Date: 22/23 June 1975
Location: Royal Perth Golf Club next to the Kwinana Freeway- the main transit route into Perth CBD
Victim: 33 year-old mother of three, and police sanctioned brothel madam Shirley Finn
Modus Operandi: four gunshot wounds to the head at close range, short bullets.
Shirley Finn was asked to dress in her finest ball gown for the occasion. Her body was found slumped behind the driving wheel of her rare limited edition Dodge sedan on the golf course near the 7th Fairway. Reports emerged she was at the police canteen two days before the murder. 40 years later an officer who was there confirmed he saw her at the bar but had been intimidated and threatened by senior officers into silence. The page was ripped out of the visitor's book.
She had told a close friend that the soon to be Commissioner of Police and "the boys" had it in for her. She was terrified. Shirley Finn was due to appear at a tax hearing two days after her murder and had threatened to name names.
Shirley Finn's murder was the culmination of years of corrupt and dirty dealing in Western Australia.
It's a story that authorities are still working hard to bury. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, no authority in WA has acknowledged any wrongdoing in relation to this crime to this day. The story is still unfolding.
The number of public officials implicated in the murder and subsequent cover-up is staggering. The family's call for answers, an apology or at least acknowledgement of police and political involvement in this crime is still being met with a deathly silence.
The State Sanctioned Murder of Brothel Madam Shirley Finn happened when Perth really was the wild wild west. Where villains ruled the roost and anybody who dared say otherwise suffered terrible consequences. The families of whistleblowers like Police Superintendent Spike Daniels are also waiting for answers.
Shirley's story in itself is remarkable. A young girl at the top of her class, taken from her middle class home and put in the Catholic laundries in Leederville, forced to wash sheets to cleanse her soul. Shirley had been caught having sex when she was 14 and the magistrate recommended a dose of the nuns and hard labour would straighten her out. The 20 year old boy she was with suffered no consequence. The Catholic laundries, using free labour, posted their biggest profit the year Shirley Finn worked with other "dirty" girls to clean hotel and hospital sheets. Her education came to abrupt end,
Shirley married and had three children, but her husband was injured at work and became depressed. He was hospitalised Shirley was left to care for the three young children and pay the bills. Body painting next to the boxing tent at the Royal Perth Show proved a highly lucrative business until a public outcry forced it's closure.
After meeting Sydney madam Dorrie Flatman, with her fabulous parties, outrageous wardrobe and run of Perth's nightclub scene, Shirley decided to get in on the "containment' system. Vice head, Bernie Johnson brought her in as one of three police sanctioned madams in Perth. The mining boom ensured a steady flow of men. Police closed down all opposition and the profits were enormous. Never acknowledged franchise fees were paid up the chain . A tax bill which did not take the franchise fees into account angered Shirley. She was fighting the tax bill at the time of her murder.
Location: Royal Perth Golf Club next to the Kwinana Freeway- the main transit route into Perth CBD
Victim: 33 year-old mother of three, and police sanctioned brothel madam Shirley Finn
Modus Operandi: four gunshot wounds to the head at close range, short bullets.
Shirley Finn was asked to dress in her finest ball gown for the occasion. Her body was found slumped behind the driving wheel of her rare limited edition Dodge sedan on the golf course near the 7th Fairway. Reports emerged she was at the police canteen two days before the murder. 40 years later an officer who was there confirmed he saw her at the bar but had been intimidated and threatened by senior officers into silence. The page was ripped out of the visitor's book.
She had told a close friend that the soon to be Commissioner of Police and "the boys" had it in for her. She was terrified. Shirley Finn was due to appear at a tax hearing two days after her murder and had threatened to name names.
Shirley Finn's murder was the culmination of years of corrupt and dirty dealing in Western Australia.
It's a story that authorities are still working hard to bury. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, no authority in WA has acknowledged any wrongdoing in relation to this crime to this day. The story is still unfolding.
The number of public officials implicated in the murder and subsequent cover-up is staggering. The family's call for answers, an apology or at least acknowledgement of police and political involvement in this crime is still being met with a deathly silence.
The State Sanctioned Murder of Brothel Madam Shirley Finn happened when Perth really was the wild wild west. Where villains ruled the roost and anybody who dared say otherwise suffered terrible consequences. The families of whistleblowers like Police Superintendent Spike Daniels are also waiting for answers.
Shirley's story in itself is remarkable. A young girl at the top of her class, taken from her middle class home and put in the Catholic laundries in Leederville, forced to wash sheets to cleanse her soul. Shirley had been caught having sex when she was 14 and the magistrate recommended a dose of the nuns and hard labour would straighten her out. The 20 year old boy she was with suffered no consequence. The Catholic laundries, using free labour, posted their biggest profit the year Shirley Finn worked with other "dirty" girls to clean hotel and hospital sheets. Her education came to abrupt end,
Shirley married and had three children, but her husband was injured at work and became depressed. He was hospitalised Shirley was left to care for the three young children and pay the bills. Body painting next to the boxing tent at the Royal Perth Show proved a highly lucrative business until a public outcry forced it's closure.
After meeting Sydney madam Dorrie Flatman, with her fabulous parties, outrageous wardrobe and run of Perth's nightclub scene, Shirley decided to get in on the "containment' system. Vice head, Bernie Johnson brought her in as one of three police sanctioned madams in Perth. The mining boom ensured a steady flow of men. Police closed down all opposition and the profits were enormous. Never acknowledged franchise fees were paid up the chain . A tax bill which did not take the franchise fees into account angered Shirley. She was fighting the tax bill at the time of her murder.
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Bridget Finn calls for an independent inquiry |
A report by Juliet Wills on Channel Nine in 2013.
Bridget is still waiting for an independent inquiry.
Bridget is still waiting for an independent inquiry.
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The King of Vice
A Current Affair 2008 interview with retired Detective Bernie Johnson -
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The Cottesloe Corpse |
During the Royal Commission and in repeated interviews to the author in the last decade an allegation was made about a body that washed up on Cottesloe Beach in September 1975. Civil Libertarian Archie Marshall received a phone call the night before it washed up alleging there had been a second murder.
Juliet Wills investigated this allegation, locating the body and in 2004 the remains were exhumed, for DNA testing. |
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This video is supplied with permission from Today Tonight - aired 2004
The WA Coroner will hold an inquest into the murder of Shirley June Finn on 11 September 2017.