Family's appeal to help solve murder
Media Conference, Winchester Police Centre
Detective Sergeant David Harrison
Friday 19 August 2005
Det. Sgt. Harrison: The family of the late Frank Campbell has joined us here today to request further information from the public about this murder investigation. For those who may not be familiar with the case, Frank Campbell was found murdered in his townhouse in the Wilkins Street, Mawson around 3am on Monday May 2, this year. Specifically we are requesting that two women who called police in relation to this investigation - those people called anonymously - to call back to Crime Stoppers, and we ask that they do so again anonymously if they wish. We urge those people to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 and that will assist the investigators. We'd also urge anyone who may have seen an early model, mid-sized white sedan in the area of Woden and Tuggeranong, in the late hours of Sunday 1 May through until the early hours of Monday 2 May this year, to contact Crime Stoppers. It may be that that vehicle was driven in an unusual manner or something about it was unusual, like it was parked in an unusual location, beside a road or somewhere off a road, something that may have stirred people's minds. If that jogs anyone's memories we would invite them to call Crime Stoppers and provide us with that information related to that. In recent weeks ACT Policing has produced a number of posters which we've placed in shopping centres and businesses in the area to jog people's memories. If they have any information related to this investigation we ask that they call Crime Stoppers to assist with the investigation. I'm going to call on Mr Andrew Campbell, Frank's brother to make some comments and speak to the people of Canberra.
Andrew Campbell: Thankyou. Look, we've just wanted to say Frank was a knock-about sort of guy. There are obviously a lot of people around Canberra who knew Frank, over 15 years of being in the taxi industry and more recently, but out of that obviously, the hard sort of industry to be in, you know, he was the sort of guy to help anyone. You know he always wanted to help his family; inparticular he helped my Mum and Dad move down that weekend. We had to take them to a retirement village, and he was always willing to help. Anyway we'd probably just really like to appeal to people for anything that you do know about this case or Frank, or whether it's friends, relatives, associates, workmates, we really appeal to you to come forward. You know you can anonymously go through Crime Stoppers and help us get to a conclusion in this case.
Det. Sgt. Harrison: Any questions?
Reporter: [Inaudible]
Det. Sgt. Harrison: Yes, I can't go into specifics of that particular type of vehicle but any people who remember a description of a vehicle similar to that will be of direct relevance to this investigation, and investigators will be keen to hear any of that type of information. Any type of vehicle like that in the late hours of Sunday 1st of May 2005 through to the early hours of Monday 2nd of May 2005, in the Woden and Tuggeranong area, any type of vehicle that looked similar to that that may have been a bit unusual perhaps suspicious, we'd like to know about it.
Reporter: Can you say whether there's a suspect that you're hoping may have been in that car?
Det. Sgt. Harrison: All I can say is that the vehicle is of significant interest to this investigation and any information in relation to it.
Reporter: Are police [inaudible]
Det. Sgt. Harrison: This has been a very wide inquiry and a sustained inquiry which is ongoing and nothing is ruled out. I can't go into details of suspects and that type of information but I can assure you that the investigation is continuing. We have strong lines of investigation that we are following and any information we can receive from the public will be of assistance and the more information we receive, the closer we come to a resolution.
Reporter: So you believe [inaudible]
Det. Sgt. Harrison: I can't go into those sorts of details of timeframes but we do have some strong lines of inquiry that we are following; any information we receive is going to assist us.
Reporter: When we were last talking to police about this they said that they didn't have any suspects, [inaudible]
Det. Sgt. Harrison: Investigations are still continuing and particularly from a forensic perspective to identify anything in relation to a murder weapon. As I said before nothing is ruled out and we have those very strong lines of inquiry which we are following. I can't get into details about suspects.
Reporter: Was Mr Campbell also drugged?
Det. Sgt. Harrison: I can't talk about those types of details, but certainly the car that I mentioned before and the two callers, we would appreciate it if those people were to call back and if they wish to do so, do so anonymously through Crime Stoppers.
Reporter: What can you tell us about those two callers?
Det. Sgt. Harrison: They've got information we believe which will be of assistance to the investigation and obviously if those people could call us back, they can only assist us along with any other information from any other member of the public who can assist us.
Reporter: How soon after Mr Campbell's death did these calls come in?
Det. Sgt. Harrison: We've had two callers. I can't go into specifics exactly of the timing of those calls but those people know who they are and I'm sure they will be, if they get this message we certainly would appreciate it if they return the call and they can do so anonymously.
Reporter: [inaudible]
Det. Sgt. Harrison: Mr Campbell was found murdered in his flat. Mr Campbell was assaulted. I can't go into details of exact means of that and there has been a lot of forensic activity involved around that flat and investigations are continuing.
Reporter: Is there anything at all about [inaudible]
Det. Sgt. Harrison: As you can appreciate we can't go into those specifics too much because people, there are still people who'd like to call anonymously, but certainly the investigators would like to speak to them and they do have information we believe is of relevance. We're not ruling anything out; we're looking to receive any information we can to progress this information.
Reporter: Can you say what sort of information they might be able to provide?
Det. Sgt. Harrison: I can't go too much further than to say that it is related to the investigation and we believe it will assist investigators.
Reporter: Mr Campbell may I ask you, does the family have any idea as to why Frank was murdered?
Andrew Campbell: No, not at all. So you know we're appealing to people, as Det. Sgt. Harrison and the police who we've been working with have said, to come forward, give us some information so that we can get a resolution for the case.
Reporter: So he was never in trouble with the law before?
Andrew Campbell: Not at all; he was my brother and he was a knock about guy that's why we don't believe he was into anything notorious or of that nature. We're just urging people to come forward and give us some real information.
Reporter: Can you tell us anything about his character that might stimulate people's minds?
Cathy Campbell: I know that he'd been a cab driver for 15 years and he'd only recently given away cab driving. I think it was in the last seven to eight months before his death. I guess anybody who may remember him. Would know he was very chatty and you know, in the cabs, somebody may remember him because I've gotten into a cab a couple of times coming home from work or somewhere like that and I'd say "Oh, my brother's a cab driver…do you know such and such and probably four or five times, they'd say 'oh yes, I know Frank you know, he's a good bloke". So yeah I think someone, if they see his photo and you know they might just remember seeing Frank and remember him because he was very gregarious and very open to people.
Reporter: So the family had only seen him recently before his death, that day?
Cathy Campbell: Well as Andrew said a little while ago, that Mum and Dad had just recently moved down to Bateman's Bay and he actually helped the removalist, less than 48 hours before he was found. The day that Mum and Dad moved he actually drove the truck, the removalist truck and he helped because he'd been doing removals recently and he was able to organise the whole family. He told the boys you know "do this, do that" and "get the truck loaded and the truck unloaded" and he was in his element. It was great because he was able to coordinate everything so yeah, and up until that point when we found out what had happened to him, we'd seen his as I said less than 48 hours prior to this. I don't know of anything that would cause this.
Reporter: How hard has it been for the last few months; you haven't had any resolution to know what's happened?
Andrew Campbell: I'll give credit to the police. They keep us informed. I mean this is not something that's going to go away; we're not happy about the situation. We'd like a resolution but we know that they're doing their best and everything they genuinely can to get to the bottom of it and they'll just keep going and such time as this one's finished, it's not another cold case; it'll keep going until we find a resolution.
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