1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,800 It was after 3:00 in the morning when Dean Pollard picked up his 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,440 phone and tried to make one more call. 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,640 No one answered. There was nothing particularly 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:11,960 unusual about Dean being awake at that hour. 5 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:17,000 By May of 2010, his life had become increasingly chaotic. 6 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:20,240 Drugs were a part of it. So were police. 7 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,080 There was a warrant out for his arrest, and only days earlier 8 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:28,920 Dean had made it clear that he had no intention of going back 9 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,840 to court. He talked about leaving Perth 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:36,320 altogether, maybe Tasmania, Kalgoorlie, maybe even England, 11 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,960 and Dean had something else that made the idea of disappearing 12 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:42,480 seem entirely possible. Money. 13 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,840 At least that was the story, because exactly how much money 14 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:51,000 Dean Pollard had in those final days would become surprisingly 15 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:55,040 difficult to establish. His father would give police one 16 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:58,640 version of offence, then years later, during a homicide 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,480 investigation, admit that part of what he had told them wasn't 18 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:04,879 true. Even the date Dean was 19 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:08,000 supposedly last seen would begin to fall apart. 20 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,080 And somewhere amongst those contradictions were the people 21 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,120 Dean had been spending his time with. 22 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:16,960 One supplied him with methamphetamine. 23 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:21,040 Another was amongst the last people Dean tried to contact. 24 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,640 Another had already been involved in a violent 25 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,680 confrontation with him and eventually homicide detectives 26 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,600 would identify three men as suspects in Dean Pollard's 27 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,520 disappearance. They would investigate them 28 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:39,440 overtly, they would investigate some of them covertly and they 29 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,000 would find that nothing proved any of them had killed Dean. 30 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,880 Which leaves us with a problem. Because Dean didn't turn up in 31 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:50,640 Tasmania, he didn't turn up in Kalgoorlie and there's no 32 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:52,520 evidence he made it back to England. 33 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,600 There was no evidence his money funded some new life somewhere 34 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,000 else. His phone went silent. 35 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,600 He never contacted his daughter again. 36 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:06,640 And despite everything happening around him, there is one detail 37 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:11,880 that is remarkably precise. At approximately 3:15 on the 38 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:16,680 morning of the 27th of May 2010, Dean tried to call someone. 39 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,000 The call wasn't answered and as far as anyone has ever been able 40 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,880 to establish, Dean Anthony Pollard has never been heard 41 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,680 from since. This is Vanished West, a podcast 42 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,720 exploring the stories of people who disappeared across WA. 43 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,080 Each episode examines the lives they left behind, the 44 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,480 investigations that followed, and the questions that remain 45 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,440 unanswered. Vanished W is independently 46 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,920 researched and produced by me. If you'd like to help keep the 47 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:49,520 podcast going or get early access to episodes and bonus 48 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,720 content, you'll find ways to support the show through the 49 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:54,480 links in the episode description. 50 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,520 If you're enjoying the podcast, I'd love if you'd give us a 51 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,040 follow wherever you're listening and on social media. 52 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,800 It really does help others discover these stories and keep 53 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:08,080 them missing in our hearts. Dean Anthony Pollard was born in 54 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:12,200 Blackpool, England on the 21st of November 1968. 55 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,840 The eldest of Brian and Marilyn Pollard's three children. 56 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:21,080 He spent the 1st 14 years of his life in England, then in 1983 57 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,360 the Pollard family moved to Australia, eventually settling 58 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,760 in High Wyckham in Perth's eastern suburbs, where Dean 59 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,080 attended Forrestfield Senior High School. 60 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,120 His father, Brian, was a stone Mason who went on to operate his 61 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,520 own masonry supplies business in Midland. 62 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,880 Dean followed him into that trade, completing a stone 63 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,200 masonry apprenticeship with his father and working for him 64 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:47,560 intermittently over the years. WA wasn't the only place Dean 65 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,080 had called home. In 1990 he returned to England 66 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,880 to work before eventually coming back to Australia. 67 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,240 In 1994 he joined the Army Reserve, remaining there for 68 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,200 around 2 years before leaving at his own request. 69 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,160 Around 1996, Dean met Natalie Weaver. 70 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,400 They bought a house together, made a Vale in 1998 and in 71 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,200 November that year their daughter Sarah was born. 72 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,680 Dean's relationship with Natalie would eventually end under 73 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,279 difficult circumstances and by then there were problems in his 74 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:21,320 life that stretched back much further. 75 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:24,960 Dean had experienced serious mental health difficulties from 76 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,240 a young age. When he was 18, he was admitted 77 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,480 to Heathcoat Hospital and diagnosed with an acute 78 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,320 schizophreniform psychosis. There would be further 79 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,200 psychiatric treatment over the years, and in 2002 he was 80 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,680 diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. 81 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,600 As Dean became increasingly involved with drugs, however, 82 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,040 the picture became more complicated. 83 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,520 Doctors were dealing not only with an underlying history of 84 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,240 mental illness, but with the effects of amphetamine and later 85 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:59,160 methamphetamine use. During the deterioration of his 86 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,720 relationship with Natalie, Dean was using drugs and experiencing 87 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,040 paranoia. When he learned that Natalie 88 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,000 intended to leave him, he took Sarah and kept her with him for 89 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,040 several days. Police eventually recovered 90 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,000 Sarah. Under a recovery order, Natalie 91 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,120 moved with the children to Tasmania. 