Det Sgt Peter Revell has seen the best and worst of humans in his 40-year Victoria Police career, but it took a dead bank robber, turtles and a flooded quarry to stun him.
THE case of a bandit’s body found floating in a flooded quarry on the Lincoln Causeway still puzzles Wodonga Detective Sergeant Peter Revell.
The fact turtles may have eaten the man’s testicles only adds to the mystery.
It was 1999 and Sgt Revell was one of the first police officers on the scene.
He noticed turtles bobbing by the body but thought no more of it until the man was taken from the water.
The victim was Aubrey Broughill, a 60-year career criminal responsible for at least seven bank robberies, who had been released from custody in February that year.
His jeans were around his ankles, he had no underpants on, and he had been castrated.
By what or who remains a mystery but Sgt Revell has always suspected the turtles.
“We’re blaming it on the turtles,” Sgt Revell said.
An expert in such matters gave weight to the theory but no definitive cause of the castration has been found.
The cause of Broughill’s death also remains undetermined, after an inquest in 2001 returned an open finding.
And despite Sgt Revell’s work, he is no closer to knowing whether Broughill was murdered or died of natural causes.
“You’re taught to keep an open mind and, over the years, different theories go through your head,” Sgt Revell said.
“But I’m still sitting on the fence on that one.”
Det Sgt Revell (second from left) with fellow recruits at the forensics science lab in 1972.
On Wednesday, Sgt Revell racked up 40 years with Victoria Police.
He grew up on a dairy farm at Casterton and followed his brother into the force in 1972 when he was 17.
“I was sick of school I suppose, my brother was in the police force and he seemed to be enjoying it,” Sgt Revell said.
After a year as a cadet, including time at the communications centre when Morse code was still in use, he went to the recruits section at St Kilda Road.
Stints at Russell Street, Richmond, Colac, Prahran, Carlton and Brunswick followed, including time in the second-hand dealers squad.
In 1989, he arrived in Wodonga, with wife Ros, to head up the Criminal Investigation Unit after missing out on a position at Colac.
Det Sgt Revell at Wodonga in 1998.
“It was either Ballarat or here so I came here,” Sgt Revell said.
“I thought we’d only stay a short while but kids and other things happened so we stayed.”
There have been hold-ups, shootings, rapes, abductions, assaults, break-ins and suspicious fires but it’s the unsolved murder cases that play on his mind.
“The Beer murder is one,” Sgt Revell said.
Tallandoon farmer David Beer was found slumped at the wheel of his tractor in 1994.
No one was convicted of the murder and an inquest in 1999 returned an open finding.
“Unfortunately, it’s just the way it went,” Sgt Revell said.
“You reminisce sometimes and think ‘yes I believe this or that happened’ but I wouldn’t say it bothers me. I would like to know what happened, though.”
Sgt Revell has chalked up more than his fair share of convictions.
He cites convicting sex offenders, especially those who have denied the crime, as rewarding.
“A few have denied it and we’ve managed to get sufficient evidence to take them before court and get a conviction,” Sgt Revell said.
A 1990s’ case stands out for its pioneering use of DNA evidence.
“I had one, there was a male, a friend of the family and he was taking the daughter out for excursions,” Sgt Revell said.
“He took her to his home and motels and had sex with her, and he denied that. It was his word against hers.
“She told us he’d had sex where he was living and he ejaculated all over the carpet.
“He denied that but we got a warrant, cut up the carpet and DNA testing came up positive.
“That was the major evidence that convicted him, DNA hadn’t been in long at the time and we used it, which was a great result for us.”
The man was jailed and Sgt Revell said he was happy to get a result for the victim.
“She had obviously been preyed upon and he was denying it all the way through,” Sgt Revell said.
“It was good to give
her support and get a result.”
The job, at times, has taken him on a gruesome path.
“I remember when I first joined we had to go to the mortuary and that was an experience,” Sgt Revell said.
“The smell for a start, I suppose in one way that assists you later on but it’s a bit different to when you see it on TV — a lot of bodies we go to are decomposed. It’s not a pretty sight.”
The job has also put him in harm’s way.
“I’ve had a chainsaw thrown at me, and a bike rim,” Sgt Revell said.
The rim hit him and left him with a broken rib and severe bruising.
“And I’ve had a few wrestles,” he laughs.
These days, drugs play a part in most crimes, Sgt Revell said.
“When I first joined, if you got someone with drugs it was a big deal. You had a real good pinch, so to speak,” he said. “Nowadays it’s a dime a dozen.”
He believes more than 90 per cent of crime is related to drugs and alcohol.
“If they commit a burglary they’re either doing it because they’re on drugs or someone else is on drugs.
“They always want to blame someone else. They don’t do it to survive, so to speak, for food or day-to-day living expenses. It’s all to pay for some drug habit.”
Sgt Revell said the investigation side of policing had always appealed to him.
“Following up people’s complaints,” he said.
“When they’re solved, you get a great deal of satisfaction out of that.”
But he plays down his role in most cases, citing a team effort.
“You can’t say ‘I did it all by myself’ because that’s never the case,” Sgt Revell said.
“You’ve got to have a good crew with you and I’ve got a good crew here, I’ve been lucky.
“It comes down to the camaraderie.”
That camaraderie leads to practical jokes.
“They’ve filled my desk with water and put goldfish in it; our fingerprint expert from Wangaratta, taped cheese under my desk and there was this smell for days,” Sgt Revell said.
And a former colleague and friend, Sen-Constable Dave Chandler, who died of cancer in 2002, regularly hoisted his bicycle up a flagpole.
Yesterday, Sgt Revell, 57, said he intended to retire but colleagues say he’s still got a few good years left in him.
“I’ve had a great time and I’m still having a great time,” he said.
Email a friend