Australian Crime Stories

In 1969, 20-year-old Lucille Butterworth disappeared from a bus stop in Tasmania. At first police thought the Miss Tasmania aspirant had run away to the mainland, and it would be weeks before they officially started a murder investigation. Seven years later, Geoffrey Charles Hunt was arrested over the rape and murder of a 24-year-old woman from Hobart, a crime he served 22 years in prison for.

This is the amazing story of how a notorious safecracker got clean away with $5.4 million in gold bars from Kerry Packer. We uncover the true story of how this audacious thief broke into Kerry Packer's office and cracked his personal safe, revealing a tale that's so much more than a story of missing gold. It's a story about loyalty, betrayal and revenge.

A leader and a hero, John Friedrich built a rescue organization that inspired a nation. He was also a criminal mastermind who seduced governments and defrauded banks for hundreds of millions of dollars. For 25 years this story has been swept under the rug, almost forgotten.

This is the true story of the international drug plot that brought down one of Australia's top law enforcers. Mark Standen was considered an untouchable in the force, a man at the heart of the nation's war on drugs. He had access to the very best police intelligence on organized crime in Australia and internationally.

Billy "The Texan" Longley was nicknamed after a TV western about a man called Longley with a similar love for Colt .45 pistols. Intelligent, disciplined and suspicious, "The Texan" became a Painter and Docker and one of the best shots in the Melbourne underworld - a skill that saved his life and ended several others during the war on the Melbourne waterfront.

When Melbourne prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott was accused of raping and mutilating a client, few doubted his guilt. To complete the lurid picture, the victim said Chartres-Abbott boasted that he was a 200-year-old vampire. Chartres- Abbott said he was framed, and he threatened to reveal a sex ring involving judges, politicians and casino high rollers as part of his defense.

A serial predator dubbed Mr. Cruel had an incredible impact on Australia in the late 1980's - 90's. The masked assailant, who police believe may be responsible for around a dozen attacks on children across Melbourne, could still be alive.

He's been called Australia's Dirty Harry, but just how dirty was he? He may have shot up to 40 crooks! Did Brian Murphy get a green light to break the law or did he do what had to be done?