‘I WANT JUSTICE FOR MY SISTER’
She never believed her sibling took her own life – now she’s fighting to learn the truth
From the moment she was told her older sister Gwen Grover had died by suicide in October 1983, Sue Cole refused to believe it. Sue knew how much Gwen loved her two young sons and that she wasn’t depressed – and when she heard more about the circumstances of Gwen’s supposed suicide with a shotgun, huge questions arose, throwing her into a lifelong quest for the truth.
“I tossed it around for years with my family, but the police said they had investigated and there was nothing more they could do,” Sue tells Woman’s Day. “I knew if I kicked up a stink while my parents were alive, it would compound their grief, so it was more recently, after they passed, that I started really looking into it.”
The Gold Coast resident already had questions about the method of Gwen’s suicide, which took place in her car, next to a Cairns park. Not only is suicide by shooting highly unusual for women, but Gwen, then a single mum, hated guns and had never used them.
“We’d been brought up to be fearful of guns,” says Sue. “That’s not how she would have done it.”
FOUL PLAY
Gwen was also right-handed and, as Sue would discover, the bullet wound was in her left temple.
Sue was surprised that Ken Soper, Gwen’s former boyfriend and a man with a criminal history, wasn’t questioned until 17 days after her death, despite not having an alibi. But it was only in 2018, when Sue applied for the police reports, that she realised her suspicions of foul play weren’t unfounded.
“Ken’s statement was rambling and disjointed,” she says. “He said Gwen had come to his house and taken the gun. I’d always had in
the back of my mind that he was involved and his statement was unbelievable.”
Other inconsistencies loomed large too. The 19-year-old who discovered Gwen’s body, Craig Lock, hadn’t been interviewed by police, despite the fact his account of how he found her differed wildly from the crime scene photographs.
‘I’ll do anything to see the truth come out’
“His description of how he found Gwen, sitting up in her car with the gun between her legs, never tallied with the police photos of her lying down and the rifle on the passenger seat,” says Sue.
Then there was the cremation. “My mum was distraught when she found out Gwen had been cremated a few days after her death,” she says. “No one in our family had been cremated, but Ken had arranged and paid for it.” Ken, who died in a motorcycle accident in February 2022, wasn’t considered a suspect at the time, which retired Queensland detective Gerry Thornton agrees is off, given the man’s dark past. “I thought his previous life would have been central to the investigation,” says Gerry, who’s helping Sue in her fight for justice.
Not only was Ken convicted of child sex offences, but his former wife Pamela told the detectives investigating Gwen’s death that he was “incredibly violent”, adding, “He was a horrible man... He once put a rifle in my mouth.”
With all this information, a determined Sue lobbied for a coronial inquest – and her prayers were granted in 2021. Her joy was short-lived, though, as the coroner returned the same finding of suicide.
“So much was left out,” says Sue. “It was devastating.”
Sue had never contacted the media before out of respect for the judicial system, but now, with nothing to lose, she decided it was time.
“Journalist Alison Sandy responded immediately,” she says. “It was very validating when she was so interested [in the case], and we started working together.”
NEW EVIDENCE
The resulting podcast, Shot In The Dark, delves into the death and uncovers evidence that casts further doubt on whether Gwen would or could have killed herself. Sue hopes this will lead to a new coronial inquiry, but whatever happens, she’s glad to be sharing her sister’s story.
“I hope Gwen would be proud of me for doing this, but knowing her, she’d probably say, ‘Get on with your life and forget about me,’” she says.
“She meant so much to me then, and still means so much to me now. I’ll do anything to see the truth come out and get justice for Gwen.”
If you’re struggling with your mental health, please call or text 1737 at any time to speak to a trained counsellor. For the Suicide Crisis Helpline, call 0508 TAUTOKO. In an emergency, always dial 111.