Who killed young mum Corryn Rayney? Falsely accused husband breaks silence | 60 Minutes Australia

good evening and welcome to this special edition of 60 minutes I'm Tara Brown as if the murder of Karen Rainey wasn't traumatic and incomprehensible enough for her family the unrelenting police pursuit of her husband as the perpetrator must be one of the most appalling denials of justice and decency imaginable Lloyd Rainey was a high profile Perth barrister who was presumed guilty of the crime almost from the moment his wife's body was discovered in a bush grave but that meant detectives missed or ignored other vital clues as a consequence of the flawed investigation whoever did murder Curran remains unknown and unpunished now Lloyd Rainey wants the police to put aside their prejudice and find his wife's killer [Music] it's a wonder Perth barrister Lloyd Rainey has any fight left in him falsely accused of the murder of his wife corn he's beaten a twenty million dollar police case to convict him now he's fighting for the truth who killed his wife and why are they still walking free someone has literally gotten away with murder there were other possible suspects there was other evidence but it was all ignored by police obsessed with Lloyd's guilt he is now a suspect in the murder of his wife there was like a runaway train that nobody could stop he's their only suspect at this time they can't admit that they got it absolutely wrong right from the beginning Lloyd is calling for a new investigation for impartial police to find who really murdered his wife I think the evidence is there I think it just needs honest hard-working independent police it needs different people to do the job properly [Music] 44 year-old Caron Rainey couldn't know it but Tuesday the 7th of August 2007 would be the date of her untimely and tragic death a death that will forever shape the lives of her husband and their daughters my mom died in 2007 and that's that's more tragedy than any family should ever have to deal with it's time for that to stop and it's time for justice to be served for my mother on that August evening Karen was boot scooting her Tuesday night ritual to escape the stress of being a registrar at Western Australia's Supreme Court [Music] the dance class ended at 9:30 p.m. and qhorin was due home soon after as it got later Lloyd and daughters Caitlin and Sarah went to sleep assuming she was out with friends [Music] by next morning there was still no sign of Koren we were in separate bedrooms and we thought she'd gone to work earlier there was no reason to believe anything had happened then a call from Karen's offers she hadn't shown up there either and you start with something's wrong Koren was very conscientious loved her job for her not to go to work something was wrong what could have gone wrong well nothing made sense because Curren was not someone who would go missing and started to dwell on me something's bad has happened something's not right lloyd immediately did all he could helping police gain access to his wife's locked email account and desperately calling hospitals family and friends none of those calls were fruitful no Anuak our laws but hardest of all for this one-time prosecutor and seasoned criminal barrister was his role as a father how did you tell the girls that their mother was missing yeah that was a very hard time I told the girls mum wasn't been at work today we don't know where she is and there was just generally a state of confusion disbelief not knowing what happened with no word from Karen the next eight days were torture for her family [Music] how can I help you then on the 15th of August 2007 police received this phone call oh hi look I'm just wanted to report some missing carpet for the young mother that's missing I won 30 years five six ball was that on the news yes the world is that the rain a woman raised anything for over a week when they told me that Khan's car was found my first question was no war she in there feeling that she might have been killed and being inside the in the boodle so when they said no she wasn't so that was again well maybe some hope that she can still be okay but that hope is soon extinguished currents car is found broken down seven and a half kilometers from the Raney's home and in an extraordinary break police are able to follow a trail created by oil leaking from the cars damaged sump that trail leads them three and a half kilometers into Perth's iconic Kings Park we can work out from the damage in the car former Scotland Yard detective and now forensics expert Robyn Napper explains the damage to currents car was done as her killer or killers drove it over this bollard in their haste to get away so from this point out to the road and a way down the road we've got this oil trail drip drip drip drip drip all the way to Kershaw Street in Subiaco where the vehicle was found and so then a week later of the police followed the trail back to here they did and then the forensic guys did a search and very quickly located the grave this is where the search ended where corenz body was found buried in scrub just 50 meters from the road it's a very lonely place isn't it this is how nature intended it nobody would have found this [Music] to learn the Koren had been put in this bush grave what was that like to hear