WA: Husband of murdered jeweller was a suspect, court told

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WA: Husband of murdered jeweller was a suspect, court told

By Tim Clarke

PERTH, Aug 14 AAP - The husband of murdered Perth jeweller Pamela Lawrence was considereda suspect by police at the time of her killing, an appeal court was told today.

Andrew Mallard, now 41, is appealing against his conviction for murdering Mrs Lawrence,who was killed with repeated blows to the head in her Mosman Park jewellery store in May1994.

Superintendent Malcolm Shervill, who took charge of the murder hunt, told Western Australia'scourt of criminal appeal that Peter Lawrence had been treated as a "person of interest"

by detectives after his wife's killing.

Asked today by Mallard's counsel Malcolm McCusker QC whether Mr Lawrence had been asuspect at the time, Supt Shervill said: "He had been a person of interest, yes."

Supt Shervill said some officers had doubts about Mallard's confession because of its"rambling" nature.

A note made by Supt Shervill about the progress of the investigation, read out in court,revealed how some officers felt.

"His rambling admission left doubt in the minds of some investigators as to whetherMr Mallard had killed Mrs Lawrence," the note said.

Earlier in the hearing, Mr McCusker said photographs of the crime scene revealed "distinctand important" inconsistencies in Mr Lawrence's original statement.

The photographs, only made available in the past month, showed a large pool of bloodby the back door the jewellery shop.

The court was told Mr Lawrence would not have been able to avoid stepping in the bloodif he had gone through the back door to the shed after finding his wife, as he told thepolice.

Yet there was no blood on the stairs outside the back door.

"The evidence of the pool of blood at the back door raised the real question as tohow anyone could have left through the back door, leaving no footprints and no blood,"

Mr McCusker said.

Relatives and supporters of Mallard say there was no physical evidence to prove hewas the killer, the murder weapon was never found and his "confession" to police was capturedon a 20-minute recording after he was given a cocktail of drugs.

Mallard, who had been in a psychiatric facility with bipolar disorder and was a heavymarijuana user, was vulnerable and confused at the time he admitted the crime, say hisfamily.

The appeal continues.

AAP tc/cjm/jlw

KEYWORD: MALLARD