Bruce Allan Burrell (25 January 1953 – 4 August 2016) was an Australian convicted

kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

per and

double murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

er, who in 2006 was sentenced to a term of

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

plus 44 years for the 1995 murder of 74-year-old Dorothy Davis and the 1997 murder of 39-year-old Kerry Whelan, neither of whom were ever found, with Burrell not revealing the location of his victims' bodies. Burrell died at the

Prince of Wales Hospital Prince of Wales Hospital is a large of Tertiary referral hospital and large of teaching hospital from Faculty of Medicine in Chinese University of Hong Kong in Sha Tin, New Territories in Hong Kong.. Named after Charles, Prince of Wales (now ...

at Randwick, whilst still in prison custody on 4 August 2016, aged 63, from lung and liver cancer.

Legal cases

Murder of Kerry Whelan

Kerry Whelan was last seen getting into a

Mitsubishi Pajero The Further information on the Mitsubishi P ...

four-wheel drive with Burrell leaving the Parkroyal Hotel in

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

during May 1997, the day after which Whelan's husband Bernie Whelan received a $1 million ransom note. Whelan's body has never been found. The kidnapping and conviction became one of Australia's most infamous crimes. Burrell, who had been a friend and former employee of the Whelan family, was charged in 1999. Charges were subsequently dropped, but re-instated in 2002 after a formal inquest. The first trial in 2005 ended with a hung jury, but Burrell was convicted on the second trial in 2006. Burrell was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and 16 years' jail for the kidnapping charge. Burrell was unsuccessful in an appeal against his conviction and sentence to the

NSW Court of Criminal Appeal The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for criminal matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian State of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court hears appea ...

, constituted by the Chief Judge at Common Law,

Peter McClellan Peter David McClellan is a retired judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal who served between February 2013 and February 2018. McClellan was the Chief Royal Commissioner of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual ...

and Justices Sully and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

.. The Court of Criminal Appeal discovered it had made factual errors in its judgment and purported to reopen the appeal, and heard from the parties before confirming its orders dismissing the appeal.. On 31 July 2008 the High Court held that the Court of Criminal Appeal had no power to reopen the appeal after the orders had been formally recorded and that the error in the judgment on 16 March 2007 meant that those orders must be set aside and the matter remitted to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The Court of Criminal Appeal, Beazley JA, Grove and

Howie Howie is a Scottish locational surname derived from a medieval estate in Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. While its ancient name is known as "The lands of How", its exact location is lost to time. The word "How", predating written history, appears ...

JJ dismissed the appeals..

Murder of Dorothy Davis

Dorothy Davis was a 74-year-old wealthy widow living in Lurline Bay, Sydney. On 30 May 1995, Davis left her apartment to visited Burrell's wife. She was never seen again. Burrell was charged with Davis's murder and later found guilty by a jury, stating financial gain as a motive. Burrell was sentenced to 28 years in prison with a non-parole period of 21 years. Burrell's appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed in 2009.. Burrell sought special leave to appeal to the High Court, but this was refused.

Media

In March 2022, author

Mark Tedeschi Mark Tedeschi, (born 1952) is an Australian barrister, law professor, photographer and author. He is in private practice at Wardell Chambers in Sydney. He was formerly the Senior Crown prosecutor for New South Wales and the Head of Chambers ...

released a book, ''Missing, Presumed Dead'', on the murders. In April 2022, ''True Crime Conversations'', an Australian crime podcast, interviewed Tedeschi about his book and the details of the murders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrell, Bruce 1953 births 2016 deaths Australian kidnappers Australian people convicted of murder Australian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from lung cancer in Australia Murder convictions without a body People convicted of murder by New South Wales Criminals from Sydney Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New South Wales