More than 30 years after series of bombings and shootings left four people dead and terrorized the Australian legal fraternity police have arrested a 68-year-old suspect.
Leonard John Warwick was arrested today as a result of a three-year-old cold case investigation into a Sydney crime spree that became known as the Family Court bombings because it targeted Family Court judges and their families, New South Wales Police Homicide Squad Commander Superintendent Mick Willing said.
Warwick faces 32 charges, including four counts of murder, one of attempted murder and 13 counts of burning or maiming with an explosive substance, Willing said.
Warwick is a former fireman who had an extended dispute in the Family Court with his estranged wife over the custody of their infant daughter in the early 1980s.
His first alleged victim was his brother-in-law Stephen Blanchard who was shot dead at his home in 1980. Five weeks later, Family Court Justice David Opas was shot dead at his front door when he answered the doorbell.
A judge's wife, Pearle Watson, was killed by a bomb at her front door in 1984. Jehovah's Witness minister Graham Wykes was killed by a bomb at a church hall in 1985. Warwick's sister-in-law was a member of the congregation.
Justice Richard Gee, who took over Warwick's case after Opas's death, survived a bombing at his own home in 1984. The Parramatta Family Court in Sydney was also targeted by a blast in 1980, but no one was injured.
"These crimes not only were crimes against individuals, they were crimes against our society," Willing told reporters. "A pillar of our society is our legal system and these were direct crimes against a pillar of our society."
Assistant Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas credited the tenacity of police investigators for the arrest of the long-time suspect.
"The evidence that we've gathered includes significant new evidence, historic evidence that has been enhanced using technology that was probably not available 30 years ago," Kaldas told reporters.
Victim Pearle Watson's stepdaughter Sue Chapman welcomed the arrest.
"I'm still in a state of shock and I'm totally churned up inside, but in a way I'm very relieved and I think it's about time that the person concerned was brought to justice," Chapman told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
