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Police investigating the death of Wollongong solicitor Katie Foreman secretly recorded three of her alleged killers discussing the story they would peddle if they were questioned, a court has heard.
Phone taps placed on mobile and fixed-line devices belonging to Wendy Anne Evans and western Sydney couple Michelle Sharon Proud and Bernard Justin Spicer recorded the trio etching out the details of the false story as the police investigation closed in around them in November and early December 2011.
The recordings picked up the three talking about what they would tell police should they be asked about their movements on October 26 and October 27 – when Ms Foreman was killed.
Jurors have previously heard Evans picked up Proud and Spicer in two separate trips on October 26, driving them from Whalan to the Oasis Motel in Windang.
That night, Evans and Spicer bought a bucket and fuel container from Kmart, and petrol and fire lighters, before travelling to Ms Foreman’s Corrimal home, letting themselves inside, and setting her upstairs bedroom on fire. Ms Foreman died in the blaze.
Police spoke to Evans and Proud during the subsequent investigation, prompting the pair to discuss the situation over the bugged phones.
The duo agreed to tell police Proud had come to Wollongong for a holiday, and Spicer had stayed in Whalan.
Spicer endorsed the plan when Proud detailed it later that day, saying he would need to ‘‘find an alibi’’ who could tell police he had been in western Sydney at the time of Ms Foreman’s death.
Jurors have already been shown Spicer’s post-arrest police interview, in which he admitted helping light the fatal fire, but claimed he never knew Ms Foreman was in the room.
Jurors also heard covert recordings of Evans speaking to a fourth person accused of Ms Foreman’s murder – Bradley Max Rawlinson, the young lawyer’s estranged boyfriend, who the Crown alleges was also Evans’s secret lover.
Two days before his December 21 arrest, Rawlinson called Evans saying officers had discovered ‘‘inconsistencies’’ in his previous police statements and his phone records, relating to his contact with Evans.
‘‘It looks like they’ve got me; I’m stuffed,’’ Rawlinson told Evans, saying if police knew they were ‘‘together’’ they would think he and Evans were involved in Ms Foreman’s death.
‘‘I’m f---ed, my life’s over.’’ The trial continues.