that's terrible it's terrible arm I remember thinking I remember saying out loud you could kill someone and in Barrie's the minute you know grave in the middle of kings power like there are if there a dog man who would do that if not for the oil leak who would have thought to look here whoever murdered qhorin inadvertently led police back to her bush grave now it was up to police to find who that was I can confirm that the human remains found in Kings Park this afternoon are those of Corinne Rainey this now becomes a homicide investigation [Music] I told him what time that mom had been killed and we're just together just a 3% just perhaps around each other I tried to comfort them but how do you comfort to girls who've lost their numb and not just the loss to look like this was a traffic accident or or death from an illness it was a mom had been murdered and then uh then our lives were never the same coming up the largest murder investigation in waa history do you think the content of Khan's emails turn the police against you that may have been a factor yes points to one man he is now a suspect in the murder of his wife but have detectives got it wrong by being so fixated on Lloyd Rainey what did they miss out doing the new stuff on finding the murder that's next on 60 minutes the discovery of Karen Rainey's body in Perth Kings Park in August 2007 sparked what would become the biggest murder investigation in w/a history certainly the most talked-about [Music] as fellow high-profile lawyer Martin Bennett observed the public interest in the Rainey case bordered on obsessive the prominence of the couple the terrible nature of that a woman can be abducted go missing and a body be found in the center of Perth in Kings Park Enosh in a grave the hideous circumstance the nature of the death was she alive when she was buried all of those matters contributed I think to the salaciousness to the currency of the public interest add to that mix the discovery that the rainy union was not a perfect marriage in fact while they still lived under the same roof Corin and Lloyd had decided to separate and their split was becoming more and more bitter then there was the revelation that on the very night Cohen was murdered the pair had planned a special meeting to thrash out the thorny issues of finances and the custody of their two daughters take me back to the 7th of August 2007 yes this was meant to be a fairly momentous night for both you and Corrin why was that we had agreed to meet and to talk sensibly without lawyers just us about how we can resolve whatever was outstanding was there anything that you were hiding from her no nothing at all no are you prepared to be completely direct and honest today yes that everything you say here is the truth yes Lloyd did you kill your wife no I didn't [Music] all I know is police are searching while Lloyd says he was doing all he could to help police in their investigation if they can find something what he didn't know was their suspicions had fixed on him in part maybe because of the accusations and threats to ruin his career contained in currents emails a motive perhaps but they were the very emails Lloyd at help police access the day she was reported missing there was talk of gambling there was talk of infidelity there was talk of arguing over custody demanding financial records and so forth do you think the content of Correns emails turn the police against you it may have been a factor yes the females to me were the things that lost most couples that are separating so about each other not nice not nice that's right were they honest something she said were exaggerating some things you said we're not true it was more acrimonious on Cohen's part than on mine and why do you think that was I think she wanted the separation more than I did while I was Detective Sergeant had me from the major crimes one we are here executing a search bar this was the first clue for Lloyd that he was now the focus of the police investigation two weeks after Karen's murder they came in force with a search warrant despite being welcomed into his house many times before this was a pre-planned event for the media to film to show that they were coming to my home looking for evidence trying to implicate me they thought you had done something awful right from the beginning they decided that I was Karen's killer right at the start what do you believe happened to Karan I think most likely that she was attacked when she left boots getting the case was that Lloyd Lloyd alone had actually committed the crime taken the body to Kings Park and buried her forensics expert Robin nappa who would join Lloyd's defense team also discovered evidence that police had made up their minds of Lloyd's guilt within two days a finding Correns body when we went through their critical issues logged like the diary of the investigation we found within 48 hours they were talking about Lloyd as being a suspect it was all Lloyd and it was like a runaway train that nobody could stop if you are not guilty of this crime names are being investigated by the police I mean do you just welcome the investigation and so we'll go your hardest I've got nothing to hide well well I did do that and I had to do that because how else will Koren's murder be solved other than by police doing it