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John Silvester

John Silvester

Brisbane Times

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When the search for the truth is bad for business

When the search for the truth is bad for business

Why no one has been held to account for the Nana Backpackers tragedy that claimed the lives of Victorian teenagers Holly Morton-Bowles and Bianca...

yesterday 10

The Age

John Silvester

Justice for John: ‘I am very happy that it will create a precedent’

Justice for John: ‘I am very happy that it will create a precedent’

While he was not a police officer his name should be included in official Victoria Police records of those who died from doing their duty.

previous day 10

The Age

John Silvester

‘Don’t play games. Don’t be manipulated’: Dealing with Victoria’s most notorious killers

‘Don’t play games. Don’t be manipulated’: Dealing with Victoria’s most notorious killers

For 26 years, Brian Coghlan worked alongside serial killers and mass murderers. He tells John Silvester how he did it – and who were the worst of...

10.04.2026 10

The Age

John Silvester

Dezi Freeman’s final days and the clues that could lead police to his helpers

More than 24 hours before they confronted a double police killer, the Special Operations Group moved into their go positions and lay in wait, using...

01.04.2026 10

The Age

John Silvester

Dezi Freeman had a death wish. It was answered by the Sons of God

Before the double police killer was urged to surrender, at least eight specialist snipers, trained to hit a target from more than a kilometre away,...

31.03.2026 10

The Age

John Silvester

The underworld’s coldest killers … and how they were caught

From secret tapes to the detectives who stood face-to-face with hitmen, a new documentary series hosted by John Silvester goes inside Melbourne’s...

27.02.2026 20

The Age

John Silvester

‘My mother poisoned my father, and I had to live with the aftermath’

Long before Erin Patterson used poisoned mushrooms to kill three family members with deadly beef Wellingtons, Lorraine Moss was lacing her husband’s...

20.02.2026 30

The Age

John Silvester

Who planted the seeds of hate?

Pound for pound, people from a Jewish background have done more to drive progress in modern Australia than any other minority.

13.02.2026 150

The Age

John Silvester

Naked Sport: Why a crime reporter is investigating England’s Ashes fiasco

There is a precedent. After all, Richie Benaud had a stint as a crime reporter.

31.01.2026 20

WA Today

John Silvester

Naked Sport: Why a crime reporter is investigating England’s Ashes fiasco

There is a precedent. After all, Richie Benaud had a stint as a crime reporter.

31.01.2026 20

The Sydney Morning Herald

John Silvester

Naked Sport: Why a crime reporter is investigating England’s Ashes fiasco

There is a precedent. After all, Richie Benaud had a stint as a crime reporter.

31.01.2026 10

The Age

John Silvester

Naked Sport: Why a crime reporter is investigating England’s Ashes fiasco

There is a precedent. After all, Richie Benaud had a stint as a crime reporter.

31.01.2026 20

Brisbane Times

John Silvester

Why we expect ordinary police to be heroes

From blowing holes in Hells Angels’ clubhouses to intercepting Carl Williams’ hitmen, retired Special Operations Group officer Bill Duncan reveals...

19.12.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

The gentle giant who fought cartels and became an angel in Asia

Neale Fursdon spent most of his career dealing with drug traffickers and international people smugglers. But he was one of the most affable people I...

16.12.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

This policewoman had the answer to youth crime 86 years ago. It fell on deaf ears

In her award-winning 1939 essay, Jessie Clarey wrote: “For permanent results, it is not sufficient for us to ascertain, ‘Did the boy steal?’,...

12.12.2025 40

The Age

John Silvester

War of the Ramchens: A mystery suspended in time

Some relationships slowly disintegrate, others explode, but few turn into the running, public battle of Vic and Jacqui Ramchen.

03.12.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Clubs, crims and cops: Melbourne’s after-dark secrets that have left blood on the streets

The city’s nightlife has long been a magnet for the underworld, and some clubs have been the deadly battleground for gangsters and bikies.

21.11.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Millions of cameras watch us. Could they break the crime cycle?

How a tech overhaul – and help from the public – could end a million hours of wasted time and put 381 extra police on the street.

15.11.2025 10

The Age

John Silvester

Both the lock-em-up and let-em-out brigades are wrong on jailing the young

The reforms are ill-considered and are designed not to capture young offenders but votes in the ballot box.

14.11.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

How 26 letters explain the chaos on Melbourne’s streets

From a triple murderer’s tears to a gang lord in exile, Naked City sets out its crime dictionary.

07.11.2025 10

The Age

John Silvester

Meeting Mokbel: The code, the cops and a shovel left on my doorstep

“That girl is waiting for you”: The $2 billion drug haul and John Silvester’s secret deal with police to get Tony Mokbel.

10.10.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Why the court got it right on Mokbel and put a dent in his compensation hopes

The court may have been tempted to punish police for their sneaky tactics, but we can’t forget Tony Mokbel was a professional, prodigious, and...

03.10.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

From world’s most liveable city to ‘Gotham’: How crime is changing Melbourne

The critics say random searches concentrate on marginalised groups, but it is the marginalised who are overwhelmingly the victims. We are killing them...

12.09.2025 70

The Age

John Silvester

If Erin Patterson is still religious, she should be thanking God for leniency

By giving the mushroom murderer a chance of one day being released, Justice Christopher Beale may also be closing the door on her chances of appeal.

