Qld: Tests find DNA on extortion stamp

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-1999
Qld: Tests find DNA on extortion stamp

BRISBANE, Dec 14 AAP - Tests had located the DNA of the elderly mother of a convicted
murderer on a stamp used in the Arnott's biscuits extortion, the Brisbane Magistrates
Court was told today.

Joy Ellen Thomas, 69, of Skyline Drive, Billinudgel, near Byron Bay, in northern New
South Wales, was facing four charges of extortion in February 1997.

It was alleged Thomas threatened to poison Arnott's biscuits unless four NSW police
officers took lie detector tests over evidence they gave against her son, convicted murderer,
Ronald Thomas.

He was convicted of the shooting murders of Peter Wade and Maureen Ambrose, at Wade's
Gold Coast unit, in 1991.

A total of six packages containing poisoned Monte Carlo biscuits and demand letters
were sent to individuals and corporations in NSW and Queensland on February 3, 1997.

Crown prosecutor Paul Rutledge, delivering a brief overview of the case at the committal
hearing, said the biscuits contained the poison Fenthion, which was found in Bayer pesticide
products and was present in levels sufficient to kill a small child.

"As we'd all remember, Arnott's removed stocks of biscuits from its stores and warehouses
throughout Australia and sustained substantial losses in the order of millions of dollars
as a result," Mr Rutledge said.

The letters of demand read: "Failure to comply with our demands will mean a rush of
poisoned Arnott's biscuits hitting the shelves.

"It will be a campaign of attacks until this is resolved."

"I know Ron (Thomas) will not give me up to police," the letter said, referring to
six years' jail he received for failing to give the name of his accomplice during his
evidence at trial.

Mr Rutledge said that at first no DNA could be detected on the stamp, but in 1998 new
technology became capable of matching the stamp DNA profile with that of Thomas.

"It is the same as the profile of the defendant.

"The statistical probability of such a match is one in 2,900 billion," Mr Rutledge
told Magistrate Brian Williams.

He said pet hairs - from dogs, cats, and one from a goat - were found on tape around
the packages and in the biscuits themselves.

"Some of the hairs found are consistent with the types of hair of some of the defendant's
animals," Mr Rutledge said.

Raids were conducted on Thomas's home and scientific officers vacuumed up pet hairs
for comparison with those found in and on the packages.

It was alleged a search of Thomas's property, Whispering Pines, located chemicals consistent
with the poison found in the biscuits.

It has been estimated that Arnott's lost $22 million in sales when it withdrew packets
of biscuits from sale.

The hearing was to continue tomorrow and was expected to last three weeks.

AAP smk/jfs/apm/de

KEYWORD: ARNOTTS SECOND NIGHTLEAD

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