‘Family Court bomber’ will die in prison after life sentence
The man responsible for three murders and a series of court-related bombings in Sydney in the 1980s will die in prison for his “calculated, violent and hateful” attacks.
Family Court bomber Leonard Warwick pleaded not guilty to a string of murders and bombings.(AAP: Brendan Esposito)
The so-called Family Court bomber, Leonard John Warwick, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the three murders.
Warwick’s attacks took place between 1980 and 1985 and were motivated by a bitter feud with his ex-wife.
In his sentencing today, Supreme Court Justice Peter Garling said Warwick’s crimes “cannot be viewed as anything other than an attack on the very foundations of Australian democracy”.
Justice Garling said Warwick’s culpability was “extreme”.
He acknowledged the courage of members of the judiciary to carry on their work in the face of the five-year crime spree.
“These offences could only have engendered sheer terror in all judges and staff in the Family Court of Australia,” he said.
“They must have felt absolute fear at the prospect that any one of them might be the next target.”
The Family Court in in Parramatta was bombed in 1984.
The 73-year-old former firefighter, who pleaded not guilty, faced a marathon Supreme Court trial that dragged on for nearly two years.
His victims were Family Court judge Justice David Opas, Justice Ray Watson’s wife, Pearl, and Jehovah’s Witness Minister Graham Wykes.
Justice David Opas was the first of Warwick’s victims, killed with a .22-calibre weapon in his Woollahra front yard in 1980 after hearing Warwick’s court matters.
The next judge who then oversaw Warwick’s matter, Justice Richard Gee, was injured and his home at Belrose destroyed by a bomb in 1984.
The Family Court building in Parramatta was also bombed that same year, along with the home of Justice Watson.
-AAP
