
THE
KILLING OF CAROLINE BYRNE
By Robert Wainwright
Did she jump? Was she thrown? Robert Wainwright's
gripping account of the tracking down, trial and conviction of Gordon Wood, and
the inside story of one man's search for justice for his daughter's killer.
On
a bleak, moonless winter night in the winter of 1995, beautiful Sydney model Caroline
Byrne died, her body embedded head-first into a crevice at the bottom of The Gap
at the entrance to Sydney Harbour.
How did she get out so far,
almost 12 metres from the base of the sheer sandstone precipice? Did she jump,
as so many had done before at the notorious suicide spot, or had she been thrown
in a fit of rage?
What begins as a sad Sydney ritual retrieving
shattered bodies from shattered lives turned into one of the nation's most extraordinary
murder investigations, leading to the dark heart of a city gripped by greed, pandering
to its powerful, and exposing a police force whose lack of imagination and resources
was surpassed only by the doggedness of its finest officers to right an unforgivable
wrong.
This is a journey to justice, the extraordinary inside
story of her father Tony Byrne's determination to find the truth of his daughter's
death and, in doing so, test the justice system to its limits.
Robert
Wainwright has followed this case in detail ever since Caroline Byrne's death.
A journalist of 25 years experience, he is the author of 'Rose: the unauthorised
biography of Rose Hancock Porteous' (2002) and the prize winning 'The Lost Boy'
(2004). In a big city, who falls victim to a man and a society which covets money
and power, applauds the short cuts of life and relishes excess.
'The
Killing of Caroline Byrne' is available now (RRP $24.99).