During the 1980s to early 1990s, Melbourne, Victoria was terrorised by a man who became known as Mr. Cruel. The masked man has been linked to a series of child abductions and rapes. He is also suspected of murdering schoolgirl Karmein Chan. Mr. Cruel may have also been responsible for many other unsolved rapes beginning in 1985 throughout Melbourne suburbs.
A false lead. A senior detective. And a timeline of coincidences too sharp to ignore. Ron Iddles didn’t just recycle a dead tip — he knew it was false when he revived it. Twenty years earlier police had already dismissed it. So why push it again? What was he protecting.
“That is just by way of introducing Alfie Gay and putting him in context. He was a major respected, armed robber, safecracker, and all-around sophisticated crook” (Rule)
Why did veteran homicide detective Ron Iddles publicly revive a long-dismissed lead in the Karmein Chan case — right as the Royal Commission into Police Informants handed down its final report in July 2020? This investigation uncovers a web of coincidences that raises serious questions.