92 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:21,000 She obtained sole custody of Sarah and later obtained A 93 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,600 restraining order after Dean appeared at her home. 94 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,920 Despite everything that had happened, contact between Dean 95 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:29,720 and his daughter eventually resumed. 96 00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:32,720 He spoke with Sarah regularly by telephone. 97 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,840 He sent her birthday and Christmas presents and regularly 98 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:38,840 deposited $500 into Natalie's bank account. 99 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,560 At Christmas in 2009, Dean called Natalie and Sarah. 100 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:45,800 He told them he had sold his house. 101 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,240 It would be the last conversation either of them had 102 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,360 with him. By then, Dean's life in Perth 103 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,840 had changed considerably. His drug use had become 104 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,400 increasingly serious from around 2007. 105 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,840 His contacts with hospitals and police included episodes of drug 106 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:06,440 induced psychosis, aggression and erratic behaviour. 107 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:12,600 By July 2009 he was described as amphetamine dependent and his 108 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:14,320 finances were beginning to unravel. 109 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,760 Alongside everything else, the Maida Vale house was one of 110 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:22,440 Dean's major assets. In 2008 he borrowed $100,000 111 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,040 against us. According to evidence later 112 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:28,840 examined at his inquest, most of that money was spent over 113 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:32,280 approximately 6 months, and much of it on drugs. 114 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,880 Dean sold his car. Eventually, he sold the house as 115 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:37,840 well. The sale left him with 116 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:43,160 approximately $176,000, but the money didn't last. 117 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,560 During the months that followed, Dean moved between caravan 118 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,200 parks, motels, and hostels. He continued using 119 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:52,520 methamphetamine and spending heavily. 120 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:57,440 By around April 2010, approximately $100,000 from the 121 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,880 proceeds of his house sale had already gone. 122 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,640 Brian became concerned enough about what was happening that he 123 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,480 accompanied Dean to the bank and became a signatory to his 124 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,040 account. From then on, Dean's money and 125 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,160 his father's attempts to manage it became tangled together, and 126 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,000 later establishing exactly what happened to the money that 127 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,040 remained would prove much harder than it should have been. 128 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,040 For now though, Dean still had more immediate problems. 129 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,440 On the 14th of January 2010, he was arrested following an 130 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,800 unprovoked assault on an elderly man at a service station in 131 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,160 Rivervale. Brian provided surety for him. 132 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,920 A few months later, Brian and his partner Diane left WA for an 133 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,320 overseas trip that would last around a month. 134 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,440 While they were away, Dean was allowed to stay in a small 135 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,080 limestone office building at Brian's Masonry supply business 136 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,200 in Midland. It wasn't much of A home, but by 137 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:55,080 then Dean no longer had one of his own, so it made do. 138 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,720 During Brian's absence, a woman named Margaret Ebert began 139 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,680 visiting Dean there regularly. Margaret later told 140 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,840 investigators she went to the Midland premises two or three 141 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,800 times a week. She brought Dean food and 142 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:09,760 cigarettes. She also brought him 143 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,120 methamphetamine. What she described was the man 144 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,760 whose dependence on the drug had become severe. 145 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,640 In Margaret's view, Dean was reaching the point where he was 146 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,200 barely capable of looking after himself. 147 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,640 When Brian returned to the business on the 18th of April, 148 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:29,000 Dean wasn't alone. His friend Luke Halladay was 149 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,159 there with him. Brian found Dean dishevelled and 150 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:35,640 apparently affected by drugs. There were Ziploc bags 151 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:39,320 containing what appeared to be a white powder on a desk inside 152 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,200 the premises. This time, Brian went to the 153 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,400 police. He drove to Midland Police 154 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:46,840 Station and told officers what he had found in his own 155 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,480 business. Police went to the premises and 156 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,640 found drugs. Dean wasn't there. 157 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,280 Later, he returned alone. Police arrested him. 158 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:58,520 The substance was methamphetamine and there were 8 159 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,160 grams of it. Dean was charged with possessing 160 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:03,880 methamphetamine with intent to sell or supply. 161 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,920 He was remanded in custody. Brian could have provided the 162 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:12,160 surety required for his release again this time, but initially 163 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,960 he wouldn't do it. For around 2 weeks, Dean 164 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,560 remained behind bars while his father refused to get him out. 165 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:23,040 Brian believed that given the state his son was in, jail might 166 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,760 actually be the better place for him. 167 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:29,200 Eventually he changed his mind. Dean was released in early May 168 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:31,960 and went straight back to the little office at the Midland 169 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,360 business. It wasn't a fresh start. 170 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,480 He resumed using methamphetamine. 171 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,200 Then on the 9th of May, things cheeriated again. 172 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,360 Dean was near the Burswood Casino when he crossed paths 173 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,640 with Luke Halliday and another man, Eamonn Detests. 174 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,320 Luke and Eamonn had been leaving the casino when they saw Dean at 175 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,920 a telephone box near a 24 hour shop. 176 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,520 They picked him up, hoping Dean might give them some money so 177 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:00,920 they could return to the casino. The three men went back to 178 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:02,880 Eamon's home in East Victoria Park. 179 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,520 They remained there for several hours. 180 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,080 According to Eamon's later account, Dean began behaving 181 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,800 aggressively and irrationally. Eamon told him to leave. 