"Queensland Police announced in May that the case would be reviewed by three senior investigators who were not involved in the original investigation.
Investigators are expected to take a number of days to carry out forensic testing in the house at Goodna where the Holland's lived at the time.
Assistant Police Commissioner Ross Barnett says forensic tests will focus in the house's bathroom.
"There were certain forensic samples recovered in that area," he said.
"[Police want to] make sure nothing has been missed and make sure that if there's any additional evidence that wasn't uncovered at the time - that we capture that.""
ABC NEWS;
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BACKGROUND: Graham Stuart Stafford was a sheet metal worker from Goodna, near Ipswich, Queensland who was convicted in 1992 of the murder of twelve-year-old Leanne Sarah Holland. Leanne Holland, the younger sister of Stafford's former partner, Melissa Holland, was murdered in September 1991. Her viciously mutilated body was found three days after she was reported missing in nearby Redbank Plains. It is possible she was also sexually interfered with and tortured with a cigarette lighter. Stafford appealed to the Queensland Court of Appeal, but this appeal was rejected on 25 August 1992. In 1997, the Queensland Court of Appeal re-examined the case after Stafford lodged an application for pardon with the State Governor on the basis of evidence gathered by private detective, Graeme Crowley. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal again by a two-to-one majority on the grounds that there was still enough evidence to convict. Two applications for special leave to the High Court of Australia subsequently failed. Stafford was released in June 2006 after serving over 14 years in prison. Stafford, who was born in England and does not have Australian citizenship despite having migrated to Australia in 1969, faced deportation in November 2006. Some people, including Professor Paul Wilson of Bond University believe that Stafford is a victim of a miscarriage of justice. The Queensland Attorney-General, Kerry Shine, has agreed to closely consider any request on Stafford's behalf concerning a petition to clear him of the murder conviction. In April 2008, the Queensland Attorney-General referred the case to the Court of Appeal for a very rare second appeal for pardon. On December 24, 2009 the Court of Appeal overturned Graham Stafford's conviction and ordered a retrial by a 2-1 majority. The dissenting judge wanted an immediate acquittal. On March 26, 2010 the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions, Tony Moynihan SC announced there would be no new trial of Graham Stafford for the murder of Leanne Holland...WIKIPEDIA informs us that: "A Brisbane Sunday Mail examination of the police investigation revealed that an Ipswich computer store worker provided information to the police about a man who had entered the store on the same day as Leanne's body was dumped in nearby bushland. The worker claimed that the man had been behaving in a peculiar manner and had blood stains on his hands and trousers when he entered the store. Furthermore, reports of Leanne having been seen alive on the day after the police allege she was murdered were ignored. A report of a vehicle other than Stafford's being sighted near the body was also ignored. Forensic scientist, Angela van Daal, gave evidence at trial that helped convict Stafford of the murder. She has since stated that the blood identified as Leanne's could have come from another family member. Although the frequency of the blood type matching anyone in the general population was only about one percent, the frequency among relatives is as high as 25 percent. Around the time of the murder, Leanne's brother Craig had slashed his hand in a pub fight and had bled freely in the family home. It has also been revealed that another twelve-year-old girl was murdered less than one kilometre away from where Leanne Holland lived within thirteen days of Leanne's murder. The man who was charged with the second murder had been known to Leanne. Furthermore, daughters of a police informant in the Leanne Holland case have come forward claiming their father sexually abused them at the murder site, burnt them with cigarette lighters and showed them crime scene photographs of Leanne's body."
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"Queensland police investigators will carry out more forensic testing today at the former family home of murdered 12-year-old Ipswich school girl Leanne Holland to gather fresh evidence for the case review," the ABC News story published earlier today under the heading, "Forensic police retesting home of 1991 Holland murder," begins.
"Graham Stafford, 47, from the Sunshine Coast, spent 15 years in prison for the 1991 murder, but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal last year," the story continues.
"Leanne Holland was the younger sister of Mr Stafford's then-girlfriend.
The girl's body was found at Redbank Plains, west of Brisbane, not far from her Goodna home.
Queensland Police announced in May that the case would be reviewed by three senior investigators who were not involved in the original investigation.
Investigators are expected to take a number of days to carry out forensic testing in the house at Goodna where the Holland's lived at the time.
Assistant Police Commissioner Ross Barnett says forensic tests will focus in the house's bathroom.
"There were certain forensic samples recovered in that area," he said.
"[Police want to] make sure nothing has been missed and make sure that if there's any additional evidence that wasn't uncovered at the time - that we capture that."
Civil liberties advocates have previously criticised the review, saying police should not investigate their own actions."
The story can be found at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/07/2946649.htm?section=justin
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