did the girls ever ask you whether you were responsible for their mom's death no of course not more than anyone Caitlin and Sarah new me new coroner new our relationship Danu me better than anyone not a moment have I'd ever reassure them a month later on the 20th of September again with the media in tow police conduct another search at the family home they arrest Loyd on suspicion of bugging the home phone charges that would prove to be baseless but late that afternoon another bombshell the head of the investigation senior sergeant Jack Lee calls a press conference to claim a breakthrough in the murder case as a result of further investigations this morning including the interview of mr. Rainey he is now a suspect in the murder of his wife he is our prime suspect because our evidence at this time leads us to believe the offense occurred at that house he's our only suspect at this time I had worked by that stage more than 20 years is a hard-working lawyer to build the career 20 years it took less than 20 minutes to destroy all that how did you see that destruction what evidence did you have that your life had now changed well it changed immediately after that I remember I caught a taxi because the police had taken my car away and the taxi driver heard the news on police have named the former DPP prosecutor is the prime suspect in the murder I remember the taxi driver shaking his head and saying the husband did us he hadn't recognized me but he was convinced by what had been reported if you have the most senior officer handling the investigation say to the public at large that qhorin was killed at the Monash Street home at a time when Lloyd and his daughters were at home that they have the evidence and he said Prime and their only suspect then you're telling the world he killed his wife that was repeated on the Internet six hundred thousand times and within three weeks that that cements of you by being so fixated on Lloyd Rainey in your view what did they miss out doing lets them start on finding the murderer coming up this man has got the most horrendous record of sexual assault and violence the suspects and evidence are we've got his close associate flicking his cigarette butt allegedly outside of the house police discounted although these are the opportunities that are lost and the very public arrest of Lloyd Rainey why do you think they did that to cause maximum embarrassment maximum English that's next on 60 minutes as he himself documented Lloyd Rainey came under repeated attack from complete strangers once he was named by police as the prime suspect in his wife's murder eggs thrown at his house dead crows left on his driveway and doorstep and here caught by CCTV after lloyd enters a local purse bar a woman runs up and tips a bucket of sanitary waste over him the public clearly thought Lloyd guilty as it seems did the police an analysis of the police investigation into the murder of Karen Rainey shows an extraordinary focus on Loyd 96% of their surveillance hours was spent following and watching Loyd and those close to him that's a lot of man-hours for one suspect especially when there were two extremely violent sexual predators hiding in plain sight [Music] Allen Mitchell lachho described as one of Western Australia's worst violent offenders convicted of raping an 11-year old girl as well as many other sexual assaults lachho was living in an apartment block overlooking the Bentley Community Center the very place where Karin regularly went boot scooting and where she was last seen alive this man has got the most horrendous record of sexual assault and violence awful man according to forensic specialists Robin Napa police became aware the center's car park was also lacus haunt where he frequently sold drugs he was only ever superficially looked at was never ever properly investigated at a time and within eight days of the murder he had actually fled the state jumped the border and went to South Australia predator number two Ivan EADS himself a violent sex offender was like OHS cousin and lived just around the corner from Corin and Lloyd Rainey [Music] incredibly during an early police search a cigarette butt with AIDS as DNA on it was found on the verge outside the rainy home now that just went under the radar they never did anything about this man at all and you think in a major homicide investigation they would have investigated that to the thorough in phone records from a phone box on the corner also put Alan lecco within a block of the rainy house on the day that Corinne disappeared he was making calls from the phone box at the top of the road so we've got him at the phone box at the top of the road and we've got his close associate each flicking his cigarette butt allegedly outside of the house [Music] then in another remarkable twist the day after Correns body is found in a sandy grave in Kings Park Alan laço is pulled over by police for driving without a license police find a knife in the car and sand in his boot in the course of his arrest unprompted lako mentions to police he'd heard a woman had been carjacked in Bentley and was now missing Bentley was the suburb where Koren was last seen alive but no one had ever claimed she'd been carjacked that reference to carjacking the sand in the boot as well as scratches on Lake Ozarks concerned