A detective has unearthed an explosive confession, allegedly made by a former police officer, that dramatically implicates him in the 1993 murder of WWII veteran Les Ball. <\/p>\n
This stunning breakthrough, years after the case ran cold, is now casting a stark new light on what happened to the 71-year-old just before he vanished.<\/p>\n
Detective Liz McNaughton, a Queensland homicide investigator, meticulously re-examined the decades-old file and an alleged confession from David Phillips, Mr Ball\u2019s son-in-law and a former detective himself. <\/p>\n
Phillips allegedly confessed to a former Victorian police colleague, Brian Murphy \u2013 known as \u201cThe Skull\u201d \u2013, detailing a brutal confrontation in the family garage where he allegedly murdered Mr Ball. <\/p>\n
The account describes the incident as \u201cmessy, quite bloody\u201d, with Phillips boasting he \u201calmost ripped his windpipe out\u201d, and later \u201che had met up with some old guy that looked like Les and had got him to go and buy a train ticket\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then he\u2019d helped him bury him in some unmarked grave that he had previously had ready,\u201d McNaughton said.<\/p>\n
The confession further claims Phillips then executed the man he recruited to help dispose of Mr Ball\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
McNaughton\u2019s investigation, which involved pouring over hundreds of pages of documents, revealed crucial details missed in previous inquiries and interviewing some of Mr Ball\u2019s now adult grandchildren.<\/p>\n
She noted glaring inconsistencies in the accounts of the day Mr Ball was last seen alive, with adult witnesses providing contradictory narratives. <\/p>\n
Mr Ball\u2019s youngest granddaughter Rochelle Phillips suffered recurring nightmares depicting her grandfather with his \u201cthroat slit\u201d, a detail McNaughton found particularly disturbing.<\/p>\n
While another granddaughter Danielle would later reveal she feared her grandmother Margaret \u2013 Mr Ball\u2019s first wife \u2013 may have been involved.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying whether dad did it or not,\u2019 Danielle told McNaughton during one of their interviews.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly have no idea we were too young to even consider what, what would, could have happened to granddad. We just, you know, we thought he left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danielle would later ask police: \u201cCould Nan have done it?\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Ball and his first wife had an acrimonious break up, with La-Chelle telling the Perfect Alibi podcast the pair often fought.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh Dad couldn\u2019t stand her,\u201d La Chelle said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d have a lot of fights, like Margaret would be screaming at him where he\u2019d be screaming,\u201d La Chelle said.<\/p>\n
At the time of his disappearance, Margaret \u2013 who died in 2020 \u2013 was also staying in the Phillips\u2019 house.<\/p>\n
Even David Phillip\u2019s own family suspected the former detective may have had something to do with his father-in-law\u2019s disappearance and suspected murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked my mum and dad that, and dad said, I don\u2019t know\u2019,\u201d Phillips\u2019 sister Christine Royal said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum goes, \u2018Possibly\u2019. They went to heaven thinking that their son\u2019s a murderer and didn\u2019t have any answers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s rat cunning,\u201d Ms Royal said of her brother.<\/p>\n
McNaughton\u2019s sharp eye also picked up on overlooked clues, such as Mr Ball, a non-smoker, being booked in a smoker\u2019s carriage on the train he never boarded \u2013 a detail that raised immediate suspicion. <\/p>\n
The absence of Mr Ball\u2019s mattress when his garage was cleared out also suggested potential evidence of foul play had been removed. <\/p>\n
David Phillips\u2019 \u201cevasiveness\u201d during interviews and his suspected use of police knowledge to obscure evidence, like leaving Mr Ball\u2019s car abandoned at the Townsville train station for weeks, also solidified McNaughton\u2019s suspicions.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy impression was that David was manipulative and he probably used his policing career to big note himself, he would like to dance around questions,\u201d McNaughton said.<\/p>\n
\u201c[He] Didn\u2019t really answer a question. Sort of more, was all very vague and had a story for a question, but the question was never really answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found him very hard to, very hard to read and very hard to pinpoint down to a particular,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Detective McNaughton firmly believes the motive for Mr Ball\u2019s murder was financial. <\/p>\n
Mr Ball had loaned the Phillips family tens of thousands of dollars, and family members attest to his desire to reclaim these funds to settle on his dream home. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe conclusion \u2026 the only conclusion after reviewing all that I could come to was that David Phillips \u2026 was the only person that had the means and the motive \u2026 I truly believed that he was the person that murdered Les Ball,\u201d McNaughton said.<\/p>\n
These critical revelations, and the intricate details of Detective McNaughton\u2019s relentless pursuit of the truth, are being brought to light by the investigative podcast, Perfect Alibi, presented by reporters Jo Townsend and Callum Dennes. The latest episode delves into the full extent of this alleged confession and the compelling evidence that led McNaughton to her unwavering conclusion.<\/p>\n