Did She Try to Murder Her Husband? | Forensic Files

[Music] Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at
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confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this
episode on your app or on our website. During the late 1980s, a growing number of residents in the small New South
Wales town of Trey had concerns about a woman named Roseanne Cat. In July of 1989, one man decided to do
something about it. Adrienne had met Roseanne a couple of years earlier when she married
Adrienne's good friend, Barry Cat. It was a second marriage for both parties. Roseanne and Barry had previously
divorced their first spouses and both had children from these prior relationships.
42year-old Roseanne was a well-known figure in Tari, which sits on the midn north coast of New South Wales.
Although Roseanne only moved there less than a decade earlier, she became a familiar face after purchasing a
delicatessan, a business that had her interacting with lots of locals. 44year-old Barry had a small business,
too. He was a motor mechanic with his own auto repair shop called Catty's Body Repairs.
Barry struck up a romance with Roseanne after hiring her son, and the two were married in August of 1987.
But Adrienne wasn't happy that his friend had found love again because Adrienne had never trusted Roseanne.
Ever since Barry had met her, his life had been turned upside down, and it appeared to be Roseanne's doing.
There had been worrying rumors even before the couple was married. Family and friends of Barry reported that
Roseanne complained about Barry non-stop, calling his business a mess and describing his friends as no
hobbers. Barry's sister Mary said that one week before their wedding, Roseanne told her,
"You are next of kin now, but next week when I marry him, I will be and I will have him committed."
Sure enough, the couple had been married for less than 2 weeks when Barry was admitted to a psychiatric facility.
Things only worsened from there. Although Barry returned to the couple's home within a week, he was readmitted
and released several more times in quick succession. Barry had previously been diagnosed with
manic depressive disorder, now known as bipolar disorder. And it seemed to some who knew him that Roseanne was
exploiting this for her own advantage. They suspected that she wanted to take control of his business and other
assets. Over the next couple of years, issues escalated. Word spread that Roseanne had attacked
her husband on multiple occasions with a rock, a cricket bat, and even a knife. Roseanne sometimes complained to
Adrienne about Barry, saying that he was mad and that she wanted him put away. She told Adrienne that she would do a
much better job of running Barry's auto repair business than he was. Adrien started paying closer attention
to his friend's situation in case there really was something wrong. As he subsequently noted in an official
statement, Adrien saw that Barry was behaving strangely. He was unsteady on his feet, his speech
was slow, and his thinking was confused. No matter how much sleep Barry had, he always looked to groggy and exhausted.
It was as though he was drunk, yet he never smelled of alcohol. Adrienne began to worry that his friend
was being poisoned. Things I observed and things I was told confirmed my suspicions that Roseanne
had a plan, Adrienne later stated. By late July of 1989, Adrienne decided that something had to be done before his
friend's life completely fell apart. [Music] Adrien Newell didn't want to report his
concerns to the local police in Tre. He later explained that this was because he
didn't trust them to investigate Roseanne cat properly. Years earlier in 1983, Roseanne had been
charged with arson after the delicateessan she owned went up in flames. This charge had later been dropped,
which Adrienne said was due to Roseanne putting pressure on the authorities. Roseanne then sold the business in 1986.
Adrien didn't like Roseanne, and he'd seen her relationship with Barry decline rapidly.
The truth was, their marriage had deteriorated so quickly after their wedding that law enforcement was already
involved, and they appeared to be taking Roseanne's side. On Monday, May 2, 1988, just 9 months
after the couple was married, there had been a violent altercation at the home of Barry's sister, Mary.
Mary reported that Roseanne had shown up at her house along with her 19-year-old
son, Peter, and a young man named Jack Harris, not his real name. Both Peter and Jack were apprentice mechanics at
Barry's panel beating shop. Mary and Roseanne had never gotten along. According to Mary, Roseanne picked a
fight, accusing Mary of having incestuous sex with her brother Barry, and saying that Mary's children were
illegitimate. Mary tried to close the door on her sister-in-law, prompting Roseanne to
slap her across the face, grab the keys out of the door, and throw them into a rock garden set up in the yard nearby.
Roseanne and the two young men eventually got back in Roseanne's car and were about to leave when Barry
pulled up at the property. He'd realized something must be going on after discovering both of his apprentices had
left work along with Roseanne. Barry approached Roseanne as she sat in the driver's seat and the two began
arguing. Barry turned the car's ignition off. According to Mary, Roseanne then yelled at Barry and hit him with the
back of her hand. Barry struck Roseanne back then stormed off. Jumping out of the car, Roseanne
followed and started pummeling him in the back with her hands. Barry hit back and told Roseanne, "Wake
up to yourself." According to Mary, Roseanne then urged Peter and Jack to step in, pushing Barry
to the ground where he knelt on all fours. At this point, Mary said that Roseanne
picked up a large 5 kg rock from the rock garden and held it at Barry while shouting, "I'll [ __ ] kill you, you
cunt." Barry later testified that a neighbor drove him to the hospital after this
altercation and he'd needed four stitches for a wound in his head. Roseanne immediately reported Barry for
assault and filed an apprehended violence order or AVO against him. This was granted, forcing Barry to move
into the offices of Catt's Body Repairs, which was just across the street from his home where Roseanne was staying with
his children. The couple hadn't lived together since, but that had only been the start of
their legal issues. Tari was a small town, and their lives were still intertwined, even if they
were living apart. 10 months later in March 1989, a general practitioner named Dr. Godard went to
Catty's Body Repairs to have a car looked at. While he was there, Barry Cat showed him
a wound that he'd sustained to the left side of his torso. According to Barry, he and Roseanne had been having a picnic
a few days earlier at a scenic spot called Swans Crossing located in the Kerowong State Forest about an hour's
drive from Trey. Barry and Roseanne were both wearing their bthers as they chatted and drank
stout on a picnic rug. But an argument soon broke out. Roseanne, who had been slicing up lemons
at the time, began angrily stabbing the knife into the picnic blanket. She then threatened to stab Barry as
well before proddding him with a knife and then driving it into his left side beneath the ribs.