those officers enough to contact the detectives investigating Correns murder but those detectives did nothing and there was still no alarm when police were contacted with information that a month before Korins murder as he drove through Kings Park lecco told his passengers there's a body going in there as a police officer how would you describe the police case how they conducted themselves appalling they didn't follow the leads they had a year later w8 police did finally track lecco to sydney but they were looking for evidence of a link between Lloyd Rainey and an alleged hitman lachho supposedly knew instead they found a curious diary page for August 2007 the month kourin was murdered they also found a map of Kings Park where Leko once worked and a floor plan of the Supreme Court where as we know Corrin Rainey was a registrar police interviewed Laco but their investigation of him went no further he was carrying a map of a Supreme Court and a map of Kings Park he'd worked at Kings Park and he's got sand in the back of his car why why were these matters not followed up these are the opportunities that are lost for lawyer Martin Bennett the circumstantial evidence especially against Alan lachho was compelling but police only had one man in their sights and on the 8th of December 2010 in their most public display of force yet police chose to pull Lloyd Rainey over in busy downtown purse three years after Karen's death they finally charged Lloyd with her murder and they wanted everyone to know us lots of police flack jackets guns arrested me symbolically five hundred meters from where Koren worked why do you think they did that to cause maximum embarrassment maximum humiliation just on public display the man arrested handcuffed and now we're bringing him to justice that's what it was about coming up they were convinced they would get overwhelming forensic evidence the police case stumbles in court I have put this evidence aside and ignored it Lloyd's own investigation are you taking a gamble proves crucial I can't see that there's any way he could but has the damage already being done it was clear that they hadn't behaved reprehensibly but saying it doesn't cure the harm that they caused to me that's next on 60 minutes on July 16th 2012 the case against Lloyd Rainey was to be finally tested in court to be heard over 12 weeks with 100 witnesses and 700 exhibits it was described as the trial of the decade but what it would expose was the full dimension of the police bias against Lloyd Rainey and the extent they went to to prove he was the murderer despite having compelling evidence he wasn't it may have taken them five years to get their case to trial but the police were unashamed in their solidarity against Lloyd Rainey in a bizarre and blatant show of force they all wore matching custom-made ties to court have you seen anything like that before never never in my life I've seen that according to former Scotland Yard detective Robin nappa it was the height of police arrogance just saying we're all on the same time we're all on the same team before they've even given evidence and had it tested in court before the judge [Music] the prosecution case was built on one overriding premise the Koren was murdered here at her home by Lloyd with their youngest daughter in the house at the time the police say waiting for his other daughter to come home Lloyd hid Cohen's body until later that night before dragging her into her car which had also hidden and then burying her in Kings Park now if that was the scenario then you'd imagine they'd be forensic evidence to prove it blood signs of a clean up drag marks on the Massey driveway [Music] they bought in a full forensic team and the full forensic team we're going to scour the family home which they fervently believed was the murder scene and they were convinced they would get overwhelming forensic evidence they got nothing not a thing what the police came up with was this seed pod which they claimed they found in corns body bag police said the pod came from the liquid amber tree at the rainy home which would help prove their case that Curran was murdered their forensic tests on the pod initially looked damning for lloyd but as forensic expert Robin nappa says it turned out to be far worse for the police that particular pod was absolutely loaded with forensic material from Lloyds home address quite clearly that had been in contact with the driveway was with the bushes there was even traces of paint that came off the window was just totally unnatural what was found in that port so what are you suggesting how did he suggestion that that was pollard that was planted who by the police people within the investigation [Music] the seed pod was meant to seal the police case and so Lloyds fate but everything about this perfect piece of evidence was questionable Correns body bag in which it was supposedly found also contained three kilos of sand from her Kings Park grave site despite that the seed pod had no trace of that sand instead everything on it came from Lloyds house Lloyds barrister QC David Edwardson it was so critical because it was such an extraordinary thing that it had all of these fragments that obviously came from Lloyd Ronnie's property but how could it possibly have ended up in the body bag in the way