Chapter 35

The usual suspects

When Terry and Christine Hodson were murdered, detectives investigating the case put together a long list of suspects. I obtained these under subpoena. Terry had informed on so many people that the list of crooks who might bear a grudge was endless. There was also an incredible interconnectedness among them.

Detective Sol Solomon spoke to Detective Superintendent Biggin on 25 May 2004. He added the superintendent’s information into an official information report. This is what he wrote:

Terrence Hodson first became involved with MDID as an informer in 2001 during Operation Kayak. During Kayak, Terry Hodson was arrested and charged with drug trafficking. After his arrest, he was recruited as an informer by S/Sgt Wayne Strawhorn. David Miechel became his handler and has been so ever since. Hodson’s value as an informer during Kayak was minimal and he was eventually speared off into other directions of which he was far more useful.1

In the early days, detectives focused on who Terry and Christine would let into their house, and every suspect was considered against this criterion. From my copies of subpoenaed documents, it is clear that Dave Miechel was helping the investigators to find out who had killed his friends. A lot of the information reports (IRs) included his opinion on the likelihood of each suspect.

One possible suspect was Mr T, who had 31 pages of MDID information reports from Terry Hodson’s informer management file in his house when it was raided in September 2004.2 In the IRs, Dave commented that when there was suspicion that Terry was an informer, Mr T had stood by Terry. But then, after the Oakleigh break-in, when Terry was publicly outed, Mr T would have looked suss himself. Terry had never informed on Mr T, and a number of people who knew Terry believed he’d let him into his home. Mr T was also an associate of the man I’ve called Mr Q, who was known to have fallen out with Terry.

Another lead came when detectives found the card for a female homicide cop in the Hodson house. When they questioned the detective, she added a bit more to the story. She’d been a member of the Tactical Response Squad when Mr Q was a target. She said that Dave Miechel had approached her with information from an MDID informer that Mr Q was in possession of a handgun. When his place was raided, Mr Q had made formal complaints that items of his property were damaged and some were stolen during the search.3

The police had put covert surveillance at the Hodsons’ double funeral, which was held at Le Pine Funerals in East Kew on 25 May 2004.

They also contacted Terry’s solicitor. He agreed to hand over the brief of evidence to the Ceja Taskforce investigators. He didn’t have much to add, but he did tell detectives that George Williams had turned up at Terry’s last court appearance.4 While the solicitor was also acting for Carl Williams, he didn’t know what interest Williams’s dad would have in Terry Hodson.

Studying the information reports from the case, there was one that stood out. I’m not sure who authored it, but it was part of the Petra Taskforce brief.

The IR began with an overview of Andrew Hodson finding his parents’ bodies and mentioned how at the crime scene, he said that he’d only speak to Inspector Peter De Santo. Here’s what it said in the information report: ‘Throughout the interview Hodson was evasive when pressed on certain matters and at times his accounts were riddled with inconsistencies. The only consistent theme to his statement was that he believed that Paul Dale and David Miechel (particularly Dale) were responsible for the murders. Hodson would only focus on the alleged involvement of Dale and Miechel as the only possible motive… Solomon made the observation that Andrew Hodson was determined to steer the investigation down the Dale/Miechel involvement path. He seemed to be receiving encouragement and support from De Santo in this assertion. Solomon made the observation that Hodson would look to De Santo for clarification when giving his account. De Santo on one occasion reminded Hodson of the information he had left out… The statement which Hodson provided to Solomon was totally unsatisfactory and he needs to be re-interviewed. It would also be appropriate that Inspector De Santo be excluded from this further interview.’5

As well as the more obvious candidates, the list of potential suspects included every drug dealer Terry had ever informed on.