The Murder Of Anita Cobby: Australia's Worst Crime

The Gang's All Here

Police informed the media that three men had been charged with the abduction and murder of Anita Cobby. Hundreds of people turned up at the Blacktown police station to vent their opinions as to what should be done with them.

"Hang the bastards. Give them to us for a minute," the angry mob yelled. As they were driven from the police station to be formally charged at the Blacktown Local Court, people spat on the cars and called for the prisoners to show their faces. When the three cars had left for the court there was applause and cheers for the police. It was 22 days since Anita Cobby had been murdered.

Now the hunt was on for Gary and Mick Murphy. The newspapers published descriptions and photos of the wanted men and warned the public that they were extremely dangerous and were not to be approached under any circumstances. Police followed every lead and raided houses all over the western suburbs, but the pair eluded them.

Then a man called to say that two men answering the description of the wanted Murphy brothers were living in the townhouse next to him. Police concentrated their efforts on a block of townhouses in Tari Way in the southern Sydney suburb of Glenfield, about 22 kilometers south of Blacktown. They surrounded the block and waited. When a woman came out, police grabbed her when she was out of sight of the building. She told them that the Murphy brothers had been there during the day but had left. The police didn't believe her. They decided to go in.

Michael (Mick) Murphy charged with murder

With Polair, the police helicopter, flooding the area with its searchlights, police smashed the door to the townhouse down and arrested Mick and Gary Murphy. Mick was sitting down watching TV and offered no resistance.

Gary Murphy ran into a wall of police as he fled out the back door. One of the pursuing officers tackled him and the pair went sliding into a fence, scratching Gary Murphy's face. He would claim later that police bashed him. They hadn't. Gary Murphy was so frightened that he had wet his pants.

Gary Murphy arrested, with wet trousers

The brothers were taken back to Blacktown police station and charged with the murder of Anita Cobby. Word of the arrests spread like wildfire and an angry crowd gathered outside the police station once more, calling for blood. As many as 1500 people blocked the streets around the station, waiting for a glimpse of the killers. At 9 a.m. the Murphy brothers were formally charged at Blacktown Court. Armed Tactical Response Group police manned all vantage points in case the mob took matters into their own hands.

At their committal hearing in July 1986, it was found that all five accused had a case to answer. In spite of their confessions and the overwhelming evidence, all had elected to plead not guilty. Their trial, held in March 1987, started in sensation. Minutes before the proceedings began, John Travers changed his plea to guilty. He admitted that he was the one who murdered Anita Cobby and would take what was coming to him.

The following morning there was another sensation when the trial was aborted after a leading newspaper published the fact that Mick Murphy was an escapee at the time of the murder. It was decided that the suggestion that he had been in jail and had a criminal record could prejudice the jury and deny him a fair trial. The jury was dismissed and a new trial date was set down for a week later.