that they described and not have a single grain of soil from Kings Park when it's amongst the soil so it had to be a plant how would you describe that behavior well it's appalling it's criminal in a setback that all but destroyed the police case the seed pot evidence was so dubious the trial judge Brian Martin refused to accept it my doubts are such that I cannot rely on the evidence concerning the finding of the seed pod in the body bag and as a consequence I have put this evidence aside and ignored it the police pursuit of Loyd a former senior state prosecutor was unrelenting even as their case was falling apart and the evidence that Karen was murdered at Kings Park was mounting why why were they so convinced it was you I don't know I've asked myself that question many times I don't know the answer was there someone who had a serious grudge against me because I prosecuted them before I prosecuted police officers are prosecuted politicians are prosecuted a whole range across the spectrum I don't know [Music] on the night kourin disappeared a resident from this tower block reported hearing a loud earth-shattering high-pitched scream coming from below somewhere nearby in Kings Park it lasted about two minutes but police were so certain the coroner had been murdered at home they wrote off that account despite several other witnesses saying they heard the same scream if it's lloyd then the body has to be disposed of between a time of 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. so anyone who heard screaming Kings Park at 11 p.m. that night can't be associated with the disposal of the body that's the logic that they applied what do you think of that logic it's obviously wrong obviously it's not logic at all it's assumption that it's used them to exclude facts such they should have been open to and they should have investigated Perth lawyer Martin Bennett has always believed in Lloyds innocence the police certain of his guilt and the trial revealed just how investigators refused to test evidence that might prove them wrong most shockingly was the chance to determine scientifically where Koren died their own expert dr. Dallas Mildenhall told them nasal swabs collected at current autopsy could conclusively prove where she was last alive he told the police quite clearly the the pollen the back of the nose will reflect the last 40 minutes of life and his main recommendation was get hold of those nasal swabs and analyze them what are the police - nothing for five years police had the nasal swabs and did nothing at trial Lloyd got special permission from the judge to finally have them tested [Music] were you taking a gamble I wasn't taking a gamble but many people thought I was in fact some people some lawyer said why did you do that Lloyd what if the swabs come back and show that current took her last breaths here at home I said well she didn't she didn't come home it's not a gamble how vital were those nasal swabs I think they were crucial so crucial dr. Lin Milnes analysis of those swabs destroyed the police case Australia's foremost forensic pathologist dr. Miller is a pollen expert whose tests proved Caron could not have been killed at home I found that the swab sample had pollen from Kings part and none from the rainy home what did that finding tell you that meant to me that she was actually breathing when the pollen got there she was breathing she was alive yeah Kings Park the fact that you didn't find any pollen samples from Como near her home what does that tell you well it tells me that she wasn't killed it yeah well that's critical yeah I mean that was the police case that she was killed if she was killed at home I couldn't find any pollen from from the home to dr. mill there's no doubt lloyd Rainey is an innocent man I can't see that there's any way a lot of time scientifically if you look at the science behind it there's no way Correns cause of death has never been established but there is some evidence that it may have been a sexual assault gone wrong her torn shirt and ripped jeans upon the police dismissed that evidence that there zealotry in trying to gather other material to implicate lloyd brought a damning rebuke from trial judge justice Brian Martin [Music] concerning various aspects of the conduct of the police investigators there are instances of conduct ranging from inappropriate to reprehensible do you feel vindicated in any way that the the judge said that it was clear that they had behaved reprehensibly but saying it doesn't cure the hand that they've caused to me and to our children coming up the only person that didn't appear to be nervous that was Lord Rainey the verdict is in there was never a case never a case that medical criticism from the judge the absence of evidence tells strongly against the state but still no apologies from police new justice is not just to me as to my children mr. everybody have a new car that's next on November 1st 2012 is judgment day for Lloyd Rainey it was a media thrown like you wouldn't believe there were more reporters and journalists and camera crews and even at the start of the trial and there were reporters from all over Australia the police investigation and the state prosecution case cost Western Australian taxpayers 20 million dollars so for them to this was a day of reckoning