Australian Story

Craig Lowndes is the first driver to win the Australian Touring Car Championship on debut, the youngest ever winner and the only driver apart from Peter Brock to win the Triple Crown of Australian Motor Sport - the Australian Touring Car championship, the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000 - in the one year.

In 1992 Graham Stafford was convicted of the brutal murder of a Brisbane schoolgirl. Stafford was the last person to see 12-year-old Leanne Holland alive and police were quick to charge him with the schoolgirl’s murder. Despite the compelling body of evidence presented against him during the trial, a broad-based group of professionals, who had never met Stafford, joined forces to clear his name. The group – which includes a former detective, journalist, criminologist and the original jury foreman – believes that much of the evidence used to convict Graham Stafford was seriously flawed. Former detective-turned-private investigator Graeme Crowley has spent the past 15 years unravelling the Crown’s evidence. Whilst initially employed by the Stafford family, Graeme Crowley has continued to pursue the case doggedly at his own expense. In this episode of Australian Story – the first of two parts – Graeme Crowley reveals the results of his research.

This week's Australian Story concludes the two-part program looking into the 1991 murder of 12-year-old Leanne Holland and the subsequent conviction of Graham Stafford. Despite the compelling body of evidence presented against Graham Stafford during his trial, a broad-based group of professionals has joined forces to clear his name. The group, led by former Queensland detective Graeme Crowley, believes that critical evidence used to convict Graham Stafford was seriously flawed. In this week's episode, support for Graham Stafford's case emerges from surprising quarters. Prison guards who knew him in jail speak publicly for the first time in a show of support. The jury foreman from the original trial outlines why he is now convinced of Graham Stafford's innocence. A forensic scientist whose evidence helped convict Graham Stafford now declares that she believes Graham Stafford was wrongly convicted. And a forensic entomologist dismisses a key piece of evidence in Graham Stafford's conviction - the presence of a single maggot in the boot of his car - as an "impossible" scenario. Ex-policeman Graeme Crowley also reveals the results of his 15-year investigation into who he believes killed Leanne Holland.