral 122 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: observer such as ourselves, is this Margaret knew a lot 123 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: of men. A lot of men knew Margaret. So there's 124 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: the ones we've already been through, the ones that were cleared, 125 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: you know, the brother in law, the ex neighbor, the 126 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: ex husband. Then we've got her own brother, Lindsay Nelson, 127 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: who recently he died two years ago. Lindsay told me 128 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: that for years and years and years he was not 129 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: tested for DNA. And he said to me in two 130 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: thousand and four he said this, And then later he said, 131 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 1: if they didn't test me him, who else didn't they test? 132 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: Because there he is, he's the uncle of the little 133 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: girl Shauna. He should have been eliminated because he had 134 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: access to the house. He would have known how to 135 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: go through the back door. What if he was a fiend, 136 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: what if he was a raving pedophile killer, whatever? Whatever 137 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: he said, He wasn't clear. And he pointed out that 138 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: he worked for a particular counsel out there, and that 139 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,680 Speaker 1: he'd borrowed it truck with a driver from the council. 140 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: Well borrowed a loose word, that'd actually commandeered the truck 141 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: and took it more or less illegally a council truck 142 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: to move some gear into Margaret's house, tables and stuff. 143 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: So he said, the guy that drove the truck is 144 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: called you know, Bill Blogs. And I went and knocked 145 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: on Bill Blogs's door one day. But Bill Blogs was 146 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: a shifty character. Bill Blogs had form for doing dishonest things. 147 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: In fact, he was sacked from the council for breaking 148 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:36,280 Speaker 1: fire hydrants with crowbars so that he would be called 149 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: out after ours to fix the hydrants so he woud 150 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:41,679 Speaker 1: get overtime. So he was a bit of a crook. 151 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 1: He used to receive stolen goods, pinch stuff, you know, 152 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: he was one of those sort of guys. And also 153 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 1: Bill Blogs, not his real name, used to drive a 154 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: hot red falcon Ute and it was a really good 155 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: hot falcon Ut with what they called twelve slaughter mag 156 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: wheel These were the very expensive mag wheels, twelve slaughters. 157 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: And one of the clues that neighbors gave police they 158 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: said they'd noticed such a vehicle in Calvin Drive around 159 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: the week of that murder. Now this is not a 160 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: positive sighting. It doesn't actually put Bill Blogs in the frame, 161 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 1: but it's interesting. Lindsay Nelson, Margaret's brother, Shawana's uncle says 162 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: to me, how come that bug, Bill Blogs hasn't been cleared. 163 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: Why wasn't he clear? How come all these other guys 164 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: he thinks haven't been cleared. There was a young guy 165 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: teaching Margaret how to drive a semi trailer. Margaret was 166 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: an enthusiast. Margaret had a lot of energy. Margaret was mercurial. 167 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: Margaret was up for new experiences. And one of Margaret's 168 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: ideas was she would get a semi trailer license a 169 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,599 Speaker 1: truck lasnon so she could help friends in South Australia 170 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: bring in their grain crop over summer. Go over there, 171 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: work in summertime, driving a truck back and forth to 172 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: the wheat silos. She was that sort of person. She'd 173 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:16,319 Speaker 1: give anything a go. She was getting her truck license 174 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: with instructions from a young man who was happy to 175 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: give her free lessons because he really enjoyed her company. 176 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: That guy should have had his DNA tested because who 177 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: knows what might have happened there. That guy's circle of 178 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,080 Speaker 1: friends should have been tested, you know. Did he know 179 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: someone else that knew Margaret through the truck driving thing. 180 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: We don't know. In the same street, there was a 181 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 1: house at the end of the street on the corner 182 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: of Ferntry Gully Road and Calvin Drive I think it was, 183 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,679 Speaker 1: and that family were regarded as sort of the black 184 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:00,160 Speaker 1: sheep of Calvin Drive. Dad was an interstate trucky. They 185 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: are pretty rough and ready. There was a lot of them. 186 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: There was a lot of boys in the family grown up. 187 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 1: When I say boys ranging from a teenage kid of 188 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: about fourteen up to twenty eight years old or whatever. 189 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,959 Speaker 1: I tracked down a couple of those young fellows and 190 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: they said to me, we weren't cleared. And one of 191 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: them had the common sense to say that they. 192 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:22,840 Speaker 2: Should have been cleared. 193 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: He said we should have been cleared because he said, 194 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: I worked at Bowater scott or one of the big 195 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:30,680 Speaker 1: factories out there. I used to come home at midnight 196 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: from shift work. He said, I was a perfect candidate, 197 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,040 Speaker 1: but the police didn't come and test me or question me. 198 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: He said, I should have been tested and eliminated, and 199 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: so should my brothers, and so should my sister's boyfriend. 