The innocent cop falsely labelled as a serial rapist: Neil Mercer Pt. 2

Veteran journalist and author Neil Mercer returns to I Catch Killers for part two of his confronting examination of wrongful convictions in the Australian justice system. 

In this episode, Neil and Gary Jubelin revisit one of the most embarrassing periods in NSW Police history: the case of Harry Blackburn, a former police superintendent publicly branded a serial rapist and paraded before the media before he was ever formally charged. They unravel the extraordinary chain of failures that led to his very public downfall, a saga that only ended when a Royal Commission finally exposed the truth. 

They also unpack DNA evidence, long considered the gold standard in forensic science, and just how far from infallible it can be, and the broader, systemic issues that allow innocent people to be wrongly convicted: unreliable eyewitness identification, the historical use of "police verbals" and false confessions, inadequate legal representation, and the unique challenges faced by First Nations Australians navigating a justice system not built with their language or culture in mind.

Neil Mercer is the author of Falsely Convicted: True Stories of Injustice in Australia. 

Want to hear more from Neil Mercer? Listen to his other interviews with Gary on I Catch Killers here and here. 

You can watch I Catch Killers on Youtube here. 

Follow I Catch Killers:
Instagram: @icatchkillers
Tiktok: @icatchkillerspodcast
Facebook: @icatchkillers

Email the show at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.