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News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Crown witness in case against paedophile ring found in shallow grave
When NRL great Ian Roberts, then known as one of the best front-rowers in the world, first met Arron Light, the latter was just nine years old. In that moment, he could never have predicted that less than a decade later, Aaron would be discovered in a shallow grave, the victim of a brutal murder that to this day remains unsolved. 'I was living in Camperdown in Sydney at the time, and he was in the children's hospital nearby,' he told Gary Jubelin's I Catch Killers podcast. 'He was being treated for complications to do with a knee surgery, and he'd been in hospital for quite some time.' Roberts, who had gone in for a visit as part of his NRL team's outreach program, was taken by the young child's sense of humour and wisdom beyond his years. 'He began poking fun at all the players, saying we were only coming to visit for publicity, having a bit of fun,' he recalls fondly, 'he was a cheeky little kid.' Roberts, who jokingly told Arron he'd come back and visit 'just to annoy you,' struck up a friendship with the boy over the following weeks. 'He was in hospital for at least a few months,' he recalls, 'and over that time I'd pop in every couple of weeks to say G'day.' Over the coming years, Roberts became something of a mentor to Arron, who he'd check in with periodically. Then, in the mid-nineties, by which stage Arron was a young teen, Roberts bumped into him on the street, and learned he'd been sleeping rough in Kings Cross. Keen to help Arron get back on his feet, Roberts would invite him to NRL matches and meet up with the teenager regularly – eventually allowing him to move into his home. 'One night he rang me – he was very upset,' the sportsman recalls, 'I asked him where he was – he was in his squat in Bondi, and it was not good. I just told him: 'grab your stuff mate, you can come and live with us for a while.' We had a spare bedroom, and I was with my partner Shane, so we kind of just decided he could stay with us as long as he went to school.' Over the coming months, Roberts tried to provide Arron with more stability – insisting he kept in touch with his parents, training with him in the gym and offering a positive example of authority in his life. Roberts, who had recently come out as gay, was aware that the presence of a young teen in his life may attract suspicion. 'He knew I was gay, and he had no problem with me or my partner,' says Roberts, 'but I was very keen for him to keep in touch with his parents, so his parents knew everything that was going on. What people struggle to understand was that it wasn't just an act of kindness – this young guy was actually my friend.' For a while, things seemed to be going well in the young teen's life, who'd get up and catch two buses to school at Vaucluse High each morning. Then, Roberts got a phone call from police. 'They told me that the house had been under surveillance, and my head was spinning.' Police explained that Arron had been seen going into suspected pedophiles' houses before coming to live with Roberts. They told him 'that's how he'd been supporting himself.' 'And this put you in a difficult situation,' suggests Jubelin. 'I'd just come out,' explains Roberts, 'I was worried that people were going to surmise what they think had happened.' Police, who had quickly cleared Ian as a suspect, asked him to try and convince Arron to make a formal statement about the pedophiles who had abused him. Roberts, who was plagued by worry about how his friendship with Arron would be perceived, encouraged him to co-operate with police. He says it's one of his biggest regrets. 'I wish so much that I'd just told them to leave him alone, that he was happy and doing well and didn't need to go back and talk about all that stuff. I honestly think if I'd done that, he'd still be alive now.' Shortly after convincing Arron to work with police to expose the alleged pedophile ring he'd been a victim of, Roberts was offered a contract in Townsville, and moved away. Aaron, who was hurt and angry at the distance Roberts had put between them, went rapidly downhill. The last time Roberts heard his voice, it was 1997. 'I got a phone call from a policeman telling me that Arron had been arrested again for stealing,' he says. 'And he wouldn't talk to police, the only person he'd talk to was me. So they phoned me up and put him on and I was trying to calm him down. But he was screaming and he was angry at me by that stage as well. He was entitled to be that way. It just felt like he was alone. He was saying that stuff. He was seeing a lawyer I'd put him in touch with, and I just … I just tried to convince him to co-operate with the police. He disappeared three days later. He was due to give evidence [against the alleged pedophile ring] three days later, and he just never showed up in court.' It would be another five years until Arron's body was found. Believed to have been stabbed, his bones were discovered by construction workers digging a trench along the Alexandria canal in St Peters. 'It's awful, even the way they discovered that it was Arron,' continues Roberts, 'It was the knee. His knee, because he had such complications when I first met him in hospital, his knee had become quite deformed. It was like a bulbous type of thing. That's how they discovered it was him.' An inquest into Arron's death found there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with Arron's murder. NSW deputy state coroner Jacqueline Milledge presided over the inquest into Arron's death. She concluded that 17-year-old Arron died between September 12 and September 18, 1997, in an unknown Sydney location. 