Nearly eight years ago, in December 2010, Sydney woman Keli Lane was convicted of murdering her two-day-old daughter, Tegan Lee Lane.
It was an extraordinary case that captured the nation’s attention. The story of how a popular, talented young woman from Sydney’s Northern Beaches managed to hide five pregnancies over several years from her parents who she lived with, her water polo teammates who saw her in a swimsuit everyday, and her partner and lover.
Over the past two weeks, award-winning Australian journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna has explored 43-year-old Lane’s story from start to finish through the investigative ABC series EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane.
We’ve heard from Lane’s parents, friends, former partners and teammates, even Lane herself, about the woman they remember from those years, as well as police.
In this week’s final instalment of the three-part series, Meldrum-Hanna went inside the arguably flawed murder trial that saw Lane sentenced to 18 years in prison, asking the questions that were left unanswered at the time.
Who represented Lane? Was she represented fairly and completely? Were holes in the prosecution’s case ignored? Was Lane subjected to a fair trial?
And interestingly, one of the people investigated in relation to Lane’s legal team is one we’ve seen on TV before – former Big Brother contestant Ben Archbold.
Some would remember Archbold from the reality show's 2003 season as the former Victorian police officer who was the first contestant to enter the Big Brother house. Notably, he spent the first 24 hours of his time on the show in complete isolation.
Archbold was evicted in week six on day 36. Reggie Bird and media personality Chrissie Swan went on to become the season's winner and runner-up.
Before his time on reality TV, Archbold went before a court in 2001 to face charges of offensive behaviour and disorderly behaviour while drunk, The Age reported. He pleaded guilty, was put on a 12-month good behaviour bond and ordered to pay $500 into the court fund, but no conviction was recorded.
Later, Archbold quit the police force to study law. Currently, Archbold is the Solicitor Director in Charge at his own legal firm, Archbold Legal Solutions.
However, in 2010, as Meldrum-Hanna found out, he was one of two solicitors who advised Keith Chapple, the barrister who was appointed to Lane's case three weeks before the trial began.
When asked to comment on one of the most high profile cases of his career - the Lane case - he hung up the phone. In fact, Chapple, along with a third solicitor who worked on the case, also declined to speak to the ABC for their investigation.
Some are arguing this says everything we need to know about whether Lane's legal team represented her to the fullest extend of the law.
If you missed it, you can watch all three episodes of EXPOSED: The Case of Keli Lane on iView.
Top Comments
Lane has waived client privilege. They can say whatever they want or need to.
After the prosecution called about 75 witnesses at Keli Lane's trial, Ben Archbold called zero witnesses for the Defence, i.e. his method was to provide no defence at all, hoping the jury thought the case had not been proved by the prosecution. At Keli's appeal, Ben had three days to provide reasons to free Keli. Shortly after lunch on the first of the three days, Ben's team completed their submissions, without including several rather obvious grounds for appeal.
What were the obvious grounds for appeal?