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Australia’s Worst Crime

To the family and friends of murder victims, their case is understandably the worst imaginable. But it is a terrible fact of life that, given the circumstances, some cases are more horrific than others. The murder of nursing sister Anita Cobby is deemed to be the worst in our history.

On 2 February 1986, 18-year-old John Raymond Travers and his gang – Michael Murdoch, 18, and the Murphy brothers: Les, 24, Gary, 29, and Michael, 33 – abducted, tortured, raped and murdered Anita Lorraine Cobby, 26.

The eldest of seven children, Travers’s first conviction, aged 12, was for possession of marijuana. He was an alcoholic by 14, stealing and robbing to pay for his addiction. He had two bull terriers, named Arse and Cunt. He regularly tortured them. He killed kittens for fun.

He once took a sheep to a barbecue and sodomised the animal in front of shocked witnesses. As he prepared to climax, he cut its throat.

By his mid-teens Travers was bashing and raping women and homosexuals, often in the company of Michael Murdoch. By the time he was 17, Travers led a gang. Other members came and went, but the three Murphy brothers were a constant. The oldest, Michael, was a career criminal who had spent most of his adult life behind bars. At the time of Anita Cobby’s murder he had been on the run for six weeks after escaping from jail. It’s thought that he and Travers had a homosexual relationship. Both deny it.

Like his older brother, Gary Stephen Murphy was a habitual criminal, with convictions for receiving, assault, car theft, breaking and entering, and escaping lawful custody.

Leslie Joseph Murphy had a string of convictions, including sexual intercourse without consent and car theft. He had also spent much of his adult life locked up.

Anita Cobby was a nurse at Sydney Hospital. When she returned home by train to Blacktown Railway Station, she would phone her father to pick her up.

Anita finished a shift at 5.30 pm on Sunday, 2 February 1986. She didn’t contact her father that night, so he assumed she’d stayed at a friend’s. The next day, he received a call from Sydney Hospital, asking why Anita hadn’t arrived for her shift. He rang around – no one had seen or heard from her. He reported Anita missing on 3 February 1986.

The next day, a farmer noticed his cows crowding around a dark object in his paddock. It was the body of a woman. She had been dragged through barbed wire, punched and kicked repeatedly. There was bruising on her face, shoulders, groin, thighs, legs and breasts. Her throat had been cut twice.

Two days after Anita’s body was found, a reward of $50,000 for information leading to the conviction of her killers was posted. It was soon raised to $100,000. Two people claimed they’d seen a woman dragged screaming into a grey car on the night of Sunday, 2 February. Two days later a man told police three men – John Travers, Michael Murdoch and Les Murphy – had stolen a Holden and sprayed it grey.

Police raided a house in Wentworthville, where they arrested Travers and Murdoch. They had been sleeping together in bed. A bloodstained knife was found. Travers said he had used it to slaughter a sheep. They arrested Les Murphy in a simultaneous raid in Doonside. A search revealed mag wheels and car seat covers belonging to a stolen 1970 HJ Holden.

All three admitted to stealing the car, but denied knowledge of Anita Cobby’s murder. Authorities interrogated them about the vehicle. They all claimed not to know where it was.

Travers was held in custody, pending inquiries in relation to the rape of another young woman and numerous other sex offences. Murdoch and Les Murphy were charged with car theft and released on bail. Police continued to interrogate Travers. He asked to see a visitor, and gave police the number of the woman he wanted to see. They contacted the woman and questioned her at length.

The woman, known as ‘Miss X’, told police she was terrified of Travers but he had taken her into his trust in the past. After being assured of her safety, ‘Miss X’ arrived at the station and was fitted with a recording device. Travers told her that he, Murdoch and the three Murphy brothers had abducted Anita Cobby and repeatedly raped her. Travers told ‘Miss X’ he had cut Anita’s throat.

