A woman has told a coronial inquest she was with the main suspect in an historic rape and murder case when he called police.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The calls followed the airing of details of the case on Derryn Hinch's television show a night earlier, which wrongly suggested notorious crook Mr Stinky may have been involved.
Police have said the call was important as the person on the line appeared to have inside knowledge of the Albury murder, which occurred on October 12, 1973.
Detective Steven Morgan said the caller stated "I was one of the ones who was there at the time".
Details of the call were forwarded to Albury police but there was a delay to the information being acted on, and investigators wrongly believed Ross Eames had been on the line.
The caller named people said to have been involved, which police believe was a red herring designed by Newey to divert attention away from himself.
The inquest earlier heard the call had led to wasted investigation time and cast a spotlight on men no longer thought to be involved.
A woman, who can't be named, on Wednesday told the inquest she had walked to the Murray Bridge phone box with Newey before he made the call.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"It took me a long time to get over the fear of Colin because of what happened between me and Col," she said when asked why she didn't report the information earlier.
She gave a different time that the call was made to the police evidence and said Newey had made multiple calls.
"I stood outside while Colin made the phone call," she said, adding she couldn't hear what was said.
Newey insisted they run from the phone box and said "we just gotta get inside".
She said he had been "really mad at Ross Eames" before the call and she believed blackmail was involved.
Police later attended Newey's home, she said.
Eames is no longer considered a suspect.
On Tuesday, police named Colin Newey as the prime suspect in the case.
Max Martin is also thought to have been involved.
Police have evidence tying the friends to Smollett Street about the time of the abduction and police believe the pair's claims about the day have been debunked.
Kevin Newman's involvement also can't be excluded.
All three men are now deceased.
The inquest continues today.