182 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,120 He said Dean then attempted to attack him and Eamon responded 183 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,800 by hitting Dean in the face. Dean left the house on foot. 184 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,200 Soon afterwards, police encountered him wandering in the 185 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,320 area and behaving unusually. He was carrying a syringe and a 186 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,160 knife. Police took Dean to Sir Charles 187 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,680 Gardner hospital, from there he was transferred to Greylands 188 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:37,720 Hospital where he remained until the 13th of May. 189 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:42,680 Four days later, on the 17th, Dean was back in hospital again. 190 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,720 This time, police took him to Swan District Hospital after 191 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,080 another episode in which he was initially described as 192 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,440 psychotic, aggressive and violent. 193 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,920 But by the following day, the picture had changed. 194 00:10:56,400 --> 00:11:00,440 A nurse who assessed Dean found him not to be delusional, not to 195 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,760 be psychotic, intoxicated or even suicidal. 196 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,680 He was not considered an acute risk. 197 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,600 Dean declined information about drug and alcohol services and 198 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:12,680 wanted to leave. And he did. 199 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,280 It was the final known contact with medical services. 200 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,240 Dean returned once again to the Midland premises. 201 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,400 His criminal charge was still waiting for him. 202 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,480 He was due back in court on the 24th of May and he had already 203 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,120 told Brian that he had no intention of appearing. 204 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:31,880 Instead, Dean talked about leaving. 205 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,680 He mentioned Tasmania, Kalgoorlie and England. 206 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,560 Any one of them was possible. Dean had travelled before, he 207 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:43,520 had lived overseas and with a warrant about to be hanging over 208 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,000 him, there was an obvious reason for him to put distance between 209 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,960 himself and Perth. On the 24th of May, Dean failed 210 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,840 to appear in court. A bench warrant was issued for 211 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:58,000 his arrest that same day. According to one of the accounts 212 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:02,480 Brian would later give police, he gave Dean $20,000 in cash 213 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,480 from a safe. Whether Dean actually received 214 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,520 that money would become part of a much larger problem 215 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,440 investigators faced when they eventually tried to reconstruct 216 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,600 his finances. But there was no missing person 217 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,880 investigation just yet, no homicide investigation, and 218 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,520 nobody was trying to reconstruct Dean's movements. 219 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,520 As far as the people around him knew, Dean was still in Perth, 220 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:29,240 and over the next few days, his mobile phone continued to work. 221 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,320 On the 26th of May, there were several short calls between Dean 222 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,200 and Luke Halliday. Then the date changed. 223 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,080 Just after midnight on the 27th, Dean made another call. 224 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:44,160 This one wasn't to Luke, it was to someone called Margaret 225 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,520 Evers. Around an hour later, Dean 226 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,760 called her again. And sometime after 3:00 that 227 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:53,160 morning, Dean reached for his phone once more. 228 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,920 For more than three months, Dean Pollard wasn't officially a 229 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,760 missing person. There was no immediate alarm 230 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,240 when his phone stopped being used, no report was made in the 231 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,680 days that followed, and no search began while the trail was 232 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:09,880 still fresh. That needs some context. 233 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,520 Dean had a warrant out for his arrest. 234 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:14,760 He had openly talked about leaving Perth. 235 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,920 His life had become transient and periods without contact were 236 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,960 not necessarily enough to suggest something terrible had 237 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,800 happened. There was also a much more basic 238 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,040 problem. For a long time, Brian Pollard 239 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,400 believed, or at least maintained, that he knew exactly 240 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,880 when he had last seen his son. The date he gave police was the 241 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:38,920 7th of June 2010. According to Brian's original 242 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:42,400 account, Dean was still staying at the Midland Masonry business 243 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:46,000 at the beginning of June. Brian said that on the 7th, Dean 244 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,720 was preparing to leave. This wasn't the severely drug 245 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:53,200 affected man Margaret Ebert had described weeks earlier. 246 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:57,320 Brian remembered Dean as lucid and not apparently affected by 247 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,960 drugs. He asked his son where he was 248 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:01,760 going and Dean wouldn't tell him. 249 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:04,400 Brian believed he understood why. 250 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,720 He'd called police on Dean several times before, including 251 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,440 the call that had led to his arrest at the masonry business 252 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,200 in April. If Dean was planning to avoid 253 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,520 the warrant now hanging over him, telling his father where he 254 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,440 intended to go carried an obvious risk, Brian said. 255 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:25,400 Dean left the business carrying a sports bag, and Brian believed 256 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,360 there may have been a very large amount of cash inside of it. 257 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,400 From the Midland premises, Dean walked in the direction of the 258 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,920 Great Eastern Highway. Brian said he never saw him 259 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,720 again. If that account was correct, the 260 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,800 explanation for what followed wasn't difficult to imagine. 261 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:44,360 Dean had been talking about leaving. 262 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:47,320 He'd missed course. These were out looking for him. 263 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:51,040 He supposedly had enough cash to travel without touching a bank 264 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,520 account, and he had deliberately refused to tell his father where 265 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:56,880 he was going. For someone trying not to be 266 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,640 found, cash was useful. A mobile phone, however, wasn't. 267 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:03,200 For months. That was effectively the shape 268 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:05,720 of Dean's disappearance. He had left. 269 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,000 The question was where he had gone. 270 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:12,880 On the 13th of September 2010, Brian finally reported his son 271 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,840 as missing. By then, Natalie and Sarah had 272 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:18,400 heard nothing from Dean since the previous Christmas. 