Meanwhile, Les Murphy and Michael Murdoch had been kept under constant surveillance. After Travers’ discussion with ‘Miss X’, they were arrested. Both refused to accept responsibility for Anita’s murder. They blamed Travers. Police told Travers about the statements. He made a full confession. He gave them all up – Murdoch plus Les, Gary and Michael Murphy.

Travers, Murdoch and Les Murphy were charged with the abduction and murder of Anita Cobby and remanded in custody. It had been just 22 days since Anita’s murder.

Attention turned to Michael and Gary Murphy. Police swooped on a townhouse in Glenside. They found Michael watching television. Gary ran out the back door and was confronted by police. He wet his pants. Both brothers were charged with murder.

The gang faced committal hearings in July 1986. They all pleaded not guilty. The magistrate determined that all five had a case to answer. They were remanded in custody.

When the trial commenced, on 16 March 1987, Travers changed his plea to guilty. The others continued to plead innocent. After 54 days, Mr Justice Maxwell was forced to abort proceedings after being made aware Michael Murphy had been identified in the media as an escaped felon. A new trial date was set down for a week later.

When it was properly underway, the jury found the signed statements of the gang damning. The circumstances of Anita’s abduction and murder became clear. All five had been directly involved.

They had been at the Doonside Hotel on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 February 1986. Drunk and out of money, they decided to go for a ride in a car Travers had stolen a week earlier – a 1970 HJ Holden. They discussed various illegal methods of getting money to continue drinking. As they drove, they saw Anita Cobby. Her handbag was slung over her shoulder.

Travers and Murdoch grabbed her. They threw her into the back seat. The gang ordered Anita to remove her clothes. She refused, screaming and yelling. Travers and Murdoch started ripping her clothes off. They punched her in the face repeatedly. Anita was held hostage while they bought petrol with her money. After the car left the petrol station, Travers and Murdoch raped her at knife-point.

The car stopped in Reen Road. Anita was thrown into a deep gutter. Travers and Gary and Les Murphy raped her again. Gary Murphy forced Anita to fellate him. All five dragged her into the paddock, forcing her through a barbed wire fence. Mick Murphy raped her while Murdoch forced her to give him oral sex. She was then sodomised by Les Murphy before Travers raped her again. Murdoch and Gary Murphy tried to force Anita to fellate them again. They were interrupted by Michael Murphy, who raped, bashed and kicked her. Les kicked her several times in the head. The pack then walked away, leaving Anita barely breathing.

They went back to the car. Travers said she would be able to identify them – they had referred to each other by name. ‘I’m going to go back and kill her,’ he said. Nobody objected.

Travers walked to the semi-conscious woman. He pulled her head back and made two deep incisions from ear to ear. As he returned to the car covered in blood, he smiled, eager to brag about what he had done.

According to Murdoch’s statement, Travers got into the car and Murdoch asked him what it was like to take a human life. ‘It didn’t feel like nothing,’ Travers said. He provided the gang with vivid details. They sat entranced, laughing and asking questions. They continued joking until they arrived at Travers’s house. They gathered Anita’s clothes and belongings and took them into the backyard. Murdoch burnt the clothes in an incinerator. The gang sat around drinking beer. Several days later, Murdoch and Travers took the stolen car to the bush and set fire to it.

On 10 June 1987, Michael Murdoch and Les, Michael and Gary Murphy were all found guilty of the abduction and murder of Anita Cobby. Travers had already pleaded guilty. A packed Supreme Court was silent while Mr Justice Maxwell sentenced them.

 

Justice Maxwell: There is no doubt that apart from the humiliation, the degradation and terror inflicted upon this young woman, she was the victim of a prolonged and sadistic physical and sexual assault, including repeated sexual assaults, anally, orally and vaginally … Wild animals are given to pack assaults and killings.

 

Justice Maxwell handed out life sentences to all five. He added: ‘The circumstances of the murder of Miss Anita Lorraine Cobby prompt me to recommend that the official files of each prisoner should clearly be marked “never to be released”.’