# It Didn’t Break… It Bent

An episode of [Badge of Betrayal](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1852919243), 7 Apr 2026, 20 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/fbab9570-a7a3-4fd4-a673-b3940044b1b8/0070cd69-6197-42d3-b0c5-b42500599e9b/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=2f1fa4b5-119b-41b5-8749-b3940044b5a4

In 2019, a major review into Tasmania’s prosecution system found it was working “satisfactorily.” A few issues. Some pressure. Nothing the system couldn’t handle. But what happens when that pressure builds quietly… over time? Through an RTI-obtained document, a new internal review from 2024 reveals a system under strain growing case loads, increasing complexity, delays in disclosure, and resources struggling to keep up. In this episode, we step back from individual cases and examine the system itself the warning signs, the missed opportunities, and the environment these cases existed within. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:10] Speaker 1: This episode is all about systems and what some believe
[0:14] Speaker 1: are systemic issues within the Tasmanian police force. Before we
[0:18] Speaker 1: go there, I know there are a lot of people
[0:21] Speaker 1: listening to this podcast that know more than they can
[0:24] Speaker 1: currently say. In the past few weeks, we've been contacted
[0:28] Speaker 1: by numerous people who, at the start, are happy to
[0:31] Speaker 1: come on the show and either anonymously or under a pseudonym,
[0:35] Speaker 1: to talk about their own experience. In the last week,
[0:38] Speaker 1: I've been contacted by two men, one who claims he
[0:41] Speaker 1: too was abused by Reynolds, this time as part of
[0:45] Speaker 1: a program that Reynolds was involved in. And the other
[0:50] Speaker 1: man who came forward has information about Reynolds and a
[0:54] Speaker 1: disturbing allegation that we've never heard before. He's told me
[1:00] Speaker 1: this allegation off the record. And we've been able to
[1:03] Speaker 1: verify some of the detail by going through school yearbooks.
[1:08] Speaker 1: Once we can speak to him again, we'll try and
[1:10] Speaker 1: bring this story to you. Right now, both of these
[1:13] Speaker 1: men are keen to come on the show, but they've
[1:16] Speaker 1: both gone quiet. And that's, I guess, the trauma with
[1:19] Speaker 1: the information these guys hold. It comes with the scars
[1:26] Speaker 1: of the last 20-odd years. It comes with as a
[1:29] Speaker 1: man once told me, a sense of shame and a
[1:31] Speaker 1: sense of, why didn't I do something or say something sooner?
[1:36] Speaker 1: Like we all know, this is not their fault. Reynolds
[1:39] Speaker 1: was a monster who preyed on young people, vulnerable people,
[1:43] Speaker 1: people who trusted him, admired him, and in some cases
[1:47] Speaker 1: thought he was a father figure. So we'll go slowly
[1:50] Speaker 1: with these two men that hopefully come back to the
[1:53] Speaker 1: show soon. But in the meantime, I wanted to step
[1:56] Speaker 1: back to our last episode where we spoke with Hex.
[2:00] Speaker 2: Given the nature of his position, why wouldn't I trust him?
[2:04] Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean? Like, he's clearly got
[2:06] Speaker 2: a family. I was aware of that. You know, he's
[2:08] Speaker 2: clearly got, you know, a son and daughter, a wife.
[2:11] Speaker 2: Why wouldn't I consent to whatever Paul wants me to
[2:15] Speaker 2: do or act how I need, you know, how he
[2:18] Speaker 2: wants me to act?
[2:19] Speaker 1: How did that relationship over time develop with him?
[2:23] Speaker 2: Um, yeah, look, I'd say close. You know, I... I
[2:27] Speaker 2: guess he preyed on me, you know, in particular, just
[2:31] Speaker 2: due to probably at times, you know, my father working
[2:35] Speaker 2: incredibly hard, just being absent. And, you know, I just
[2:39] Speaker 2: feel at times he wasn't there for me. And Paul was.
[2:42] Speaker 2: He made himself very available. And on a number of
[2:45] Speaker 2: occasions would have me around at his house and massage
[2:48] Speaker 2: my shoulders and, He was a student at St Patrick's
[2:51] Speaker 2: School where Reynolds was a football coach. Up until 2026,
[2:53] Speaker 2: he hadn't told his story to anyone. Then he was
[2:55] Speaker 2: brave enough to share it with us. When we spoke,
[2:57] Speaker 2: he was in a rehab facility recovering from cocaine and
[2:59] Speaker 2: alcohol addiction. He was fragile and strong.
