Communities

1. Communities Community Study – “Sticking Together” The Leigh Leigh Murder Year 9 Geography Mr Scully

2. Questions for this lesson - • What occurred on the 3rd November, 1989? • How did the community react? • What is the significance of Matthew Webster confessing? • Describe some of the negative effects of a close knit community.

3. Introduction • The question - what happened to Leigh Leigh? - linger uncomfortably in the public imagination. It has plagued Newcastle and Stockton for years. • Walk around the moodily beautiful Newcastle and ask about Leigh and most people will tell you two things that sit in conflict with each other: no one wants the business dragged up again or there remains a strong feeling that Webster didn't act alone. • Why not pursue these other people? The answer to this question is either a shrug or something like "Because no one is ever going to talk about it."

4. 3rd November, 1989 • Leigh Leigh, daughter of Robyn Leigh, had been invited to a boy's 16th birthday party, an affair that had no adult supervision, save for "bouncers" Matthew Webster, then 18, and Guy Wilson, 19. These men were later the focus of the investigation. • Leigh got very drunk, very quickly, on bourbon and cola. She went with a 15-year-old boy to the sand dunes and became intimate. The boy later did community service for carnal knowledge (knowingly having sexual relations with a minor). Whether the sex was consensual or not remains one of many points of contention.

5. Leigh returned from the encounter distressed, sounding hysterical. Webster, Wilson and a number of other boys surrounded her, put her to the ground, rolled her around with their feet, spat beer on her head, one of them throwing a bottle as she made her escape. This was witnessed by other party-goers. No one came to help the girl. • Leigh wandered down to the beach, Webster followed. Webster dragged her to a hollow between the sand dunes, sexually assaulted her, causing her horrible damage as she resisted, panicked and strangled her to unconsciousness, he walked some metres to retrieve a six-kilogram lump of concrete, hit her many times in the head. The first blow killed her.

6. Community Cover up • An immense mixture of speculation, conspiracy theory, rumour, malice and various corroborated statements to police, the "word" is a troubling, baffling mess. • It includes the following - many parents told their kids to keep their mouths shut; female party-goers were silenced with threats that they too would suffer Leigh's fate; the police were running a teenage drug ring and Leigh was killed because she threatened to spill the beans; and so on.

7. Webster’s Admission • In February 1990, Webster confessed to sexually assaulting, strangling and then bludgeoning Leigh to death in the sand dunes, along from the club house where a band was playing, where an uncertain number of young people - two 10-year-olds at one point - were getting legless and stoned, some of them having sex. • Webster's confession meant witnesses were not called at his trial. Instead, a psychiatrist for the defence was called in regard to sentencing, and Detective Sergeant Lance Chaffey, who headed the investigation, read to the court a list of the facts. This meant no further charges were laid…

8. Aftermath • Police were criticised over their handling of the investigation, in particular for failing to quickly identify perpetrators, their treatment of witnesses, and for interviewing children without the permission of their parents. A review in 2000 recommended the dismissal of Detective Sergeant Lance Chaffey and disciplinary action against the other investigative officers. • The murder was discussed at length in the Parliament of New South Wales, and the release of Matthew Webster on parole was also discussed in Parliament 14 years later. • Regardless of the other ramifications, a mother and family lost a daughter too soon, and a community still suffers to this day with the guilt.