273 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:21,400 There had been no birthday or Christmas present to explain 274 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,400 away yet no annual milestone that necessarily forced the 275 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,480 question. But as the months passed without 276 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,520 contact, Dean's absence became harder to reconcile with the 277 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,960 life he had left behind. Police began looking for signs 278 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:38,320 that he'd simply started again somewhere else. 279 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,920 His bank accounts were checked. So were telephone records. 280 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,600 Passport movements and transport records were also examined. 281 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,480 The usual traces created when a person continues living their 282 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,680 life began to matter because there weren't any. 283 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,240 Dean hadn't resurfaced Interstate. 284 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:57,400 There was no evidence he'd returned to England. 285 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:01,680 He hadn't re established contact with his daughter at all and the 286 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,760 more police examined the period around his disappearance, the 287 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,200 more difficult the 7th of June became. 288 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:10,600 Dean's mobile records were particularly important. 289 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:15,120 They showed activity through the 26th of May and into the hours 290 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,720 of the 27th. Then nothing. 291 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,720 No gradual reduction in use, no later call from somewhere 292 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,560 outside of Perth, no indication that Dean had taken the phone 293 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,600 with him and simply just started travelling after the early hours 294 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,480 of the 27th of May. It was never used again. 295 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,720 That alone didn't prove Dean was dead. 296 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,360 A man avoiding police could throw away a phone. 297 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,120 A man with cash could travel without leaving the same 298 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,120 financial trail as somebody relying on cards or bank 299 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,120 transfers. Dean had even talked about doing 300 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,080 exactly that, leaving. But another piece of information 301 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,360 sat awkwardly beside Brian's claim that Dean remained at the 302 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,480 Midland business until the 7th of June. 303 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,080 On the 8th of June, the day after Brian would later say he 304 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,560 watched Dean walk away, a nurse from Swan Mental Health 305 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,359 telephoned him. The nurse was trying to locate 306 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:08,720 Dean. Brian told her he hadn't seen 307 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:11,119 his son for approximately 3 weeks. 308 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,400 That conversation took place at the time, before Dean had been 309 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,920 reported missing and long before anyone knew there would be 310 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:21,520 eventually, an inquest into his presumed death. 311 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,520 Years later, Brian was asked to explain it. 312 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,000 He said Dean had asked him to tell the mental health service 313 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,000 that he hadn't seen him. Dean didn't want to attend an 314 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,560 appointment and Brian said he'd gone along with the story. 315 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,320 It was possible. It also meant that one of the 316 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,400 few contemporary records from the period couldn't be taken at 317 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,440 face value. Then there was Dean's laptop. 318 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:47,800 Brian had apparently bought a laptop for his son. 319 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,840 Records from Harvey Norman showed that the computer was 320 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,720 returned to the store on the 2nd of June 2010. 321 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,560 When detectives later questioned Brian about us, he agreed that 322 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,440 Dean had already gone by the time the laptop was returned. 323 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:04,160 That placed Brian's own account in conflict with the dates he 324 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,840 had repeatedly given police. Because Dean could not have left 325 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,040 by the 2nd of June and also remained at the business until 326 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:15,000 the 7th, the discrepancy wasn't a matter of a few hours. 327 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:19,520 It shifted Dean's disappearance back by days, and those days 328 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,120 were critical. In the first formal statement 329 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:25,840 made in December 2010, Brian said he'd last seen Dean on the 330 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,760 7th of June. In another statement in July of 331 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:34,000 2011, he remained certain of us. But by December 2012, Brian was 332 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,160 sitting across from homicide detectives and his account had 333 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,480 changed. He told them that he could no 334 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,480 longer say Dean had been alive on the 27th of May. 335 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,240 Then he admitted something more significant. 336 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,680 He had moved the date. Brian told investigators that he 337 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,960 had, in his words, jumped the date forward. 338 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,120 His explanation was that he was trying to help Dean. 339 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,280 If police believe Dean had remained in Midland until the 340 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,520 7th of June, then Dean would have been given extra time to 341 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:07,000 get away before anyone started looking in the right place. 342 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,160 It wasn't an admission that Brian knew his son was dead. 343 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,280 It was an admission that one of the central facts police had 344 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,240 initially been given about Dean's disappearance had been 345 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,320 deliberately altered, and once the seven of June could no 346 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,600 longer be relied upon, investigators had to go back. 347 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:28,600 The telephone records became more important. 348 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:32,320 So did the laptop, so did the conversation with the mental 349 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,720 health nurse, and so did the people who had actually been in 350 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,000 contact with Dean during the last days for which there was 351 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,320 objective evidence that he was still alive. 352 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,320 Police eventually came to believe that the 27th of May or 353 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,920 shortly afterwards, was a much more likely point at which Dean 354 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,240 disappeared. But by the time Brian 355 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,360 acknowledged moving the date, Dean had been missing for more 356 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:57,880 than two years. There was another part of 357 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,960 Brian's original story that detectives were also beginning 358 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:05,240 to question the sports bag Dean was supposedly carrying when he 359 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,320 walked away. And more importantly, the money, 360 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,800 Brian said, was inside of us because the idea that Dean 361 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,720 disappeared carrying 10s of thousands of dollars had become 362 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,440 central to the case. The police themselves would 363 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,880 eventually speak publicly about that money as a possible motive 364 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:22,400 for what might have happened to him. 365 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:25,760 But when investigators began trying to establish where it had 366 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:29,800 actually come from, how much remained and who had possession 367 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,880 of it, the story became considerably less certain. 