[3:20] Speaker 1: In the same breath and he just wanted to tell
[3:23] Speaker 1: his truth I've said it before but I want to
[3:25] Speaker 1: thank him for coming on and I know him and
[3:28] Speaker 1: some of his mates are still listening to the show
[3:31] Speaker 1: since speaking to him we've been in touch with X
[3:33] Speaker 1: to make sure he's doing okay as reliving this type
[3:37] Speaker 1: of trauma in a podcast for everyone to hear could
[3:40] Speaker 1: be and is triggering we shared multiple messages since his
[3:45] Speaker 1: episode went to air and I wanted to bring you
[3:47] Speaker 1: one of the messages that he was happy for me
[3:49] Speaker 1: to share I've used a recreation of his voice to
[3:54] Speaker 1: read this letter.
[3:55] Speaker 3: Thank you for listening. Thank you to those who took
[3:58] Speaker 3: the quality time, my most valuable commodity. I've always been
[4:03] Speaker 3: an influencer and a leader, never a sheep. But I
[4:08] Speaker 3: never truly understood how much my presence and influence reached
[4:12] Speaker 3: a certain minority. That realisation has been both bitter and sweet.
[4:19] Speaker 3: There were always only two paths– Wallow in a heap
[4:23] Speaker 3: of shit or learn from mistakes. And X chose growth.
[4:29] Speaker 3: The sense of freedom, gratitude and elation X feels now? Undescribable.
[4:36] Speaker 3: Shackles off. Voice no longer muzzled. And yet, even in liberation,
[4:43] Speaker 3: there's a cost. A setback in rehabilitation. A price paid
[4:49] Speaker 3: for choosing to speak. when silence would have been safer.
[4:53] Speaker 3: Mental health is a fleshy wound you cannot see or hear.
[4:58] Speaker 3: It sneaks up on you like a librarian, quiet, unassuming,
[5:04] Speaker 3: and suddenly undeniable. And words? Words can become personal. Words
[5:11] Speaker 3: can hurt. So be kind. Pick people up when they fall.
[5:18] Speaker 3: Cherish those who matter. because you never really know what
[5:22] Speaker 3: someone is carrying.
[5:27] Speaker 1: Let's now go back to the systems and the idea
[5:30] Speaker 1: that Tasmania is and has systemic issues within the police.
[5:36] Speaker 1: There's something about systems. We trust them. We rely on them.
[5:40] Speaker 1: We assume they're working until we look closer. And when
[5:44] Speaker 1: we do, you start to see the cracks. In 2019,
[5:48] Speaker 1: the then Commissioner of Police, Darren Hine, commissioned a review
[5:52] Speaker 1: of one of those systems. It was called the Police
[5:56] Speaker 1: Prosecution System in Tasmania. Here's an excerpt from the official documents.
[6:01] Speaker 4: In response to the evolving prosecutorial environment, in 2019, the
[6:06] Speaker 4: Commissioner of Police and the ODPP agreed to a joint
[6:10] Speaker 4: review of the way the prosecution of summary offences is
[6:13] Speaker 4: conducted in Tasmania.
[6:16] Speaker 3: The review.
[6:17] Speaker 5: referred to as the Bug slash Turnley Review, considered the
[6:21] Speaker 5: respective roles of Tasmania Police and the ODPP, whether the
[6:26] Speaker 5: current model was appropriate to meet future government and community
[6:30] Speaker 5: needs and expectations for the delivery of summary prosecution services.
[6:35] Speaker 5: The review concluded that the current model, although in need
[6:39] Speaker 5: of modification, worked satisfactorily. Issues were identified, including inexperienced prosecutors
[6:47] Speaker 5: difficulty in recruiting new staff, increasing complexity, significant workloads and
[6:54] Speaker 5: inconsistencies in processes.
[6:59] Speaker 1: The fallout from that review was that the system worked fine. Sure,
[7:02] Speaker 1: there were a few issues, but for the most part,
[7:04] Speaker 1: everything was sweet. But there were some recommendations, and they
[7:09] Speaker 1: were based around the complexity of the job, the workload
[7:13] Speaker 1: and inconsistencies with process. but the government at the time
[7:17] Speaker 1: didn't provide extra funding needed to properly implement these recommendations.
