Jun 16, 2026 · 17 min · 10 segments
A man who was acquitted for rape is facing another trial as prosecutors seek leave to invoke Queensland’s new double jeopardy laws, in a huge development arising from The Australian’s podcast…
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Hedley ThomasGuestClaire HarveyHostIn 2021 and 2022, Hedley's podcast, Shandy's Story, revealed shocking failures in our justice system.
A 23-year-old Queensland woman named Shandy Blackburn had been stabbed to death just meters from her home late at night while walking home from work.
Nobody was convicted for the crime, and part of the reason is that although police carefully gathered forensic samples, including a pool of blood from a gutter at the scene, tape lifts from Shandy's arm, and from a suspect's car, scientists in Queensland's DNA lab were unable to find a positive link to a killer in those samples.
In the podcast, Hedley and his collaborator, forensic scientist Kirsty Wright, blew open a massive story.
Abject failings at the lab processing all major crimes in Queensland meant potentially hundreds, even thousands, of murderers and rapists had got away with their crimes.
The lab has been through a huge overhaul, and samples in old crimes have been retested to try and positively identify perpetrators.
In 2021 and 2022, Hedley's podcast, Shandy's Story, revealed shocking failures in our justice system.
A 23-year-old Queensland woman named Shandy Blackburn had been stabbed to death just meters from her home late at night while walking home from work.
Nobody was convicted for the crime, and part of the reason is that although police carefully gathered forensic samples, including a pool of blood from a gutter at the scene, tape lifts from Shandy's arm, and from a suspect's car, scientists in Queensland's DNA lab were unable to find a positive link to a killer in those samples.
In the podcast, Hedley and his collaborator, forensic scientist Kirsty Wright, blew open a massive story.
Abject failings at the lab processing all major crimes in Queensland meant potentially hundreds, even thousands, of murderers and rapists had got away with their crimes.
The lab has been through a huge overhaul, and samples in old crimes have been retested to try and positively identify perpetrators.
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