Mark Tedeschi AM QC was, until 2019, the Senior Crown Prosecutor, and the head of Chambers of the Crown Prosecutors for New South Wales. He's now a private barrister, but in 35 years with Crown Prosecution he has prosecuted many high-profile trials in Australia, some of which have involved the worst of the worst murderers and offenders this country has ever seen.

MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD is the story of the disappearance of two women in particular - 74 year old Dorothy Davis and 39 year old Kerry Whelan, both of whom had the great misfortune to come into contact with one of the more awful men this country has produced - Bruce Burrell, an entitled, greedy, lazy, appalling man who was eventually found guilty of abducting and murdering at least these two women - all to cover up his financial transgressions. Their bodies have never been found, and at the end of this book we find out that he died in prison, serving a life sentence, never disclosing the location of the bodies, never giving the families of these victim's the chance of a dignified farewell.

The first half of the book, where the story of the offender is drawn out, is incredibly difficult to stomach. There's nothing in the story of Burrell, his background, his offending (and there is the possibility of at least one other disappearance with parallels to the two he was found guilty of), or his general demeanour that makes the opening chapters anything other than difficult to stomach. Not through any fault of the author - this offender is just an appalling human being, there doesn't appear to have been a single mitigating factor in anything he did - and I could have stood knowing he died relatively young, from cancer, in prison a bit earlier - might have made having to know about him just that bit more tolerable to be brutally frank.

The second half of this book, where Tedeschi gets into the trials and the complications of the legal requirements of proving murder when no body has ever been found, and the need for multiple trials is detailed without being confusing, and informative without being overtly instructional or dry. The author has a way of explaining complex legal issues with clarity and meticulous attention to detail that make them very accessible to the legal lay person. His ability to dissect the core of the prosecution case, compare it to the defence strategies, explain the process and the decisions they took is flawless, giving the reader a real insight into the processes of law, and the complications.

For the second half alone MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD was a book that, despite my struggle (and I really really struggled with the first half), I'm glad I got to the end of. For the insight into the legal process, and for the time that he gives to the impact this case had on the Whelan family in particular. The victim's are given their due place in history as well, and the impact that their loss had on those around them is touched on, respectfully and forthrightly. The fallout from Burrell's actions is inter-generational and unforgivable and the legal system and it's participants served us well.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/missing-presumed-dead-mark-tedeschi-qc ( )

In 2014 I read Eugenia, A True Story of Adversity, Tragedy, Crime and Courage by Mark Tedeschi QC and it was so good, the book went on to make my Top 5 Books in 2014 list. Mark Tedeschi is an Australian Barrister and the former Senior Crown Prosecutor for NSW and I've been looking forward to reading more from him since then. Naturally I was excited to enter the competition hosted by Carol over at Reading, Writing and Riesling and even happier to win it! (I host many giveaways here on Carpe Librum but seldom win any).

Missing, Presume Dead covers the disappearances of Dorothy Davis and Kerry Whelan, both middle class women from Sydney who had only one thing in common, they both knew Bruce Burrell. In the late 1990s, both women were kidnapped and subsequently killed by Burrell. In the case of Kerry Whelan, Burrell sent the victim's husband a ransom note and Detectives found a checklist of kidnapping tasks in his personal papers. The remains of the women were never found, but Burrell was sentenced to life in prison on the grounds of the circumstantial evidence presented to the court. It's a fascinating case and it gripped the headlines in Australia at the time and proved that a suspect can be charged with murder, even in the absence of blood, a body or any human remains.

Tedeschi worked on the case and his legal insights were invaluable. Burrell didn't testify at his trial, but Tedeschi expands his examination to include the questions he WOULD have asked Burrell if he had testified at trial. That in itself was refreshingly unique and I haven't seen that done in true crime before.

I read the print copy alongside the audio and found the narrator Stephen Briggs a little too dramatic for my tastes, given this was true crime and not a suspense thriller. Briggs also didn't convey the voice of Tedeschi at trial very well either. My only other gripe was wondering why Kerry Whelan appears on the cover alone when this story is also about the death of Dorothy Davis. Why exclude Dorothy Davis from the cover when the byline claims this is 'the double murder case that shocked Australia.'

Burrell died in prison in 2016 and frustratingly never disclosed the location of his victim's remains, causing untold anguish for the families. I hope he rots in hell, but Missing, Presumed Dead is a real eye-opener and is recommended for readers of true crime and Australian legal history.

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster & Reading, Writing and Riesling * ( )