368 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,320 By then, this was no longer being treated as a case of a 369 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,840 wanted man who had successfully disappeared. 370 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,040 WA Police suspected Dean Pollard had been killed. 371 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:47,280 By April 2011, Western Australian police were no longer 372 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,040 treating Dean Pollard as an ordinary missing person. 373 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:53,040 His disappearance had been classified as a suspected 374 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:56,120 homicide. There was still no body. 375 00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:00,200 There was no known crime scene. There was no known cause of 376 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,640 death. But almost a year had passed 377 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,520 without any credible sign that Dean was alive, and Major Crime 378 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:09,720 began trying to reconstruct a period that had already become 379 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:11,960 extraordinarily difficult to untangle. 380 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:14,960 Over the years that followed, detectives would carry out 381 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:20,560 almost 235 investigative actions and speak to more than 50 382 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,120 witnesses. And one of the questions they 383 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:25,360 kept returning to was about the money. 384 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,600 When Dean sold his Maid of Al home, he received approximately 385 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:33,480 176,000 Australian dollars from the sale. 386 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:38,920 By around April 2010, roughly 100,000 Australian dollars of 387 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,480 that had already been spent. What happened to the remainder 388 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,520 was far less straightforward. Brian had become a signatory to 389 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,400 Dean's bank account because of the speed at which his son was 390 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,440 spending the money. Brian initially told police that 391 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,720 the account had eventually been closed because Dean was making 392 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,920 large withdrawals and that money had been transferred into 393 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:02,320 Brian's business account. According to that version of 394 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,120 events, Brian then began giving Dean the money in cash. 395 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,240 Brian said that from the 25th of May onwards, he handed Dean 396 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,800 approximately 53,000 Australian dollars. 397 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,560 It was this account that helped create one of the most enduring 398 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,640 details of Dean's disappearance. The belief that when he 399 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,360 vanished, he was carrying somewhere in the vicinity of 400 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:26,760 50,000 Australian dollars in cash. 401 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,760 Police took that possibility seriously. 402 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:35,880 In January 2013, during a public appeal for information, major 403 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,000 crime detectives said they were reasonably confident Dean had 404 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,960 access to 10s of thousands of dollars from the sale of his 405 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,120 home. They were also considering 406 00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:46,800 whether that money could provide a motive for what had happened 407 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,200 to him. But detectives couldn't 408 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,000 establish that the money story had unfolded in the way they 409 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,200 were originally being told. When Brian was interviewed by 410 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,120 homicide investigators in December of 2012, he admitted 411 00:22:59,120 --> 00:23:01,720 that the money transferred into his business account hadn't 412 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,560 simply remained there, waiting to be returned to Dean. 413 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,080 He said he had gambled it away. At the same time, Brian 414 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,200 maintained that he had given Dean substantial amounts of cash 415 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,760 before he disappeared, including $20,000 from a safe on the 24th 416 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,040 of May, the same day Dean failed to appear in court. 417 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,880 The result was an extraordinary uncertainty at the centre of the 418 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,480 investigation. Dean had undoubtedly received 419 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,960 substantial proceeds from the sale of his house. 420 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,720 He had undoubtedly spent enormous amounts of that money. 421 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:38,000 Brian had become involved in managing what remains money had 422 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,680 moved between accounts. Brian acknowledged gambling away 423 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:45,120 the money that had been placed in his business account, and he 424 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:48,240 continued to insist that he had handed substantial amounts of 425 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,840 cash back to Dean. But exactly how much Dean 426 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:55,280 possessed when he disappeared could no longer be established 427 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:59,360 with any confidence. So the often repeated version of 428 00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:02,320 this case that Dean Pollard simply disappeared carrying 429 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,520 $50,000 in cash is more certain than the evidence allows. 430 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:11,360 What we can say is that police believed he may have had 10s of 431 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,000 thousands of dollars and considered the possibility that 432 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,880 somebody else knew about it. Perhaps equally important was 433 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,520 the perception surrounding Dean earlier in May, when Luke 434 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,760 Halliday and Eamon Detest accounted him near the Burswood 435 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,160 Casino. They picked him up hoping Dean 436 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,560 would give them money to return to the casino. 437 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,640 That doesn't establish that either man knew anything about 438 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,080 Dean's finances beyond believing he might have some extra cash. 439 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,840 But it shows that at least some people around Dean regarded him 440 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:41,880 as somebody who might have money available. 441 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,640 Brian also spoke publicly about people appearing around the 442 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,840 Midland business whom he didn't know. 443 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,240 He said Dean had been associating with people he 444 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,280 regarded as bad characters and recalled one or two unfamiliar 445 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,120 people turning up at the yard who apparently knew his son. 446 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,200 There is no public evidence that those people had anything to do 447 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,240 with Dean's disappearance. We don't even know from the 448 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:08,640 published record who they were. But by January 2013, police were 449 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:10,720 saying something that went further than us. 450 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,120 They believed there were people in Perth's eastern suburbs who 451 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:16,120 knew exactly what had happened to Dean. 452 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,400 What information sat behind that belief has never been made clear 453 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,000 publicly. By then, detectives had also 454 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,440 identified 3 people as suspects in the suspected homicides Brian 455 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,600 Pollard, Luke Halliday and Ayman detests. 