THE GIRL WHO KICKED NEST THE HORNET’S
HOW A TULLY COP HELPED BRING DOWN THE STOCCOS
NOTORIOUS FATHER AND SON CRIMINALS MARK AND GINO STOCCO CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF A TULLY POLICE OFFICER BEFORE THEIR CRIME SPREE SPARKED A MAJOR MANHUNT AND NATIONWIDE PUBLICITY, WRITES JOHN ANDERSEN.
TULLY’S Senior- Constable Lindsay Whiddett was the first Queensland police officer to raise a red flag about the criminal activities of father and son outlaws Gino and Mark Stocco.
Acting Detective Inspector David Barron of the Mount Isa police said Sen- Constable Whiddett was “the girl who kicked the hornet’s nest”.
Acting Insp Barron was stationed in Ingham in 2012 when his Tully colleague “kicked the hornet’s nest” that turned the spotlight on to the Stocco’s criminal activities in Queensland.
Sen- Constable Whiddett, who is now stationed in Gympie and is about to transfer into a new specialist role, cannot have a photo of herself displayed. But, she can talk about those early days in 2012 when the Stoccos committed their first known, disturbing crime in Queensland. It as a crime that hinted more were to follow.
Sen- Constable Whiddett was a uniformed police officer assigned to general duties in Tully in 2012.
Tully is bananas and sugar cane. That’s all there is, bananas and sugar and their associated service industries.
There are more than 300 farm sheds within a 20km radius of the town.
The sheds are used to store farm machinery, fuel, industrial oils and grease, tools and farm chemicals.
Some sheds, especially those with machinery like cane harvesters, haulout equipment and large four- wheeldrive tractors, can be home to assets worth well in excess of $ 1 million.
Nearly all of these sheds are exposed.
Despite modern alarm systems and security equipment it is not hard for dedicated thieves to access what is inside.
Indeed many farm sheds are not protected by 21st- century alarm technology and are simply open- sided.
Farmers still continue to build sheds designed on the belief that everyone in the world is as honest as the day is long. And then along came the Stoccos. Gino and Mark Stocco, both experienced farm hands from Ingham, were more than conversant with machinery.
In fact, farmers in Ingham and at other agricultural centres up and down Australia’s eastern seaboard regarded them as experts not just with machinery repair and operation, but with farm duties in general.
Gino in particular could turn his hand to anything when it came to farming. Mark, a third- year engineer- ing student at James Cook University, was no slouch either when it came to the repair, maintenance and operation of machinery, small and large.
On August 21, 2012, Sen- Constable Whiddett received a call about two “farm jobs”.
The two farms, one on Davidson Rd at Euramo and the other one on Cargnello Rd, backed on to each other. Household goods had been stolen and machinery damaged.
The Stoccos had been living on one farm in return for doing light duties and working on the neighbouring farm. The owner of the farm where they were living went to Cairns one weekend. While he was gone the Stoccos ransacked the house, stealing everyday items like clothing, bed linen and food.
On the neighbouring farm they went berserk, slashing tyres on tractors and vehicles and causing catastrophic damage to heavy machinery by pouring sugar into fuel tanks. And they stole a car. “There had been a little bit of stuff on them before this, but nothing on this scale,” Sen- Constable Whiddett said. “It all ramped up. From here they went on a crime spree.”
Sen- Constable Whiddett took out
THERE HAD BEEN A LITTLE BIT OF STUFF ON THEM BEFORE THIS, BUT NOTHING ON THIS SCALE.
TULLY SENIOR CONSTABLE LINDSAY WHIDDETT
an arrest warrant on them for the stolen car.
Identification was confirmed when DNA found at the scene matched that of Gino Stocco that was already on file.
“I started looking into them and an operation kicked off from there,” SenConstable Whiddett said.
“I started working with police officer David Barron in Ingham and with officers in Brisbane.”
The Stoccos, as yet, had not triggered any major alarms.
They were still regarded as “low rent” criminals. The theft and damage at Tully, although significant, had not put the Stoccos in the “most wanted” category.
And then a farm shed at Ingham was burnt along with the machinery inside.
In excess of $ 1 million dollars of equipment was destroyed. It was de- liberately lit. All of a sudden the Stoccos were big- time. The crime spree had started in earnest.
The Stoccos were arrested on October 28, 2015, in the Central West of New South Wales.
They murdered one man in New South Wales, Gino shooting him twice at almost point- blank range with a pump action 12- gauge shotgun.
They had rammed a police car, shot at police and caused millions of dollars worth of damage to farms and farming equipment.
Their criminal trail stretched from Mareeba in Queensland’s Far North, through New South Wales and down to the Victorian coast and across to South Australia.
They were on the run for eight years. Gino Stocco will be eligible for parole in 2043.
Mark Stocco will remain behind bars until 2045. This will not be the end of the Stoccos’ time in jail.
They will be charged with further offences in Queensland and then Victoria and South Australia will want their slice of the Stocco pie.
The father and son criminals who saw themselves as stand- alone survivalists will be behind bars for decades to come.
Thanks to the efforts of a female Tully police officer who dared to kick the hornet’s nest.