Kingdom Hall bombing - justice getting nearer!

[RaymondG]

Thirty years might seem to be a long time to wait for justice... however, we know well that Jehovah might sometimes allow even more time than that to pass. After all, vengeance is His, is it not.

The Kingdom Hall at Casula, an outer suburb of Sydney, was the setting for a murder on July 21, 1985. Thirty years ago. A week earlier a window was found to be broken and blood drops were discovered on the carpet and on some cardboard boxes. Evidently the police took possession of these or samples of them as a part of a 'break and enter' investigation.

When the same window was found broken on the morning of the bombing, and was reported to the police as they investigated the bombing, it became clear that the two events were connected.

After this event Andrea Warwick handed over her daughter, Trudi, to her estranged husband. This ended a string of murders and attempted murders where gelignite and guns were used to kill people involved with their divorce and custody hearings.

While it would have been clear to the police, as they had names and dates at their disposal, I never knew of the connection between the Kingdom Hall bombing and the bombing of the Family Court and the homes of Judges from that court.

Back in 1979 the court gave custody of Trudi to her mother and allowed Leonard Warwick access to see his daughter. Andrea says that subsequent to this Leonard had said that he could kill her father at any time. His retort when she warned that the police would get him for it was, "That's doesn't matter because you will be next."

Andrea's brother, Stephen, went missing the following February, his body was found weighted down with bricks in a creek a week later. He had been shot.

All the while there was still interaction with the court over access and Judge David Opas eventually suspended Leonard's access to Trudi. In May of 1980 Andrea was told, "You don't have to worry about him any more because he won't be around much longer."

The following month Judge Opas was shot dead outside his home. Judge Richard Gee took over and issued a warrant for the return of Trudi in March, 1984. His home was bombed on March 6, the day the Judge was due to sit in judgement over the issue. Nobody was hurt, but the two sticks of gelignite blasted a hole right through the house.

A month later the court itself was bombed. By this time Judge Raymond Watson was the responsible adjudicator and he placed a restraining order on Leonard Warwick restricting his access to Trudi.

The judge's wife went to the front door of their home on July 4, 1984 and when she opened it she triggered activated a bomb in a zippered bag, she was hurled through a brick wall and died while Judge Watson was badly injured.

Surprisingly, even though the police knew Leonard Warwick was the perpetrator in all of this, and even though a search of his home revealed books on explosives, wind-up alarm clocks and batteries, there wasn't enough evidence to arrest him.

Andrea's sister, on the advice of Andrea's solicitor, Garry Watts, looked for some help to move Andrea and Trudi to somewhere safe. The brothers at Casula assisted and a home was found about 200 miles north of Sydney. Garry Watts also moved and leased his home to Peter Tall, who was totally unconnected with the case.

On Sunday, February 10, 1985, Peter Tall emerged from his home intent on doing some work on his car. When he opened the engine bay he found sticks of gelignite wired up to the car's battery!

While Garry Watts was the target, it was Peter Tall who by pure chance avoided being blown up by this latest bomb.

Five months later the blast at the Kingdom Hall killed brother Graham Wykes and send brother David Winder through the roof, his injuries from the flight and fall still affecting him to this day. 56 others suffered lesser injuries.

Now the latest in DNA technology has been brought to bear and Trudi's blood sample has shown police conclusively that the blood at the hall belonged to her father.

Half of his 68 years of life has been spent avoiding arrest by virtue of cunning and sometimes chance, but now Leonard Warwick is behind bars awaiting trial for his heinous crimes and closure and peace is closer for the victims' families and friends.

Along the way police seem to have never given up in their pursuit of the evidence needed to convict Leonard Warwick. They have used subterfuge, too, arresting him for stealing toilet paper to get his fingerprints on record.

The availability of new DNA technology in 2012 led to the police committing serious levels of resources to the case and the arrest of Warwick this week is the direct result.

[CHecker]

Wow, that's crazy. It seems impossible for him to not be arrested sooner. Tragic. 

[surfergirl]

Thirty years might seem to be a long time to wait for justice... however, we know well that Jehovah might sometimes allow even more time than that to pass. After all, vengeance is His, is it not.

The Kingdom Hall at Casula, an outer suburb of Sydney, was the setting for a murder on July 21, 1985. Thirty years ago. A week earlier a window was found to be broken and blood drops were discovered on the carpet and on some cardboard boxes. Evidently the police took possession of these or samples of them as a part of a 'break and enter' investigation.

When the same window was found broken on the morning of the bombing, and was reported to the police as they investigated the bombing, it became clear that the two events were connected.

