Kevin Morgan (1)

There are two horriffic crimes described in this book, firstly the brutal violation and murder of a little girl, then the horribly botched execution of an innocent man. No-one comes off looking good in this book, not the police, not the courts, not the untrustworthy witnesses who sent an innocent man to the gallows, and certainly not the society that allowed this double tragedy to happen. Not a pleasant book to read by any means, but extremely well-written, exhaustively researched and show more captures the flavour of the times very well. show less

I think the author Morgan originally had in mind a slightly different book than what eventuated.

It seems that Morgan planned for this to be a celebration of the great Holmes-like mind of Superintendent Frederick Piggott of the Victorian Police Force, showing how his work in forensics helped solve crimes. So we hear of his great work in finding Colin Ross guilty of the infamous Gun Alley murder and seeing Ross hanged for it. Of course a few years back a review of the case showed that Ross show more was an innocent man, which sort of blots Piggott’s copybook. Morgan also covers the Irene Tuckermann murder, which went unsolved, even though Piggott was convinced it was a local newsagent, although he had solid alibis. And then there were recounts of a few basic cases that even I guessed pretty quickly.

So, it seems that Morgan may well have mid-way through writing this book when the new evidence absolving Ross and he had to rewrite accordingly, looking at Piggott’s role in the rise of forensic science. A decent enough book but not quite as satisfying as I hoped. show less

Gun Alley was a very interesting read, if a little back and forth in the telling. The way it jumped from this person to that and back again and from this time to that and back made it a little confusing. However, the inclusion of real court transcripts helped to clarify some matters.

It is always easy to criticise from hindsight, with modern knowledge and procedure behind us, but it seems to me that, even by contemporary standards, this case was ineptly handled. There are gaping holes in show more evidence, witnesses changing stories (or outright ignored) and sloppy police work. It's almost as though the police had a suspect in mind and tailored the case to fit. I am a supporter of the death penalty, but this case highlights why it should never be used on a first offence. It is a shame that the first time forensic matching of hair was used to gain a conviction in Australia, it led to a grave miscarriage of justice.

Despite the sometimes confusing format, Gun Alley is definitely worth reading. show less