$3M HUNT FOR JUSTICE
REWARDS OFFERED TO SOLVE NOTORIOUS COLD CASES
AN ARREST in Dorothy Britton’s 22- year cold case murder could spark a flurry of progress on more than a dozen North Queensland investigations. More than $ 3 million remains on offer for anyone who can help solve some of the region’s most baffling cases.
Homicide Investigation Unit Cold Case Team detective Senior Constable Darren Mills said progress like the arrest last month of Mrs Britton’s son Christopher Mark Britton often created momentum in other cases.
Mrs Britton was found shot dead in her Jubilee Pocket, Airlie Beach, home on March 7, 1996. The 51- yearold Britton has been charged with her murder.
“Success in closing cold case homicides assists in building momentum for other cold case homicides,” SenConstable Mills said. “It does ( freshen up other cases).” The recent investigation into Mrs Britton’s murder led homicide detectives to work with counterparts in New South Wales, South Australia and throughout regional Queensland.
Sen- Constable Mills said there were no borders when it came to unravelling murder mysteries.
“The Homicide Investigation Unit will deploy to wherever we’re needed to go,” he said.
He said working across long periods of time, often decades, posed challenges as technology and formats for keeping records changed but the basics remained the same.
“A good statement in 1996 is still a good statement now,” Sen- Constable Mills said.
He said the passage of time often led to some of the most crucial breakthroughs.
“Relationships change, motivating factors and reasons people were reluctant to provide police with information at the time of any offence may not be the case now,” SenConst. Mills said.
He urged anyone with information about unsolved cases to pass on any tips to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A number of cases remain unsolved around North Queensland.
The Queensland Police Service’s register of outstanding rewards for cold cases lists a number of horrific crimes in North Queensland yet to be solved.
On January 15, 2009, 45- year- old Peggy Jean Jacobs was hit and killed
by a car, or its payload, while she stood or walked in Abbott St, Oonoonba.
Ms Jacobs was found just before midnight, dead on the road.
Investigations revealed she was hit around her sternum, fell backwards and hit her head on the road.
A reward of $ 50,000 is on offer for information that could help solve her death.
A $ 50,000 reward remains on offer for crucial information about the murder of Townsville schoolgirls Judith and Susan Mackay, who were killed in August 1970.
The pair left their Aitkenvale home to go to school, but never arrived. Their bodies were found in a dry creek bed about 25km out of Townsville,
Arthur Brown was charged with their murder but never prosecuted. He died in 2002.
Both girls were sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed.
In July 1975, Catherine Pamela Graham was found at nearby Oak Valley. She was murdered, repeatedly bashed in the head with a heavy stone.
A $ 250,000 reward is still on offer for information that will help solve her murder.