After this event Andrea Warwick handed over her daughter, Trudi, to her estranged husband. This ended a string of murders and attempted murders where gelignite and guns were used to kill people involved with their divorce and custody hearings.

While it would have been clear to the police, as they had names and dates at their disposal, I never knew of the connection between the Kingdom Hall bombing and the bombing of the Family Court and the homes of Judges from that court.

Back in 1979 the court gave custody of Trudi to her mother and allowed Leonard Warwick access to see his daughter. Andrea says that subsequent to this Leonard had said that he could kill her father at any time. His retort when she warned that the police would get him for it was, "That's doesn't matter because you will be next."

Andrea's brother, Stephen, went missing the following February, his body was found weighted down with bricks in a creek a week later. He had been shot.

All the while there was still interaction with the court over access and Judge David Opas eventually suspended Leonard's access to Trudi. In May of 1980 Andrea was told, "You don't have to worry about him any more because he won't be around much longer."

The following month Judge Opas was shot dead outside his home. Judge Richard Gee took over and issued a warrant for the return of Trudi in March, 1984. His home was bombed on March 6, the day the Judge was due to sit in judgement over the issue. Nobody was hurt, but the two sticks of gelignite blasted a hole right through the house.

A month later the court itself was bombed. By this time Judge Raymond Watson was the responsible adjudicator and he placed a restraining order on Leonard Warwick restricting his access to Trudi.

The judge's wife went to the front door of their home on July 4, 1984 and when she opened it she triggered activated a bomb in a zippered bag, she was hurled through a brick wall and died while Judge Watson was badly injured.

Surprisingly, even though the police knew Leonard Warwick was the perpetrator in all of this, and even though a search of his home revealed books on explosives, wind-up alarm clocks and batteries, there wasn't enough evidence to arrest him.

Andrea's sister, on the advice of Andrea's solicitor, Garry Watts, looked for some help to move Andrea and Trudi to somewhere safe. The brothers at Casula assisted and a home was found about 200 miles north of Sydney. Garry Watts also moved and leased his home to Peter Tall, who was totally unconnected with the case.

On Sunday, February 10, 1985, Peter Tall emerged from his home intent on doing some work on his car. When he opened the engine bay he found sticks of gelignite wired up to the car's battery!

While Garry Watts was the target, it was Peter Tall who by pure chance avoided being blown up by this latest bomb.

Five months later the blast at the Kingdom Hall killed brother Graham Wykes and send brother David Winder through the roof, his injuries from the flight and fall still affecting him to this day. 56 others suffered lesser injuries.

Now the latest in DNA technology has been brought to bear and Trudi's blood sample has shown police conclusively that the blood at the hall belonged to her father.

Half of his 68 years of life has been spent avoiding arrest by virtue of cunning and sometimes chance, but now Leonard Warwick is behind bars awaiting trial for his heinous crimes and closure and peace is closer for the victims' families and friends.

Along the way police seem to have never given up in their pursuit of the evidence needed to convict Leonard Warwick. They have used subterfuge, too, arresting him for stealing toilet paper to get his fingerprints on record.

The availability of new DNA technology in 2012 led to the police committing serious levels of resources to the case and the arrest of Warwick this week is the direct result.

 

 

Thanks for the update Raymond. Only last Sunday at our meeting, the Brother that did the Talk. said he moved  house 1 week before the Bombing.

Many thought my Uncle was responsible. 

[surfergirl]

I have met Brother David.. he is a great Brother, love his talks,Him & my Dad use to work together around the Assembly assignments.

[Greg Dent]

Wow all this time spent on the run. Incredible.

[Miss Bea]

It's a sick world only Jehovah can fix. These kind of events used to be the fodder of movies, rated,"R", now, thanks to Satan, they are a reality. "How much longer, O Jehovah"? Prayers for poor souls involved...

[Tortuga]

Wow, I remember reading about that when it happened. Thanks for the update.

 

*** g86 8/8 p. 29 Watching the World ***

Inquest on Kingdom Hall Bombing

After a three-day hearing last April, the Coroner’s Court of Sydney, Australia, decided that there was “insufficient evidence” to commit the chief suspect to trial for the July 21, 1985, bombing of a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses near Sydney, according to the Daily Telegraph of Sydney. The blast leveled the building, killed one man, and injured scores of others, more than a dozen seriously. (See Awake! November 22, 1985.)

At the coroner’s inquest into the death of the father of three children, police presented circumstantial evidence that linked a 39-year-old fireman with the Kingdom Hall bombing, two previous bombings of other buildings, one attempted car bombing, and three separate murders in recent years. Police stated that at the time of the Kingdom Hall bombing, the suspect was under surveillance. The coroner allowed the unusual police request to have the suspect’s name released. The coroner said he believed public interest in such shocking crimes was more important than one man’s possible embarrassment.

