Selections for Addington Ring-in associate jailed for four years

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 46

Selections for Addington

Ring-in associate jailed for four years

NZPA-AAP Brisbane A murdered Sydney starting price bookmaker, Michael Sayers, was named this week as the financier of the Fine Cotton ring-in. The assertion was made by John Patrick Gillespie, the alleged mastermind of the racing scandal, who was jailed for four years by a judge of the District Court at Brisbane. Gillespie, aged 46, had pleaded guilty to conspiring with Hayden Haitana and Robert North to affect by deceit the result of a horse race conducted by the Queensland Turf Club on August 18, 1984. Haitana and North are already each serving 12 months in jail. The defence barrister, Mr Phil Hardcastle, told the Court Gillespie had said a news media magnate, Kerry Packer, and the Waterhouse bookmaking family did not have any part in the ring-in. Mr Hardcastle said Gillespie failed to turn up for a committal hearing in Brisbane last year because he feared for his life. He said Gillespie believed he would be killed like Sayers, who was shot dead outside his Sydney home in February last year about the time of the Court hearing. Mr Hardcastle said Sayers had been a heavy gambler, losing $3 million dollars on Queensland races in one year. Gillespie and Sayers had discussed ring-ins and one was put into place in

April, 1984, which became the Fine Cotton affair, Mr Hardcastle said. Sayers was the “money man,” he said. “Big money was set for that week-end. The whole thing was set up for Sayers to get back at the bookies in Sydney,” he said. Mr Hardcastle said Gillespie thought he was going to be shot by the killers of a Sydney racing identity, a Randwick trainer, George Brown. (Brown’s body was found mutilated in his burnt-out car near Sydney in April, 1984.) The Crown prosectuor, Mr Ralph Devlin, told the Court Gillespie organised the purchase of Fine Cotton for $2OOO (SNZ26OO). Gillespie also arranged to buy another horse, Dashing Solitaire, for $lO,OOO (SNZI3,OOO) which was to be the ringin for Fine Cotton, Mr Devlin said. However, when Dashing Solitaire injured himself, Gillespie then arranged the $20,000 ($NZ26,000) purchase of Bold Personality, the horse which eventually raced and won under Fine Cotton’s name, he said. Mr Devlin said Gillespie had a long history of convictions, including 358 for false pretences and one for armed robbery. “He used his knowledge of horses and the racing industry to be the prime mover in this affair,” Mr Devlin said. The ring-in had been “a public offence in which

many, many people stood to be defrauded,” Mr Devlin said. In handing down his sentences, Judge Loewen- f thal said he accepted that

Gillespie was a leading conspirator who stood to make substantial personal gain.

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