[7:23] Speaker 1: So I guess you're thinking everything in the Police Prosecution
[7:26] Speaker 1: Service from 2019 onwards just hummed along nicely, because there
[7:30] Speaker 1: certainly weren't any big red flags. Except, of course, these
[7:35] Speaker 1: very large cases. There was the Sue Neill Fraser case,
[7:38] Speaker 1: raising ongoing questions about the safety of a prosecution.
[7:43] Speaker 6: Inside Risdon Prison in 2017, police secretly recorded confidential meetings
[7:49] Speaker 6: for two months.
[7:51] Speaker 1: It undermines the rule of law in a direct way,
[7:55] Speaker 1: in a practical way and in a way that harms
[7:58] Speaker 1: public confidence in the administration of justice.
[8:01] Speaker 6: Tasmania Police had a target and was granted a surveillance
[8:04] Speaker 6: warrant but meetings unrelated to the investigation were also captured.
[8:09] Speaker 7: It highlights the possibility that some people involved in that
[8:14] Speaker 7: operation within Tasmania Police may not have a proper appreciation
[8:18] Speaker 7: of the significance and importance of the confidentiality of lawyer-client
[8:24] Speaker 7: meetings and communication.
[8:26] Speaker 1: You had the Commission of Inquiry exposing broader failures in
[8:29] Speaker 1: the criminal justice responses to child abuse.
[8:32] Speaker 8: The Commissioner said that too often Tasmania's institutions didn't recognise
[8:37] Speaker 8: child sexual abuse. or placed their reputations above the safety
[8:42] Speaker 8: of children. They were concerned some areas weren't being acted
[8:47] Speaker 8: on quickly enough.
[8:48] Speaker 9: We recommend wide-scale, urgent reform to Tasmania's out-of-home care and
[8:54] Speaker 9: youth justice systems.
[8:55] Speaker 8: They also emphasised the importance of actioning the recommendations.
[9:01] Speaker 10: If the necessary changes are not made, children will continue
[9:05] Speaker 10: to be subjected to child sexual abuse in these institutions.
[9:10] Speaker 11: He had.
[9:20] Speaker 1: Reynolds feeding a fresh crisis of confidence in institutional accountability.
[9:25] Speaker 1: And then there was James Geoffrey Griffin, the nurse.
[9:29] Speaker 9: The inquiry heard police held no record of an informal
[9:32] Speaker 9: conversation with Kylie Pern in 2011, where she told police
[9:36] Speaker 9: Griffin had abused her as a child. Ms Pern didn't
[9:39] Speaker 9: pursue charges, but told the inquiry she thought a record
[9:42] Speaker 9: would be kept in case other survivors came forward.
[9:45] Speaker 3: It should be if there's due diligence by the officer
[9:48] Speaker 3: that's directly spoken to that person.
[9:49] Speaker 1: That case didn't expose a prosecution falling over in court,
[9:53] Speaker 1: but like Reynolds, it never got that far. The problem
[9:57] Speaker 1: was there was something else. Early warning signs, missed opportunities
[10:02] Speaker 1: and a system that only moved decisively when it was farfetched.
[10:05] Speaker 1: too late.
[10:06] Speaker 6: The impact of those failures are deeply felt and we
[10:09] Speaker 6: are committed to improving how we protect children within our community.
[10:14] Speaker 1: In 2024 a new report was done. It was in
[10:17] Speaker 1: part due to the Commission of Inquiry, which put massive
[10:20] Speaker 1: scrutiny on police and the justice system. The COI exposed
[10:24] Speaker 1: systemic failures and blind spots and led a broader push
[10:28] Speaker 1: for accountability, transparency and system reform. This new report was
[10:34] Speaker 1: handed down in September of 2024. Not by an outsider,
[10:38] Speaker 1: not a journalist or a whistleblower, but it came from
[10:40] Speaker 1: the inside. A review of how the system itself was operating.
[10:44] Speaker 1: It was conducted by a respected accounting and advisory firm.
[10:48] Speaker 1: And what it found is worth paying attention to.
[10:51] Speaker 6: A court system in continual crisis.
[10:54] Speaker 5: Tasmanian court system is one of the worst in Australia
[10:57] Speaker 5: when it.
[10:57] Speaker 3: Comes to delays.
[10:58] Speaker 10: Magistrate Robert Webster today slamming a disclosure of document delay
[11:03] Speaker 10: in the case against two men charged with manslaughter, labelling
[11:07] Speaker 10: it completely unacceptable. Blaming setbacks like this for Tasmania's gruelling
[11:13] Speaker 10: case backlog. He describes as the worst in the country.