'The cause of death is multiple stab wounds,' she said. 'The manner of death is homicide by a person or persons unknown. 'At the time of his death, Arron Light was 17-years-old and was a Crown witness in an impending district court trial.' For Roberts, the pain of Arron's loss, as well as the guilt that plagues him, are wounds that will never heal. 'Regret's not a big enough word,' he tells Gary Jubelin sadly, 'but I just know now that I really let him down.' 'I thought I was okay with this,' he continues, clearly emotional, 'but just talking about it now, it's just like I really let him down. From the person he trusted, he loved me, he so respected me and cared about me. I just let him down.'
Daily Mail
19-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Daughter of murder victim stabbed to death minutes after he visited her as a baby on Father's Day appeals for help to catch his killers ten years on in poignant letter
The daughter of a murder victim stabbed to death minutes after he saw her on Father's Day has written a heartbreaking letter appealing for help to find her dad's killers ten years after the tragedy. 'I was never given the chance to get to know him or for him to watch me grow up,' the 12-year-old wrote in the letter about Christian Bagley, who was killed in 2015 when she was only 19 months old on Father's Day. On June 21, 2015, the 30-year-old had been to see his toddler at his ex-partner's house in Herefordshire. As he walked home, he was cruelly stabbed and was only able to stagger short distance before being found lying on the pavement in a pool of blood. He was several injuries to his back and arm, which are believed to have been caused by a bladed weapon. The weapon used, believed to be a kitchen knife, remained embedded in his left arm, while the handle that snapped off during the attack has never been found. Emergency services were called to the scene at 10.50pm, and Mr Bagley was taken to Hereford County Hospital, where he later died. But no one was ever charged for the father's murder despite several people being arrested at the time. Now ten years on, his daughter has once again appealed for anyone with information to come forward. She wrote: 'Somebody taking my dad away from me when I was little is something that can never be replaced. 'I have no memories of my dad or his presence in my life - only what other people have told me. 'I was never given the chance to get to know him or for him to watch me grow up. I'll never be able to spend Father's Day, Christmas Day or a birthday with my dad. 'There's an emptiness that should not be inside me because somebody murdered my dad. 'That void within myself will always be there. 'Everything he did that day – 21.06.15 – was a 'last time' experience. 'They still haven't found who killed my dad or any answers to why somebody cruelly took him away. I love you dad!' Christian's mother, Janette Bagley, said the last ten years of her life without her son were 'hell' and described him as bed her son as the 'kindest person you would ever meet'. She said: 'If I was across the water, he'd have walked across it just to help us.' 'All I want to know is why? Why have you done this to my boy? He didn't deserve it, he's walking along, going home after seeing his baby daughter on Father's Day.' 'Please, somebody somewhere knows something. Ring up, or send a message, or whatever.' 'Everybody knows who I am – I don't want to be the person out there who's 'Christian Bagley's mother'. 'I want somebody to see me for who I am but for all this time, all I've got now is this, year in, year out. Just tell us why. Somebody out there knows.' She added: 'He loved his daughter, his daughter was his life. When his daughter was born, he was the most elated person you'll ever know.' Crimestoppers has issued a £20,000 reward for anyone with information on the murder which leads to the conviction of those responsible. Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Lougher, of West Mercia Police's Major Investigation Unit, said: 'While we have continued to investigate this case, a decade on, it seems timelier than ever to appeal again to the public to help us get justice for Christian's daughter, mother and all his family and friends. 'We hope this heartfelt message from a daughter who has grown up never knowing her father will prick the conscience of someone carrying a burden of knowledge about his murder to step forward and help us bring those responsible before the courts. 'After ten years, loyalties and allegiances may have changed, and we hope anyone who knows something will do the right thing and speak to us. 'We would urge anyone with information to scan the QR code which takes you directly to the Major Incident Public Portal (MIPP) or visit this link Public Portal. 'Alternatively, if you don't want to speak to police, get in touch with Crimestoppers.' At the time, Mr Bagley's brother, Wayne Wood, said: 'He had been to visit his baby daughter when he was stabbed in the back and arm. 'He was heading for a friend's house for help because he didn't have his mobile phone with him.' He was described as a 'loveable lad' who enjoyed playing golf with his friends at the weekend.
