A U-turn on the road to redemption: Craig Minogue and the Russell Street bombing | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on Sun, 26/08/2018 - 9:15am

The 1986 fatal bombing of Melbourne’s police headquarters is taking centre stage in an electoral law and order tussle and raising potent questions

Thirty years ago this month, Craig Minogue, a 23-year-old on a hard criminal track, was convicted of murdering policewoman Angela Rose Taylor in the Easter 1986 bombing of Melbourne’s Russell Street police headquarters.

Minogue, sentenced to life for murder, has served his minimum non-parole period of 28 years. His supporters insist he has made every conceivable effort to use his prison time for personal rehabilitation and atonement; the Victorian government insists he will never appear before the Adult Parole Board and will never be released.

Craig Minogue will die in jail, that’s where he should die.

The government moved the goalposts, making me ineligible for parole.

I’ve been scared about that day that he could get out of prison and come after me.

It is possible that after 20, 25 or 30 years a person who commits a murder will completely rehabilitate.