[11:17] Speaker 12: It's a big challenge in Tasmania and that's why I've
[11:20] Speaker 12: acted so quickly.
[11:22] Speaker 1: Before we go any further, it's probably worth explaining what
[11:24] Speaker 1: the prosecution service actually does. Because although it sounds technical,
[11:29] Speaker 1: it's not. When police investigate something, they gather evidence, they
[11:33] Speaker 1: build a case, but they don't decide how that case
[11:35] Speaker 1: gets run in court. That's where prosecution comes in. They're
[11:39] Speaker 1: the ones who look at the evidence and decide, is
[11:41] Speaker 1: there enough here? What charges should be laid? and what
[11:44] Speaker 1: gets presented in court, and how. They also have a
[11:47] Speaker 1: responsibility to make sure everything is fair, all the information
[11:52] Speaker 1: is disclosed to both sides, nothing is hidden, and the
[11:55] Speaker 1: process is done properly. So in simple terms, they sit
[11:58] Speaker 1: right in the middle between the police and the courtroom,
[12:01] Speaker 1: and they play a big role in shaping what justice
[12:04] Speaker 1: actually looks like. In Tasmania, there are three districts in
[12:07] Speaker 1: the prosecution service, the Southern, the Northern, and the Western.
[12:11] Speaker 1: The South is by far the biggest. Before I get
[12:16] Speaker 1: into what that new report showed, I want to explain
[12:19] Speaker 1: why I'm even talking about this. Because on the surface,
[12:22] Speaker 1: it isn't just about a single case. It's not about
[12:25] Speaker 1: one person. Although Paul Reynolds did work for a time
[12:28] Speaker 1: in the Western Prosecution Service in 2017, and then in
[12:32] Speaker 1: the coroner's office in 2015, where he helped with the
[12:35] Speaker 1: Eden Westbrook case, and then again in Hobart in 2001.
[12:40] Speaker 1: But in this episode, it's not just about Reynolds. It's
[12:43] Speaker 1: about the systems. If you've been following this podcast, you'll
[12:46] Speaker 1: know everything we've been looking into keeps pointing back to
[12:48] Speaker 1: the same thing. Not just what happened, but how it
[12:52] Speaker 1: was allowed to happen. And more importantly, what kind of
[12:55] Speaker 1: system it happened inside. According to this new report, delivered
[13:00] Speaker 1: in 2024, the system was under pressure. More cases. Those
[13:04] Speaker 1: cases were far more complex, which means more demand on
[13:07] Speaker 1: staff and resources.
[13:09] Speaker 11: The Chief Justice of Tasmania's Supreme Court has blamed unacceptable
[13:14] Speaker 11: delays in police paperwork for contributing to a growing backlog
[13:18] Speaker 11: of criminal cases, holding up some matters by years. The
[13:22] Speaker 11: number of pending cases has surged from 743 to 885
[13:28] Speaker 11: in the past financial year, with Chief Justice Alan Blow
[13:32] Speaker 11: describing the unprecedented situation as the court's greatest challenge.
[13:38] Speaker 1: And that might not sound like much, but when you
[13:40] Speaker 1: have pressure, that changes things. It changes how decisions get made.
[13:44] Speaker 1: It changes what gets prioritised. And sometimes it changes what
[13:50] Speaker 1: gets missed. Paul Reynolds isn't a clean example of the
[13:56] Speaker 1: prosecution service just missing something on a file. It's a
[14:00] Speaker 1: little murkier than that. Because yes, by the time of
[14:03] Speaker 1: his death in 2018... Reynolds was working in the Western
[14:07] Speaker 1: Prosecution Service. And that matters. Not because the Weiss Review
[14:11] Speaker 1: found that he was doing anything, like pulling strings in prosecution.
[14:15] Speaker 1: It didn't find anything of the sort. But more because
[14:18] Speaker 1: the role itself carries weight. It carries status. And it
[14:22] Speaker 1: carries authority. And according to that same review, the Weiss Review,
[14:26] Speaker 1: that authority fed the fear some victim-survivors already had. That
[14:31] Speaker 1: he had influence inside the system. and that speaking up
[14:35] Speaker 1: against him would be pointless. And that position appears to
[14:41] Speaker 1: have formed part of the protection around Reynolds, or at
[14:45] Speaker 1: the very least, the perception of protection around him. And
[14:49] Speaker 1: sometimes that's enough. Sometimes people don't need proof a man
[14:53] Speaker 1: can derail the system. They just need to believe he
[14:56] Speaker 1: might be able to.
