Disgraced

Disgraced

Paul Dale grew up in Yackandandah wanting to be a cop.

He achieved his dream and became a detective who thrived on catching crooks.

But in 2003, things started to go wrong.

Another detective was arrested burgling a drug house

with an informer, Terry Hodson, and in return for a lighter sentence,

Hodson named Dale as an accomplice.

Then Hodson was murdered, and Dale was arrested as a suspect.

There followed a nightmare that lasted nearly ten years.

While the gangland wars raged, Victoria Police pursued Dale,

rewarding hitmen and drug lords for statements against him.

He spent seven months in the state's most notorious jail, charged

with murder on the testimony of killer Carl Williams,

and was even accused of organising the murder of Carl Williams in prison.

In 2013, Dale finally came before a jury on perjury charges

and was found not guilty on all counts.

Now, for the first time, Paul Dale tells his story.

He poses a question that should challenge us all:

If Paul Dale didn’t do it, who did?