200 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: Sister's boyfriend lived in the caravan beside these people's house. 201 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: He did time for rape, did time in Pentridge prison 202 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 1: for rape. So there we've got a whole family of 203 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:03,120 Speaker 1: rough young bugs from fourteen to twenty something. And the 204 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: sister's boyfriend who's a convicted rapist or was later convicted 205 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: of rape and did time. None of them were tested 206 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: at that time. This means that the police managed to 207 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 1: miss for some time, maybe forever, but certainly for many years, 208 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:27,680 Speaker 1: they didn't eliminate a whole group of people, any one 209 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 1: of whom could have been the murderer. But wait, there's more. 210 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,080 Speaker 1: A few years ago, not that long ago. Let's stay 211 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: just before COVID. Back in there. I was approached by 212 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: a young man with a story to tell you. He's 213 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: a guy with a good job, proper person, not a lunatic, 214 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: not an armchair detective. Wasn't full of theories. He just 215 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: had one story to tell me. He said. Look, I'm 216 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: a close friend of a particular young fellow and his father, 217 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: whom he hates, was a doctor in the Dandy Knongs 218 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:10,560 Speaker 1: back in the eighties and nineties. And his father was 219 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: very popular, very well known. He was sporty, he was 220 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,839 Speaker 1: good looking, he was king of the kids. He drove 221 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: good cars, and he played tennis, and he had a 222 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: holiday house down the coast, and he was big house 223 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: on the hill. The whole shebang very high in the 224 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: list of socially desirable people living in the Dandy Knongs, 225 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: you know, the top of the social tree among his 226 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: friends would be I think the former Senator Don Chip 227 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: and his wife, among others up in the hills, and 228 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: there was a pretty big group of those sort of people, 229 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: and he said, what I want to tell you is 230 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: that that man was a monster. He looked great and 231 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: he was popular, but people became aware that he was 232 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,280 Speaker 1: a sexual predator. And he wasn't just a sexual predator. 233 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: He was a really aggressive pedophile, among other things, to 234 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: young girls, bigger girls, teenage girls, and women of all ages, 235 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: just the full Monty. And it got that way that 236 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: even though he was sort of a popular GP, some 237 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 1: people didn't want to go to him. Some women didn't 238 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: want to go to his surgery, certainly, not unless they 239 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,680 Speaker 1: had a friend with them or whatever. And he got 240 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: known as sort of the dirty doctor. And eventually it 241 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: transpired that several witnesses got together and compared notes, and 242 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: they realized that this bloke was a serial predator. And 243 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: it turned out sexually molested females between the age of 244 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: four and twenty nine at six different locations, four places 245 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: up there on the Dandy Knongs and his own house 246 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,160 Speaker 1: and his own holiday house which is down the coast. 247 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: And although he was convicted, I think only of one 248 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: of those The allegations were made by a series of 249 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: witnesses the similar fact behavior covering many people. The conviction 250 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:09,080 Speaker 1: he got was enough that he was struck off the 251 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: medical register he could no longer practice as a doctor. 252 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: This is in the late nineties when he was around 253 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: fifty years of age, and that doctor having moved from 254 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: the Danny Knongs when in disgrace to Saint Kilda, where 255 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: he was able to work for a while as a 256 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: doctor before he was actually convicted. He then moved into state. 257 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: He went to a border town. Let's say he went 258 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: to a border town. And some time ago I went 259 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: to that border town. It might have been I think 260 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: since the COVID pandemic. I went to the border town 261 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,040 Speaker 1: and I watched that man, and I watched him Walky's dog, 262 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 1: and I made sure that locals knew exactly who he was, 263 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: which they did. They knew very well who he was, 264 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: and they knew his reputation. And they keep a very 265 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: close eye on that man because he lives between a 266 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,400 Speaker 1: scape park and a primary school, and everybody in that district, 267 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,399 Speaker 1: the parents and the grandparents, they keep an eye on 268 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,400 Speaker 1: that guy. So he's probably not going to get up 269 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,400 Speaker 1: to much, although some people worry about the little kids 270 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:22,120 Speaker 1: next door. That man, as we've said, was a doctor 271 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 1: in the Dandy Knongs. It turns out, as we've just discovered, 272 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: that if you look at the birth notices published in 273 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 1: the newspapers from early nineteen eighty three, there is a 274 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:39,880 Speaker 1: birth notice that says that doctor Bradkey, that is Margaret's 275 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: dead lover, well