[14:57] Speaker 8: Victim survivors said Reynolds used his position as a police
[15:01] Speaker 8: officer to create a perception that he could influence the
[15:05] Speaker 8: outcome of criminal processes, including once producing a fake police
[15:10] Speaker 8: complaint to coerce a victim survivor into performing a sexual act.
[15:23] Speaker 1: But the bigger failure came later. By the time Reynolds died...
[15:27] Speaker 1: He was already under active investigation by Tasmanian police professional standards.
[15:32] Speaker 1: The search warrant had been executed. His home had been searched.
[15:36] Speaker 1: His phone and other devices seized. And the coronial findings
[15:39] Speaker 1: make it clear that investigators already had material in front
[15:43] Speaker 1: of them pointing to deeply serious alleged offending. And then
[15:47] Speaker 1: he died. And according to the Weiss Review, that investigation
[15:51] Speaker 1: into his alleged criminal conduct came to an abrupt halt.
[15:55] Speaker 1: It wasn't wrapped up. The full picture was never tested.
[15:59] Speaker 1: It just stopped and stayed dormant until a coroner's process
[16:03] Speaker 1: years later forced it back into the light. And that's
[16:11] Speaker 1: where this story really hits hard. Because whatever else you
[16:15] Speaker 1: call it, that is a justice system failure. Not that
[16:18] Speaker 1: no one knew, but that once he was gone, the
[16:22] Speaker 1: institutional drive to keep going, to investigate what happened, seems
[16:26] Speaker 1: to have gone with him. And that's where this stops
[16:29] Speaker 1: just about being about Reynolds and starts looking at a
[16:33] Speaker 1: TASPOL system story. Because the West Review didn't frame this
[16:37] Speaker 1: as one bad man operating in a vacuum. It says
[16:40] Speaker 1: the system failed Reynolds victims and the Tasmanian community. It
[16:45] Speaker 1: points to broader failures in how allegations were handled, how
[16:48] Speaker 1: people were supported, how fear around rank and authority took hold.
[16:53] Speaker 1: and how momentum was lost when the investigation should have continued.
[16:57] Speaker 12: I've worked in sexual and gender-based violence for nearly 20 years,
[17:01] Speaker 12: some of that in war zones. This is the most
[17:03] Speaker 12: prolific grooming I have seen perpetrated by one person in
[17:09] Speaker 12: my career.
[17:15] Speaker 1: There is another part of this report that really stood
[17:17] Speaker 1: out to me. It's called Disclosure. In basic terms, it's
[17:21] Speaker 1: making sure information gets to where it needs to go,
[17:24] Speaker 1: on time, every time. According to this review done in 2024,
[17:29] Speaker 1: there are issues, like delays and inconsistencies. The review says
[17:34] Speaker 1: disclosure had become a real pressure point. The rules and
[17:37] Speaker 1: workload around disclosure had grown, especially with new digital evidence.
[17:42] Speaker 1: There were not enough admin staff to keep up. The
[17:44] Speaker 1: report says that understaffing was causing court delays and affected prosecutors'
[17:49] Speaker 1: abilities to do their job properly. In the South, things
[17:53] Speaker 1: were so backed up, the review describes files piled up
[17:56] Speaker 1: in the hallway. And the staff were also saying there
[18:00] Speaker 1: wasn't enough management oversight, processes were inefficient, which was adding
[18:04] Speaker 1: even more pressure. This report doesn't accuse anyone, it doesn't
[18:08] Speaker 1: name individuals and it doesn't point fingers. What it does
[18:12] Speaker 1: do is describe a system under strain from the inside.
[18:15] Speaker 1: And when you read something like that, you can't help
[18:18] Speaker 1: but think about everything else. The cases, the decisions, the
[18:23] Speaker 1: moments where things didn't quite add up. And then you
[18:27] Speaker 1: start to wonder, were those isolated? Or were they happening
[18:31] Speaker 1: inside a system like this? Because as I said, when
[18:36] Speaker 1: a system's under pressure, it doesn't always break. Sometimes, it
[18:40] Speaker 1: just bends. Maybe the question isn't what went wrong with
[18:44] Speaker 1: cases like Reynolds, Griffin, Sunil Fraser, and even Eden Westbrook's case.
[18:51] Speaker 1: Maybe the question is, was the system ever in a
[18:53] Speaker 1: position to get things right?

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