456 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:34,680 Now that word suspect needs to be treated carefully here 457 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,640 because their identification was based on circumstantial 458 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,440 considerations and possible motives. 459 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,960 Police use overt and covert investigative methods in 460 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,960 relation to Brian and Luke. While Eamon was interviewed at 461 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:52,680 length, no inculpatory evidence was found against any of them. 462 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,560 The coroner would later record that the investigation 463 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,080 effectively removed the suspicion that they had been 464 00:25:58,080 --> 00:25:59,920 involved in Dean's disappearance. 465 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,760 But understanding why they attracted police attention still 466 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,440 tells us something about the investigation with Brian. 467 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,560 Much of it is visible. He'd repeatedly placed Dean 468 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,200 alive on the 7th of June before eventually admitting that he had 469 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,000 deliberately moved the date forward. 470 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:20,080 His account of Dean's money had changed numerous times. 471 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:23,680 He had told a mental health nurse on the 8th of June that he 472 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:25,960 hadn't seen Dean for around 3 weeks. 473 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,960 The laptop Brian had bought for Dean was returned on the 2nd of 474 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,600 June and Brian later agreed. Dean had already been gone by 475 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:37,080 then, and Brian had also been directly involved in Dean's 476 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,880 finances. Those contradictions gave 477 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,960 homicide detectives obvious questions to ask him, but they 478 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,120 existed alongside another side of Brian's behaviour. 479 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,280 Brian had reported Dean's drug possession to police himself. 480 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,600 He had initially refused to provide bail surety because he 481 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,960 thought Dean might be safer in custody. 482 00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:01,280 He had tried to limit Dean's access to the money he was 483 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:05,000 rapidly spending, and when Brian admitted moving the date 484 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,000 forward, his explanation was that he believed Dean was 485 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,600 avoiding police and wanting to give him time to get away. 486 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,840 During the 2012 homicide interview, detectives 487 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,120 nevertheless considered that Brian spoke frankly and honestly 488 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:21,800 with them. Police investigated him, and 489 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,000 they found nothing implicating him in Dean's disappearance. 490 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,400 But Brian's attempt to protect his son had created a 491 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,560 consequence he could not undo. If Dean had already died by the 492 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,400 time Brian was giving him that supposed head start, the most 493 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,200 important timeline in the case had been distorted. 494 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,000 Before anybody even knew there was a case to investigate. 495 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,160 Luke and Eamon raised different questions. 496 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,080 Luke was part of Dean's drug using circle and remained in 497 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,080 telephone contact with him during his final known day. 498 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,560 Eamon had been involved in the confrontation with Dean on the 499 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,320 9th of May. Both would be investigated. 500 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,600 Neither would be linked by evidence to Dean's death. 501 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,240 We will come back to them in a moment Because once the three 502 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,960 named suspects had been investigated and nothing 503 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,680 inculpetary was found, major crime was left with a much 504 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:15,040 larger problem. Dean's life during those final 505 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,320 weeks extended beyond three names. 506 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,560 He was buying methamphetamine. He had been charged with 507 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,920 possessing 8 grams of it with intent to sell or supply. 508 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,000 People were coming and going from the Midland premises. 509 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,280 There was uncertainty about how much cash he possessed, but 510 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:33,760 reason to believe other people thought he had money. 511 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,600 And police themselves believed there were people in Perth's 512 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,680 eastern suburbs who knew more about his disappearance. 513 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,240 If Dean had been killed, the person responsible did not have 514 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,720 to be one of those three people. By the time detectives were 515 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,200 trying to establish who else had crossed Dean's path, the most 516 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,560 important hours were already almost a year olds. 517 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,920 The problem facing major crime was stark. 518 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,160 Police believe Dean Pollard was dead. 519 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,840 They suspected he'd been killed. But suspicion wasn't evidence 520 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:06,360 alone. There was nobody to examine, no 521 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,840 known place where Dean had died, and no physical evidence 522 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,520 establishing that a crime had occurred at all. 523 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,840 There wasn't even a reliable eyewitness account to his final 524 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,480 departure. The investigation continued 525 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,480 intermittently until the 7th of July 2014. 526 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,720 By then, detectives had completed approximately 235 527 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,680 investigative actions and spoken to more than 50 witnesses. 528 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,520 They had examined Dean's finances, telephone records, and 529 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,080 movements. They had investigated the people 530 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,120 who attracted suspicion. They had searched for the traces 531 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,000 Dean should have left behind if he'd simply begun another life 532 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,800 somewhere else. Nothing established that he had. 533 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,000 Major crime eventually reached a point where the available 534 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,680 investigative avenues were exhausted, but legally Dean 535 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,200 remained a missing person. On the 2nd of October 2014, 536 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,680 Natalie Weaver wrote to the state coroner requesting an 537 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:01,880 investigation into his disappearance. 538 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,360 For Sarah, this was no longer simply a question of where her 539 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,240 father had gone. Years had passed without a 540 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,120 telephone call, a present or any of the contact Dean had 541 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:13,760 maintained with her despite the distance between them. 542 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:18,480 On the 29th of December 2014, the State Coroner directed that 543 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,960 Dean's suspected death be investigated. 