08.09.2025 10

The Age

John Silvester

The theatre of court, where not everything is as it seems

From suits to spouses and crocodile tears – what a jury sees is carefully orchestrated.

30.08.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Whatever the outcome, accused cop killer will not escape

Chief Commissioner Mike Bush has repeatedly said he wants a peaceful arrest, but that is in Dezi Freeman’s hands.

27.08.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Police work that turns deadly

Clearly police were wary about the Porepunkah job. This was a job they knew could go nasty, but no one thought it would turn deadly.

26.08.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Is Australia’s most manipulative crook dead?

He was a master of manipulation, once claiming police had provided him with the address of a hit victim because he knew dobbing in corrupt cops would...

01.08.2025 10

The Age

John Silvester

The court door closed on the Elisabeth Membrey killing. But is hope finally lost?

There are 12 reasons why police have honed in on a suspect. But they cannot proceed.

01.08.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Is this the way to treat a police hero?

Former police officer Wayne Sherwell, a Valour Award recipient, was recently arrested, fingerprinted and formally interviewed. It was over a Facebook...

25.07.2025 30

The Age

John Silvester

The inside story on catching the High Country killer

Police had their suspect, but they needed to turn up the heat. They wanted Greg Lynn under immense pressure. So they turned to the media.

18.07.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

When killers like Bradley John Murdoch take their secrets to the grave

Police with long memories keep an interest in the health of the guilty, hoping that their last breaths may include a confession. Murdoch is on a long...

16.07.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Crime and chaos: Victoria’s seven most notorious women

Professional killers are known as hitmen, and just about every serious crook is male. This is one of the reasons that women who go bad are a source of...

11.07.2025 30

The Age

John Silvester

The butcher, the fashion choice and the old job: The real red flags in Erin Patterson’s claims

The mushroom cook was asked a million questions during her grilling in the witness box – but these mysteries remain unsolved.

09.07.2025 30

The Age

John Silvester

The 10 hurdles Erin Patterson needed to jump. She hit every one

Despite the marathon legal arguments and the testimony of expert witnesses, the Morwell jury needed to use common sense rather than common law to...

08.07.2025 10

The Age

John Silvester

When the proof is in the pudding – culinary mysteries through the ages

From Vic Market murders to gangland hits and the Pentridge “Great Sausage War”, food and infamy have been close companions – and a collective...

04.07.2025 10

The Age

John Silvester

Never try to shoot a man through a fridge: SOG veteran’s perilous life and times

A bomb squad legend has told the inside story of some of Victoria’s most dramatic police operations.

27.06.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

The downfall of a drug racket: An underworld drama

You might think that having lost a house to Tony Mokbel, Darren Hafner would have sought an alternative income stream. But he was nothing if not...

20.06.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Policeman’s inside story on the evidence trail that led to Carly’s killer

Every house is exposed to online attacks at any time. A computer is the modern-day version of a skeleton key that can open any lock.

13.06.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Crooks who zigged when they should have zagged

He remembered to floss but forgot to duck. Here’s our list of 10 of the underworld’s biggest blunders.

06.06.2025 30

The Age

John Silvester

We need a police summit on knife crime. Oh, yes, we’ve already had one

It comes as no surprise that the average blade-wielding offender may be more inclined to steal a knife than provide a name, address and Frequent Flyer...

30.05.2025 40

The Age

John Silvester

How an ‘invisible’ police unit has hounded criminals for generations

On the night of the planned abduction, the Dogs were watching from a flat overlooking the house. Police had moved the family and replaced them with...

23.05.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

The day the hitman was hit

It’s a lesson crooks rarely learn: shootings bring publicity, headlines make politicians act, and a rort works best if it remains in the dark.

16.05.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

A hitman’s legacy: the family left devastated

Roger Wilson has been reduced to the passport photo used in police appeals for information when he disappeared, and he has become a bit player in his...

25.04.2025 40

The Age

John Silvester

The trap that caught the international cat burglar

Police couldn’t be sure the pair were about to commit a crime, but they soon had a pretty good clue. They watched one burglar climb down a ladder...

18.04.2025 40

The Age

John Silvester

Mokbel: The last chapter is yet to be written

The judicial process around Tony Mokbel makes the Suburban Rail Loop look like a frugal investment and the CFMEU a benevolent organisation.

04.04.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

Position vacant: A crushing police chief job with 18-hour days, a crime crisis and not enough police

The front-runner for the new chief commissioner role is a late scratching after he drew up a list of pros and cons for the job then walked out the...

02.04.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

As Tony Mokbel fights for freedom, the court has three options

There is this sense that the courts may be tempted to acquit the drug kingpin, to punish police for sneakily using barrister turned informer Nicola...

02.04.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester

The bikies’ deadly code of silence

This wasn’t about snitching to police but telling the truth about the death of an innocent man, so the victim’s family could have some answers.

28.03.2025 30

The Age

John Silvester

Shedding light on sport’s deadly secret

Craig made a fortune and then lost it. He was then sucked into investing hundreds of thousands with the wrong crowd. For a smart guy, he made a series...

21.03.2025 20

The Age

John Silvester