The Russell Street Bombing Read Online Free PDF

Magistrates' Court usually began
emptying of people for the lunch break, and there were usually buses of school
children - visiting either the Courts or the police communication centre at
D-24. When children visited D-24, they lined up along the wall between the north
and the south door of the headquarters. It was sheer luck that a class of kids
weren't caught in the fireball. And because the bomb had gone off at 1.01pm, it
hadn't given the Court time to empty. Thank God.
    A week after the bombing, Easter forgotten for the investigators, a clear
picture had emerged of the bomb, and therefore the intentions of the bombers.
The explosives - about 50 sticks of gelignite - had been packed into the boot,
centre console, or the front seat area of the two-tone 1980 Holden Commodore
which had been stolen two days before the bombing. Among the debris found in
Russell Street, the remains of a plastic bread crate had identified. According
to the experts, the main part of the bomb had been packed in the crate then
covered with assorted metal sockets, tools and leftover detonators. These became
deadly flying shrapnel when the bomb went off, making its design and intention
callous beyond belief. It was pure luck that the number of severely injured was
only three.
    A week on from the bombing, Angela Taylor hadn't regained consciousness. With
burns to seventy percent of her body, doctors had told Taskforce detectives that
if she lived, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
    Bomb experts also knew from the amount of unexploded detonators and gelignite
that the bomb had failed to reach its deadliest potential. The first explosion
had detached a mechanism from the second explosive which had failed to detonate.
    The timing device of the bomb was an alarm clock nailed to the block of wood
that Dennis Tipping had found next to the exploded car. It was the same size and
type of wood used for fence posts. When the alarm sounded, the metal piece at
the back of the clock would click over and connect with wires thus completing
the circuit and setting off the bomb. The fact that the bomb makers had used a
Chux Superwipe to keep the wires from connecting, meant that the bomb was
probably built by relative amateurs. In fact experts were amazed that the bomb
hadn't exploded as it was being driven to Russell Street. It would have only
taken a small jolt to dislodge the Superwipe and set off the bomb. The bombers
had been very lucky.
    The type of bomb also gave investigating police an insight into the type of
offenders they were looking for. They were not experts or experienced in
handling explosives - in other words, they were lucky rather than master
criminal-types. They had wrapped the gelignite in newspaper in a crude attempt
to stop the gelignite from sweating and possibly exploding.
    The bomb was homemade yet powerful enough to have killed anyone standing
anywhere near it. Also, in the week after the bombing, no group had claimed
responsibility as was the pattern with bombings overseas. Detectives had
questioned politically-motivated fringe groups, but no solid suspects emerged.
That could mean that the bombers could be anyone with a grudge against the
police.
    Regardless of who did it or why, from the moment the bomb exploded, the cops
took the attack personally. It was on their turf, and one of their officers was
fighting for her life in hospital. Detectives were usually on the outside of a
crime looking in. This time, they were the target and the victims, and they
badly wanted to find those responsible. At the same time, they had to put
personal feelings aside, and gather strong admissible evidence to present at a
trial for when they caught the perpetrators. And no one doubted they would.
    Not only were the police in shock, but the city of Melbourne was also reeling
from the senseless attack in their downtown district. Why would anyone want to
bomb the Russell Street police headquarters? Theories of a payback were foremost
in the minds of the