544 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,040 A coronial investigation could not create the evidence police 545 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:27,920 hadn't found, it couldn't guarantee that Dean's remains 546 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:31,280 would be located either, and it couldn't identify a killer 547 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,280 merely because police had once suspected homicide. 548 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,800 What it would do was test the evidence against a different 549 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,720 question. Whilst Anthony Dean Pollard dead 550 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,920 and there were competing possibilities, Dean had reasons 551 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:48,520 to disappear voluntarily. He deliberately missed court and 552 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,720 had a warrant for his arrest. He talked about travelling, 553 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:56,120 including overseas to England and he may have had enough cash 554 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,720 to get himself started. For a short period of time that 555 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,960 explanation was plausible. Over the years, however, it 556 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,640 became much harder to sustain and there was no non contact 557 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,760 with Natalie or Sarah, no identified financial activity, 558 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,400 no passport movements, no credible Interstate sightings at 559 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,960 all, no return to police or medical services and his 560 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:21,080 telephone was never used again. And the psychiatric evidence 561 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,800 made the idea that Dean had quietly stopped using 562 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:27,600 amphetamines remain hidden. Supported himself indefinitely. 563 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,600 Particularly difficult to accept. 564 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,960 Psychiatrist doctor Gabor Ungari considered that extremely 565 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,400 unlikely. Other explanations remained 566 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,200 possible. Dean's severe methamphetamine 567 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,800 dependence and instability meant an accidental or drug resulted 568 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:44,680 death could not be excluded either. 569 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,160 Suicide had to be considered as well, of course, although the 570 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,160 evidence did not strongly support that. 571 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:54,240 Dean had no known history of suicide attempts, He had denied 572 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:58,320 being suicidal during his final hospital contact, and the doctor 573 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,320 described suicide as not really likely. 574 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:06,000 Homicide remained possible too. That was the theory police had 575 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,720 spent years investigating. The possibility was not enough 576 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,240 for a coronial finding. There was no confession, no 577 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,560 witness accounts establishing the Dean had been killed, and no 578 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,520 forensic evidence of any attack. And the investigation into the 579 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,760 three men had produced no inculpatory evidence against any 580 00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,840 of them. The inquest was held on the 19th 581 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,240 of June 2018. Eight years had passed since 582 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:33,080 anyone could reliably establish the Dean was alive. 583 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,080 Coroner Barry Paul King found beyond reasonable doubt that 584 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:41,600 Dean Anthony Pollard was dead. The precise date of death could 585 00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:45,480 not be determined, but the evidence supported the 27th of 586 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:50,640 May 2010 or shortly afterwards as considerably more likely than 587 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,520 the 7th of June date that Brian had originally given. 588 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,520 That resolved one of the largest questions hanging over the case. 589 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,640 Dean had not successfully disappeared and built another 590 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,800 life. He had died, but the evidence 591 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,640 stopped there. The cause of Dean's death could 592 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,760 not be established, nor could the manner in which he died. 593 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,880 The coroner could not find that Dean had been murdered. 594 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,280 He could not find that Dean had taken his own life or that he 595 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,560 died accidentally. There was no other mechanism of 596 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,520 death supported strongly enough to become the finding, so the 597 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,800 finding remained open. After eight years of police and 598 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,320 coronial investigation, the state could say, beyond 599 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:31,520 reasonable death that Dean Pollard had died. 600 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:35,680 They could not say where or how he died, or what happened after 601 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:39,000 his telephone stop being used in the early hours of the 27th of 602 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,040 May. That is where the official 603 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:44,040 finding leaves him. But the people who appear around 604 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,360 those final weeks leave questions of their own. 605 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:50,240 The official finding leaves Dean's death open, but there are 606 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,120 still a few details I can't quite leave alone. 607 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:57,360 The 1st is Luke Halliday. Dean and Luke had several short 608 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,200 telephone contacts during the 26th of May. 609 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,520 Then at approximately 3:15 the following morning, Dean tried 610 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,800 him again. Luke didn't answer. 611 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,480 We don't know why Dean called him, and there's no evidence 612 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:14,520 Luke saw Dean afterwards. Police looked closely at Luke, 613 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,760 including through covert investigative methods, and found 614 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,040 nothing implicating him in Dean's disappearance. 615 00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:23,199 During my own research, I found a later report that caught my 616 00:34:23,199 --> 00:34:27,159 attention. In 2013, WA Today reported that 617 00:34:27,159 --> 00:34:30,639 a Luke Halliday from Greenmount had been charged with another 618 00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:33,360 man over a series of ATM robberies. 619 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,239 Now, I can't establish that this is Dean's Luke Halliday. 620 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,639 The name and location make the possibility interesting. 621 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:44,440 They don't prove identity. And even if it was the same man, 622 00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:47,440 later criminality would tell us nothing about what happened to 623 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:50,080 Dean in 2010. So I don't think that rabbit 624 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,560 hole takes us anywhere useful. What does remain interesting is 625 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,159 that Dean's final known telephone activity was an 626 00:34:56,159 --> 00:34:59,280 attempt to reach Luke. Now we don't know whether it was 627 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,880 important at all. It only became important because 628 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:03,920 Dean never made another call after that. 629 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,880 Then there's Eamon detests. His presence among the three 630 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,920 identified suspects is to me the stranger one. 631 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,240 According to the published evidence, Dean had met Eamon 632 00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:18,200 once on the 9th of May. That encounter ended with Eamon 633 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,760 hitting Dean after he said Dean attempted to attack him. 634 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:24,800 Dean unquestionably survived that. 635 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:29,400 Yet later Eamon became one of only three people identified as 636 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,160 suspects in Dean's suspected homicide. 