Police officers drop defamation claims against Shane Drumgold

The five police officers who began the process of suing the ACT Government for $1.4 million over their claims that they had been defamed by Shane Drumgold SC have withdrawn their case.

On Tuesday (25 June), the Federal Court of Australia ordered the officers’ statement of claim be dismissed and that they pay the former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) legal costs of $12,500.

Region understands the matter was withdrawn, as the court’s record states it has been finalised and dismissed by consent.

Mr Drumgold’s lawyer, Ian Meagher of BAL, said his client always held the view that the police officers’ defamation case was never likely to succeed.

“He is relieved that the proceedings were dismissed by consent, with a costs order in his favour,” Mr Meagher said.

“The media headlines generated from the defamation claims, in his view, were always likely to be the high point in the claims.

“In any event, Mr Drumgold hopes everyone involved finds peace and can now move on.”

An ACT Government spokesperson said the police officers had proposed discontinuing the action before the Territory and Mr Drumgold had filed their defences.

“The applicants [the officers] further agreed to pay an amount of $12,500 towards Mr Drumgold’s costs incurred to date,” the spokesperson said.

“The Territory and the applicants agreed to bear their own costs incurred to date on the basis that the entirety of the proceeding would conclude at this early stage.

“At the request of the parties, the Federal Court dismissed the proceeding in its entirety and made the requested orders as to costs on 25 June 2024. These orders bring finality to this claim.”

The court had previously released the statement of claim filed by the five Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers, which says that between February 2021 and October 2022, the officers investigated the allegation that Mr Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins at Parliament House.

Mr Lehrmann was charged, pleaded not guilty and faced trial, but this ended in a mistrial due to juror misconduct in October 2022 before the charge against him was dropped.

On 1 November 2022, Mr Drumgold sent a letter to then-ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan, which the officers claimed defamed them in several ways.

Also, the officers claim in December 2022, Mr Drumgold spoke to The Guardian journalist Christopher Knaus and told him he had written to Mr Gaughan.

On 5 December 2022, Mr Knaus made a Freedom of Information request regarding a complaint made by the DPP about police, then Mr Drumgold allegedly sent him the letter on 7 December in response to that request.

The officers claimed the prosecutor was legally obliged to consult with them and the AFP before sending the letter to the journalist, which he hadn’t done.

Mr Knaus then used the letter as the basis for an article, which other media outlets also picked up.

The letter was also used as a reason why the ACT Government established the Board of Inquiry in 2023, which the officers say drew more public attention to the imputations it contained.

The officers involved in the Federal Court case, who were apparently named in the letter, were Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, Deputy Chief Police Officer Michael Chew, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, Detective Leading Senior Constable Trent Madders and Senior Constable Emma Frizzell.

They had sought a combined total of $1.415 million in damages.

Mr Drumgold resigned as DPP after the findings in the Board of Inquiry report made his position untenable.

He then launched his own legal proceedings in the ACT Supreme Court, with a judge finding inquiry chair Walter Sofronoff KC’s private communications with The Australian journalist Janet Albrechtsen gave rise to apprehended bias against him.

However, Mr Drumgold’s position would still have been considered untenable by the ACT Government.

Earlier this year, a Federal Court judge found that on the balance of probabilities, it was likely Ms Higgins was raped at Parliament House. Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegations.

It was announced earlier this year that the ACT Integrity Commission would launch a full investigation into the conduct of Mr Sofronoff in relation to him giving his report to journalists before handing it to Chief Minister Andrew Barr.