Barry said he was horrified as blood spurted from the wound, describing it as something you'd see in the movies.
He ran away and flagged down a man who was barbecuing nearby. The man gave Barry his t-shirt to stem
the bleeding. Then Barry hitchhiked home. Barry didn't seek treatment at the hospital because quote, "Rosanne would
get the police and twist it around and I'd be back in jail again as usual. I was like a sitting duck on a restraining
order. 2 months after that, Roseanne called the police and reported that Barry had
physically attacked his two young sons after they went to his workplace looking for stationary supplies.
When she went to the children's defense, Barry threw a bottle of eucalyptus oil at her. Barry's version of events was
different. He said that he'd been on his office phone chatting to a female friend when
Roseanne had picked up the other handset in the cat residence and intercepted the
call. "I don't want you talking to that slut," she said before hanging up and turning up at Barry's office with his
sons 5 minutes later. Barry accused Roseanne of picking up a cricket bat that one of the boys was
carrying and hitting the right side of his face while threatening to kill him. When police showed up at the scene, they
saw Barry had a bleeding cut on his right eyebrow. Barry had the cut sutured at a nearby
hospital, but Roseanne requested he be the one charged with assault. All of these allegations were starting
to add up for Adrienne New. But the most shocking moment of all was when Roseanne began accusing Barry of
sexually abusing his children. Adrienne later reported to police that in early 1988, Roseanne told him that
Barry had been raping his children for years. "I don't believe it," Adrienne had
replied. I don't believe it could be true, but I certainly would not support him if it turns out that it is.
It was at that point that he started paying closer attention to Roseanne and Barry's relationship, trying to
understand what was really going on. Nothing Adrienne saw made him think that Barry was the problem.
In fact, he suspected Barry was the victim. that everything Roseanne had said and done was part of a bigger
scheme she'd set in motion to gain access to all of his financial assets. As Adrienne later said in an official
statement, quote, "In a very short period after marrying Barry, Roseanne set about to absolutely and
systematically discredit him. She had him committed to institutions where his family and friends were responsible for
his release. She has continually discredited him verbally, saying to any person who went
near the place, "He's mad. He's unreliable. He's a child molester. He's a drug addict."
I know that hundreds, and I say hundreds of people can corroborate this. Despite being confident in his
assertions, Adrienne didn't want to report his concerns to the Trey police, as Roseanne had repeatedly boasted about
the influence she had over them. He had an alternative plan in mind. On Tuesday, July 25, 1989, Adrien Newle
made the 3 and 1 half-hour drive south to the New South Wales capital of Sydney.
There he visited the headquarters of IAC, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which is responsible for
investigating corruption in New South Wales public sector. Adrien spoke with an IAC employee and
lodged an official complaint about Roseanne cat. He said that Roseanne had put pressure
on the attorney general to drop the arson charge against her after her delicateessan had burnt down.
According to Adrien, Roseanne knew the then attorney general and had some influence over him.
Adrien claimed that not only had Roseanne been responsible for that fire, but she'd lit other fires as well.
He also alleged that police in Trey had exhibited favoritism towards Roseanne and that she was involved with the drugs
and had violently attacked her husband with a rock. Adrien was particularly concerned about
this because he thought that Roseanne owned a rifle as well as an unlicensed pistol that she kept in her handbag.
What if her violence escalated and the next time she shot her husband? Adrienne also paid a visit to police
headquarters in Sydney, requesting that an independent detective investigate the
case. His efforts paid off. A detective by the name of Peter Thomas soon took interest
in the case. Detective Thomas lived two hours away from Trey in the harbor city of
Newcastle and worked for the regional crime squad where he was responsible for arson investigations.
On Saturday, July 29, Detective Thomas drove to Tari to meet with Adrien Ule. In addition to the information he'd
passed on to IAK, Adrienne also told the detective about how Barry had been behaving as though he was drugged.
Adrienne had also happened to notice some strange sediment in the bottom of a beverage bottle in Barry's fridge.