637 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,560 Police interviewed him at length and ultimately found nothing 638 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,040 implicating him whatsoever. What the published finding 639 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,080 doesn't really explain is why he attracted that level of 640 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:46,120 suspicion in the 1st place. I also found a man with Eamon's 641 00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,440 distinctive name later that competed in amateur mixed 642 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,800 martial arts in Perth. Given the earlier confrontation, 643 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:55,800 it's an interesting detail, but again, not evidence of anything. 644 00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:00,320 I haven't established that Eamon was training at MMA in 2010 and 645 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:03,800 didn't survive their encounter. Anyway, the far more interesting 646 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,240 question is why Eamon was one of the three. 647 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:10,000 Perhaps the full police investigation answers that, but 648 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,080 the public record doesn't, and I think that is as far as we can 649 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,560 responsibly take either Luke or Eamon. 650 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:18,320 Police investigated them. They found nothing linking 651 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,040 either man to Dean's death. So what are we left with? 652 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,000 I think there are several possibilities, but they don't 653 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,760 require elaborate theories. Dean may genuinely have left 654 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:30,680 Midland intending to evade police and died afterwards 655 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:34,240 through accident, overdose or another medical event. 656 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,040 Suicide was considered, although the evidence for it was pretty 657 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,640 weak. Homicide remained possible but 658 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,920 was never established. And then there is a possibility 659 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,280 somewhere between accident and deliberate murder. 660 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,520 Dean could have also been with someone when something went 661 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:51,480 wrong. Drugs were part of the world he 662 00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:54,200 was moving through, and police had considered whether the 663 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:57,680 perception that he was carrying a substantial amount of cash 664 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,080 could have provided A motive. But another person's involvement 665 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:04,200 wouldn't necessarily mean Dean's death was planned. 666 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,560 An overdose, an accident, a medical emergency or a 667 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:11,320 confrontation could have left someone facing a decision about 668 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,720 what to do next. In circumstances involving drugs 669 00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:17,840 or other criminal activity, that person may not have called for 670 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:20,400 help. A death that wasn't intended 671 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:23,840 could still have been concealed. There is no evidence 672 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:28,040 establishing that scenario. It is just a theory, but it is 673 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,040 one way of looking at the police's belief that people in 674 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,920 Perth's eastern suburbs knew what had happened to Dean, 675 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:37,240 without assuming that one of those people necessarily set out 676 00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:39,640 to kill him. There is another possibility, 677 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,680 too. Police may have been wrong. 678 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:45,560 Dean could have died alone. The frustrating thing is that 679 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,960 almost every theory eventually runs into the same obstacle. 680 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,720 Dean has never been found, and the delay before anyone 681 00:37:52,720 --> 00:37:55,400 understood that he was missing meant the opportunity to 682 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:58,920 reconstruct those final hours were already slipping away. 683 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:02,680 Perhaps someone saw Dean after 3:15 in the morning. 684 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,160 Someone may have given him a lift, or perhaps somebody knows 685 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:09,520 exactly where he went. Perhaps there was even an 686 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,960 encounter that meant nothing to someone in May of 2010, which 687 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,880 became important only months later when they could no longer 688 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:19,440 remember enough to help. We can't reconstruct that 689 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,520 missing period now by making the few names we do have carry more 690 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:27,160 weight than the evidence allows. If the answer involves another 691 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,520 person, their name may never have appeared publicly at all. 692 00:38:31,240 --> 00:38:34,680 And that brings us back to Dean. His remains have never been 693 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:36,520 recovered. Finding him could answer 694 00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:39,440 questions that 16 years of investigation haven't. 695 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,720 It could point towards homicide, accident or something 696 00:38:42,720 --> 00:38:44,640 investigators haven't yet considered. 697 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,440 And for Dean's family, it would finally mean knowing where he 698 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,040 is. Sarah, his daughter, was 11 when 699 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,600 her father disappeared. Despite everything happening in 700 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:57,480 Dean's life, he had maintained contact with his daughter. 701 00:38:58,240 --> 00:39:00,280 Then that contact suddenly ended. 702 00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:02,520 She grew up. While the question of what 703 00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:06,800 happened to her father remained unanswered, the 2018 inquest 704 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:09,640 gave her one certainty. Dean was dead. 705 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:13,400 It couldn't tell her how he died, where he died or whether 706 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,880 anyone else was responsible. Those questions remain. 707 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:20,400 If you know what happened to Dean Pollard, or you know 708 00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,520 something about his final days that you've never told police, 709 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,840 you can provide that information anonymously now to Crime 710 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,600 Stoppers. 16 years is a long time to carry it. 711 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:34,520 The person you were in 2010 may be very different from the 712 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,720 person you are today. Perhaps you have children now. 713 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:41,200 Perhaps you have grandchildren, Perhaps the years have changed 714 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:43,800 the way you think about what happened, or the family who have 715 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:45,960 spent all this time without Dean. 716 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:50,280 You know now how precious a life is and what it would mean to the 717 00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:53,080 people who love Dean to finally bring him home. 718 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,280 Whatever stopped you from speaking then doesn't have to 719 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,640 stop you now. Dean Anthony Pollard has been 720 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:03,960 legally found to be dead, but he has never been found, and those 721 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:09,400 two things are very different. Until next time, stay kind, stay 722 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:12,920 curious, and never forget those who vanish from the West.