CTV News
10-06-2025
- CTV News
26 years after disappearance, two men charged in 1999 Quebec murder
Two men have been charged with second-degree murder in connection with 1999 murder case. Investigators from Quebec's provincial police (SQ) unsolved case division have arrested two men in connection with the 1999 murder of Maxime Berthiaume. Kenneth Forman, 82, of Lachine, and Timothy Helpin, 58, of Deux-Montagnes, were arrested on warrants for second-degree murder. The accused appeared virtually at the Joliette courthouse on Tuesday. According to the SQ, Berthiaume was reported missing by his family in February 1999. Montreal police (SPVM), along with the SQ, conducted an investigation. In January, SQ investigators were able to establish a link between Berthiaume's disappearance and the unidentified body of a homicide victim found in September 2015 in Rawdon.
The Sun
09-06-2025
- The Sun
Secret double life of woman stabbed to death one day before running off with lover… and why killer has never been found
THE brutal unsolved murder of a woman living a secret double life remains a mystery 34 years on - with cops now launching a fresh appeal to find her killer. Lynne Trenholm, 29, was discovered by a cleaner with multiple stab wounds in a Chester massage parlour 34 years ago today. 4 Three decades on from her tragic death, her killer has still never been caught. The young woman was leading a secret life as a sex worker at Pinky's Massage Parlour, Chester, while she told her family she was working as a clerk. Lynne, who had previously worked as a nursing home assistant, secretly switched her line of work without her family knowing. This saw her travel from her home in Failsworth to Chester to work as a masseuse at the Parlour. 4 In the aftermath of the brutal killing, Lynne's mother, Joan Rayborn, said: 'She was my daughter and it didn't matter what she did for a living at Pinky's.' She also revealed that her daughter had planned to leave the parlour and run off with her dream man the day after she was murdered. The cleaner's chilling discovery was made on Sunday 9th June 1991, and a murder investigation was launched soon after. However, Lynne's case remains a mystery. Cheshire Constabulary carried out several reviews, and appeals were issued in a bid to solve the murder, but her killer is yet to be caught. It has also been hoped that a bloodied fingerprint found at the scene would lead the police to some answers but a match was never found. 4 In a statement released today, Cheshire police said: 'It is possible there may be some who have never come forward at the time who may hold valuable information, we're appealing for them to make contact.' Detective Inspector Eli Atkinson said: 'Unsolved murders are periodically reviewed, and this is one we are currently looking at. 'We believe it would be timely to ask those who may have information but have not yet come forward to reconsider and get in touch to help us find the person responsible for Lynne's murder.' 4 He added: 'Cases of this nature are never formally closed, they remain open for any new information to come to light that we can identify and explore further, so if you have any information that may help, please get in touch.' Among their theories of the killer's motive, police believe it may have been a robbery as a substantial amount of cash was taken. Anyone with information should contact Cheshire Police via
CTV News
03-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Suspect arrested, charged 7 years after Vancouver nightclub homicide
From 2019: The death of Kris Thind remains unsolved a year later. His loved ones are calling for justice, and for dozens of witnesses to come forward.
