The Russell Street Bombing Read Online Free PDF Page A

the bomb car, something
bigger was needed. Under the direction of fingerprint experts, the car was
placed in a freight container along with tubes of superglue. Heaters were used
to evaporate the glue to form fumes. The fumes solidify on objects that contain
water and since fingerprints are made up primarily of water and fats,
investigators hoped that some prints would show up on the car. Unfortunately,
nothing of evidentiary value was found.
    When the bomb car was finished with, it was returned to the Stolen Motor
Vehicle Squad's compound in Port Melbourne.

The Blanket
    The red and white chequered blanket from the bomb car was
examined by Bob Barnes at the Materials Research Laboratory. The blanket didn't
belong to the owner of the stolen bomb car so it must have been put there by the
bombers. The rug was in remarkably good condition considering that Barnes
concluded it had been used to cover the timing device of the bomb. Barnes
examined the blanket for explosives residue and in the process, found some short
dog hairs from a terrier-type dog. He passed his findings on to detectives from
the Taskforce.

The Bread Crates
    Another link was made. The bread crates found in the debris of
the bomb blast were identified as being similar in make and colour to some
stolen from a milkbar robbery in Braeside in 9 February - six weeks before the
bombing. Also stolen in the raid on the milkbar, were a quantity of cigarettes
and confectionary.

Russell Taskforce
    Detective Sergeant Bernie Rankin was in Adelaide on vacation
when he heard a radio newsflash that a bomb had exploded outside the Russell
Street police headquarters. Like many detectives, he had come across a couple of
crooks in his day who might hate the police enough to do this. One such crook
had recently lost a friend in a shoot-out with the SOG and had openly discussed
revenge against the police. Rankin's experience as a detective told him that
there were not a lot of people who could have done this. They would firstly need
to hate the police enough, and secondly, they would need the know-how to build a
bomb. And bomb skills were not all that common on the curriculum vitae of your
ordinary crook.
    When the Russell Taskforce was set up on the day of the bombing, Rankin
contacted the detective in charge, Daryl Clarke. Clarke asked Rankin if he
wanted to come on board when he returned to Melbourne. Like every cop in the
state, Rankin wanted the bombers caught. Within a week, he was back home and a
part of the team.
    A room at the Russell Street police headquarters had been set aside for the
Taskforce. Initially consisting of a dozen detectives, the number had increased
to thirty in the week following the bombing. The brass wanted a couple of
detectives from northern, eastern, south-eastern and the western suburbs so that
they could draw on local knowledge from all points of the compass. Also seconded
to the Taskforce were members of the Arson Squad, Major Crime Squad, and
Homicide. O'Connor was one of the thirty.
    Detective Senior Constable Chris O'Connor was working afternoon 3-11pm shifts
and was at home between shifts when the bomb had exploded in Russell Street. He
belatedly caught the news as he got ready for work at the Preston CIB. While
O'Connor was watching the live TV coverage, the enormity of what happened could
only be guessed at. And for cops, the bombing would be like the day JFK got shot
- every one of them remembered where they were when they heard about it.
    By the time O'Connor became part of the Taskforce, the bomb site had been
cleared. The only reminders where the shallow crater in the road where the car
had exploded, and the shrapnel chips in the brick wall of the Russell Street
police headquarters. When the bomb had exploded, O'Connor had considered himself
lucky - he had been standing across the road from it at the same time the day before it had gone off. He also realised how fortunate it was that more
people hadn't been killed. Around 1pm, the