known popular doctor doctor John Bradkey and 276 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:49,119 Speaker 1: doctor X. We're not going to name him here, Doctor 277 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: bradkn Doctor X brought our beautiful daughter into the world, 278 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 1: you know, last week, baby girl born December the twenty 279 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: ninth of two or around that date, and the birth 280 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 1: notice names those two doctors together. Now this is proof 281 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 1: positive that doctor Bradkey, who is Margaret's lover, the one 282 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: that she really wanted, the lover that she really loved, 283 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,639 Speaker 1: and she was broken hearted when he wouldn't leave his 284 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 1: wife and marry her and all that stuff. He was 285 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 1: a lover that bought her a house at Frontrick Gully, 286 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: So they were pretty well connected. Doctor Bradkey used to 287 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: deliver babies side by side with doctor X, the charming, 288 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: dashing sexual predator, and so it is clear listeners that 289 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: doctor X the sexual predator must have known, must surely 290 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: have known Margaret Tap because they delivered babies in the 291 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: William Anglis Hospital, in the Dandy Kongs at wherever it is, 292 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:04,240 Speaker 1: fern Trick Gally or up whatever it is. And Doctor 293 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: X used to play tennis, as we've heard, he not 294 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:09,680 Speaker 1: only had a court at home, he used to play 295 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:13,880 Speaker 1: at the local courts. Very keen on it. Social tennis player, 296 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,199 Speaker 1: pretty good one. And he used to play tennis with 297 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,919 Speaker 1: a group of other alpha males, one of whom was 298 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: a builder well known to me, a bloke who played 299 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: one game of VFL football interestingly. And they played in 300 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 1: a sort of a social comp at Fernie Creek Tennis 301 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 1: Club and Fernie Creek Tennis Club in those days, i'm told, 302 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: had onto car courts, that is the red sort of 303 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 1: brick dust stuff onto garrett as opposed to tarmac or 304 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,640 Speaker 1: as opposed to lawn. This is onto cart and easily 305 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,359 Speaker 1: maintained and all the rest of it. And in those 306 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: days most of us used to wear things called dunlop 307 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: folly tennis shoes. If we didn't use them to play tennis, 308 00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 1: we used to wear them around with our jeans. They 309 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 1: were a cheap and popular item of footwear, and they 310 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: had a very distinctive ripple soul which was like a 311 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: zig zag pattern on the soul. I think these days 312 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: they be regarded as prehistoric and ridiculous, but in those 313 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:18,200 Speaker 1: days they were sort of good snakers to wear, and 314 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: tennis players is to wear them. And here's the bit 315 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: that matters. The one clue found at the murder house 316 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: at thirteen Calvin Drive, Ferntry Gully was a perfect footprint 317 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: or footprints plural in Margaret's bedroom and in the bathroom 318 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:47,679 Speaker 1: Dunlop volley tennis shoe and it would appear to have 319 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: left the marks on the floor because the Dunlop volley 320 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:57,040 Speaker 1: was impregnated with red onto car brick dust and it 321 00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: had left these excellent foot in the murder house. Now, 322 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:10,479 Speaker 1: that does not prove by itself that Doctor X was 323 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:15,439 Speaker 1: the unknown visitor, but there is no doubt in the 324 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: minds of the police, and you have to agree with 325 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: them that if you find the person that was wearing 326 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: the volley Sanchez in that house that night that left 327 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: those footprints, you have probably found the killer. Doctor X. 328 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: Keen tennis player size eleven feet which would seem to 329 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 1: tell you with the man sized prince left in the house, 330 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 1: and he was a aggressive, opportunist, sexual predator. He played 331 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:55,680 Speaker 1: tennis on Tuesday nights at Fernie Creek, which is a 332 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 1: quick drive fifteen minutes or whatever from Ferntry Gully Easy. 333 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: He plays tennis between you know, nine and ten whatever 334 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: evening stuff after work, then whips down to see Margaret, 335 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: whom he knew as the extremely friendly nurse ex lover 336 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:20,160 Speaker 1: of his dead colleague Dr Bradke. And one thing might 337 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,399 Speaker 1: have led to another. And so while we cannot say 338 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: with any certainty who killed Margaret Tappan her daughter Shawna, 339 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 1: he could only hope that doctor X has been eliminated 340 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: through the use of DNA and any other means at 341 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: the police's disposal, because if he hasn't, it would seem 342 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: to be a glaring oversight. Thanks for listening. Life and 343 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,920 Speaker 1: Crimes is a Sunday Herald Sun production for True crime Australia. 344 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: Our producer is Johnty Burton. For my columns, features and more, 345 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: go to Heroldsun dot com dot au, forward slash Andrew 346 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:10,639 Speaker 1: Rule one word. 347 00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 2: For advertising inquiries, go to news Podcasts sold at News 348 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:20,640 Speaker 2: dot com dot au that is all one word news. 349 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 1: Podcast's sold And if you want further information about this episode, 350 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: links are in the description.