as Lloyd's Queen's Counsel David Edwardson remembers anxiety levels were high on both sides of the courtroom Judgment Day to say the least is probably one of the most nervous days I've ever had in my life it was extraordinary in fact the only person that didn't appear to be nervous that was Lord Rainey and he despite being that lonely figure that sat in the dock throughout that trial right to the end was supremely confident he said don't worry David I'll be acquitted and he was right [Music] five long years after Koren was murdered and four months after the trial began justice brown Martin agreed with Lloyd declaring him innocent and finding the prosecution had failed the case for the state is beset by improbabilities and uncertainties crucial evidence is lacking and the absence of evidence tells strongly against the state I find the accused not guilty of willful murder [Music] despite the best funded investigation despite unlimited apparently resources at the disposal of those people investigating this is still unsolved and that's an extremely hard thing for my family to accept were you confident that you would be found not guilty absolutely all I needed was a fair trial I never for a moment data that I'd be acquitted because there was no evidence there was never a case never a case that murder Cohen and that's the result three times Lloyd has been judged and found innocent at his murder trial at the prosecution's appeal and in a defamation case against the w8 police last year where he won a record payout of 2.6 million dollars when represented by lawyer Martin Bennett but still financially and by reputation Lloyd is a ruined man Lloyd was running this by himself with no assets totally wiped out and this damage will continue for the rest of his career you describe the effect on roads reputation as a dreadful stain a poison incapable of being expunged hasn't been expunged all that occurs as people now say well he obviously didn't Killary arrange for someone to kill her I just adjust their view to still attribute guilt but in a you must be very clever to have got away with that type of thing and those who've helped defend Lloyd have also found themselves under attack I've received for seven years anonymous hate mail for acting for Lloyd somebody once said to me why did you get him off another I didn't think he didn't do it but you know face was bright in my nose it was horrible really nasty any of us that believed in Louie's innocence any of us that have word with him we've we've all been subject to the same abuse utterly utterly insulting it's extraordinary but Lloyd's acquittal seems to have done nothing to shift the W a police view that he's guilty it certainly done nothing to spur them on to look for who did kill Cohen the one thing that would go a long way is for the police proper right minded courageous police independent of what has happened before to do their job now that's my hope so currently do you think that W a police still believe Lloyd Rainey is guilty of the murder of his wife I don't know whether they believe he's guilty or not what I do know and think at least is that they can't admit that they got it absolutely wrong right from the beginning and there and I think lost the problem even if that means letting murderers walk the streets well precisely yes as for the two violent sex predators police did at least interview Alan laco is in jail awaiting sentencing on 14 unrelated charges including assault while the whereabouts of Ivan EADS is unknown police seem to have no interest in investigating them further the key to it is the lesson and whether that lessons been learnt or not I don't know we'll have to see we'll wait for another case where they an innocent persons accused and prosecuted of a crime and a guilty person goes free it's now 11 years since that unimaginable night since these sisters lost their mother and for 11 years Caitlin and Sarah have watched their father pursued and persecuted without a renewed commitment to find currents killer it's all been for nothing your daughter Sarah has said that our lives have gotten worse and worse especially for my father more than anyone else is that how you would describe life still what has never changed is that Cara's killer has never been prosecuted so in that regard yes nothing gets better until what happens to investigate me alone to the exclusion of others that's completely wrong and that's what's caused this injustice and injustice is not just to me it's to my children and to everybody who ever knew car and everybody who ever loved her that's the injustice and to Karin herself of course and as well as that there is a personal people walking around who have literally got away with men hello I'm Tara Brown thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our Channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,519,101

Rating: 4.5859561 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam, Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Corryn Rayney, murder, crime, police, investigation, police pursuit, perpetrator, denials of justice, Lloyd Rayney, Perth, West Australia, Western Australia Police, Kings park, WA, detectives, guilty, not guilty, suspect

Id: lG-_bMbyb0s

Length: 47min 19sec (2839 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 15 2018