The detective jailed for 12 years for a drug house burglary, which is suspected to have ultimately led to a double execution, continues to maintain his innocence and refuses to throw former cop Paul Dale under the bus.
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David Miechel yesterday gave evidence before the Nicola Gobbo royal commission, the first time he has spoken publicly since his release in 2018 after serving his sentence for the 2003 burglary.
Miechel was at the heart of one of Victoria Police's shadiest chapters.
The former drug squad detective was arrested alongside his informer Terence Hodson for stealing $1.3 million from an Oakleigh house on grand final eve in 2003.
Hodson turned on Miechel and his close associate, fellow drug squad detective Paul Dale, who Hodson accused of orchestrating the burglary.
Miechel, who fought the charges, went down for the burglary, but the charges against Wangaratta's Dale were dropped after Hodson and his wife Christine were murdered in their home in Kew in May 2004.
The royal commission is investigating Victoria Police's use of Ms Gobbo, a gangland barrister turned police operative who informed on some of her own clients.
"You do not accept that you were guilty of that burglary?" Ms Gobbo's lawyer Rishi Nathwani asked Miechel in the public inquiry yesterday. "That's correct, yes."
Miechel also maintained Mr Dale had nothing to do with the burglary.
"Was Mr Dale involved in the setting up the burglary?" Mr Nathwani said. "No," Miechel replied.
Mr Nathwani asked Miechel if Mr Dale, soon after the Oakleigh burglary, went to the drug squad offices and took what has become known as the "blue file", which confirmed Hodson had turned into a police informer.
"I know what you're referring to, I'm not aware that Paul attended the office," Miechel replied.
Police have long thought the leak of the blue file led to the murders of Hodson and his wife.
Mr Dale was later charged with the Hodson murders, but those charges were dropped after the prosecution's star witness, gangland figure Carl Williams, was murdered in prison.
Ms Gobbo also became a crucial witness against Mr Dale, who has claimed he had a sexual relationship with the lawyer, after wearing a wire and secretly taping Mr Dale.
But she later refused to give evidence against him.
The actions of the force and Ms Gobbo have thrown a number of convictions into doubt after suspicions Ms Gobbo breached lawyer-client privilege and informed on her own clients.