[RaymondG]

And this man was not 'on the run'...

He was confident that nothing would lead to his harm. He thought he had all the bases covered and nobody would ever be able to prove him the culprit to a standard as required in court.

Apparently he knew quite a bit about investigative methods and standards of proof. How ironic that a simple accident - cutting himself - would in time lead to his downfall.

One thing I never mentioned before is that for years he fought to have his fingerprints erased because of the fragility of that toilet paper case.

[MzT]

Wow, thank you for sharing the update.

[Luezette]

Sounds like the underground to me, aka: mafia. And if so he didn't commit these crimes alone. The mafia never does. Bunch of cowards!! Just like Satan. They have to use others for their demonic deeds. But of course, just as in this case, there's always a "boss" and just like Satan...we know who the big guy is.

Edited August 1, 2015 by Luezette

[rocket]

Leonard Warwick, charged over Family Court bombings and alleged murders, remanded in custody

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/leonard-warwick-32-charges-sydney-family-court-bombings-murders/6658648

[Luezette]

Enough!

"Come quickly Lord Jesus"!!!

[RaymondG]

Luezette...

He did it alone. There were no criminal connections, it was revenge for the court not letting him have his daughter.

Please don't think that way.

[RaymondG]

It seems that the connection between the Family Court attacks and the Kingdom Hall bombing was well-known throughout the congregations here...

As I was not attending meetings at that time I'd never heard of it before.

Talking to people it seems that this man is so wily and cunning that they knew they had to have unimpeachable evidence before they arrested him. It's going to be interesting to follow the trial and find out what they actually have now that they didn't have years ago.

[hatcheckgirl]

I was newly baptised and aux pioneering at the time of the bombings.  We weren't in the same circuit, but it was felt very strongly among the congregations at that time - I remember feeling actual shock.

[Luezette]

Oh. Well, if he did do it alone as claimed, what a sick demonic calculating mind!

Edited August 3, 2015 by Luezette

[RaymondG]

Luezetter, I'm wondering if you read past the third paragraph of the initial post...

There are no 'ifs' about this.

[Luezette]

Yes Ray I read it. And I still stand by what I said.

[RaymondG]

That it sounds like the mafia to you?

We obviously live in different countries...

[surfergirl]

An older Sister in my cong. I have known a while mentioned how she had problems with neck etc. She said how she survived this bomb.

She is one amazing woman. Escape concentration camps as well as this.

[LindaL.]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/a/17866516/the-family-court-murders/

Story and videos.

[rocket]

On 8/26/2015 at 4:36 PM, LindaL. said:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/a/17866516/the-family-court-murders/

Story and videos.

 

Does anyone know if Mr. Warwick has been convicted of the murders yet? If so is there a news link available.

 

Edit: I recon with the following link the answer is NO. Jan. 14, 2016

 

https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/30570323/alleged-nsw-bombers-bail-bid-delayed/

Edited March 8, 2016 by rocket

[Omoyeme]

On 8/26/2015 at 7:36 PM, LindaL. said:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/a/17866516/the-family-court-murders/

Story and videos.

I just had a sickening feeling about those "ex-jehovah's witnesses" who were visited by John Warwick shortly before the KH bombing.  Did they give Warwick the names and telephone numbers of the brothers?  (She-the wife-did not properly answer the journalists question.) When the police went to his home weeks afterward, they found a list of names in that congregation.  

 

This couple never went to the police about John Warwick's visit to them, so the question still begs: why didn't they?

[ChocoBro]

One of the statements at the end is incorrect. The daughter is puzzled because the father ditched her later on in life. And then they said something like he killed all those people for her. I believe that is incorrect. It was never about her. It was always about him. He is a narcissist, I can smell those a mile away.

 

I cried when I saw the Wykes testimony, hearing about his last words to his wife and the daughters statement. How are they doing? I had a feeling Miranda Wykes is still having trouble dealing with it. After what she says about time not healing wounds it felt like they cut something out of the interview. Maybe some kind of statement of faith about the resurrection?

[hatcheckgirl]

On 01/08/2015 at 7:09 PM, RaymondG said:

Judge Richard Gee took over and issued a warrant for the return of Trudi in March, 1984. His home was bombed on March 6, the day the Judge was due to sit in judgement over the issue. Nobody was hurt, but the two sticks of gelignite blasted a hole right through the house.

Sadly, this judge was found deceased yesterday, drowned in his own pool.  He was lucky to have escaped death at the hands of this truly awful monster of a man.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-03/richard-gee-judge-in-sydney-family-court-bombings-drowns/8158108