He suspected that Roseanne was poisoning Barry by spiking his drinks. Adrienne had spoken to Barry's
psychiatrist, Dr. Ray Sandfield and asked whether Barry's strange behavior could be due to an overdose of lithium,
a drug prescribed to Barry to treat his bipolar disorder. Dr. Sandfield agreed that it could be.
However, as lithium was a drug with a slower reaction time, Barry's rapid deterioration could also be attributed
to an excess of Clinazipam, a benzoazipene medication also used to treat bipolar disorder.
Barry Cat had a prescription for that as well. Dr. Sandfield gave Adrien some empty
specimen containers which he could decant beverages into for testing. On Sunday, July 30, the day after Adrien
met with Detective Thomas, he paid a visit to Barry's office where Barry was still residing.
It was empty at the time, giving Adrien the opportunity to move about freely. He went to the refrigerator.
Inside were cartons of plain milk, chocolate milk, and orange juice, all of which Barry was known to drink a lot of.
Adrien grabbed all three and took them home with him, carefully storing them in his fridge.
The following day, Detective Thomas went to Adrienne's home and observed as Adrienne decanted some liquid from each
of the cartons into specimen containers. Adrien then handed the cartons over to the detective, who took them in as
police evidence. The specimen containers were passed along to Dr. Sandfield, who in turn gave
them to a clinical chemist at Royal Newcastle Hospital. Dr. Sandfield requested that the
specimens be tested for lithium and Clenezipan. One week later, the first result came
back. The orange juice contained high concentrations of lithium. [Music] Further testing revealed high
concentrations of both lithium and clinazipam in the other beverages as well. On Monday, August 7, Detective Thomas
asked Barry Cat to visit Newcastle Police Station for an interview. He informed Barry that his drinks had
been spiked with prescription medication, which would explain why he had been feeling so groggy and exhausted
lately. It was Detective Thomas's contention that Barry's wife, Roseanne, had been
poisoning him. Barry said that he usually picked up his own prescriptions from the chemist, but
sometimes Roseanne filled them instead. When she did, she kept the tablets at the family residence instead of the
office where Barry had been living for over a year. If Barry ever ran out of his tablets, he
asked Roseanne if she had any, and she normally did. Roseanne often asked Barry if he had his
medication and would sometimes get it for him. She knew exactly where he kept it.
Barry said he'd been unaware that Adrienne had taken his drinks for testing. He said he'd purchased these drinks on
the evening of Thursday, July 27, 3 days before Adrien took them away, and had drunk both the plain milk and chocolate
milk on Friday, July 28, without feeling any effects. He tended to avoid his office on the
weekends, as there was more chance of Roseanne being there, so he hadn't touched the drinks over the weekend.
This timeline indicated that if Roseanne had done it, she must have spiked the cartons sometime after Barry drank from
them on Friday, July 28th, and before Adrien took them away on Sunday, July 30. Detective Thomas continued his
investigation and learned of the allegations that Roseanne had hurled a heavy rock at Barry's head and
threatened to kill him. There was also the stabbing allegation at Swan's crossing, which Barry detailed
to the detective, as well as the alleged attack with the cricket bat. Barry also said that Roseanne owned an
unlicensed pistol. He claimed she'd shown it to him a couple of months before their wedding.
Two other witnesses provided statements that Roseanne had discussed her firearm with them as well.
Allegations emerged that Roseanne had also tried to enlist others in a quest to get rid of her husband.
Barry said that on Saturday, June 24, 1989, he and Roseanne had gone to the Trey Leagues Club after attending a
wedding. Barry was standing at the bar when he noticed Roseanne talking to a friend of
his named Tim Smith, not his real name, who owned a farm nearby. The pair looked curiously deep in
conversation, so Barry seated himself behind them so he could eaves drop. Barry said he overheard Roseanne
offering Tim money to kill him. And alarmingly to Barry, he seemed open to the idea.
Tim said he would shoot Barry and get rid of his body if Roseanne could find a way to lure him to Tim's farm.
Jack Harris, one of Barry's apprentices, also alleged that Roseanne had once asked him if he'd be willing to kill her
husband for money. When Jack said he wasn't interested, Roseanne asked, "Do you know anyone else who will?"
Another man named James Morris alleged that he'd received a similar proposition from Roseanne.
On the night of Friday, July 28th, just one day before Detective Thomas drove down to Trey to begin his investigation,
James was at the local RSL club with his sister having a few drinks. James was an Aboriginal liaison officer
who worked with police to address issues within the local indigenous community. He'd never met Roseanne Cat before, but
she approached him that night and started chatting. Both of them had drunk quite a bit. And
James said Roseanne began telling him how her husband was a monster who'd sexually abused his children.
According to James, she then asked him if he wanted to make some money. James asked how.
To do a job on my husband, Roseanne replied. A good job on my husband. James said she went on to offer him
$10,000 to break Barry's arms and legs. If James killed Barry, she would apparently give him a bonus.
James's sister stated she had been present for the entire conversation and corroborated his allegations.
James didn't accept Roseanne's offer, but he bumped into her a week later and she asked if he'd thought about it any
further. Another man named Vernon reported a similar situation. He said that he'd paid a few visits to
Barry's auto repair shop late in 1988 and early 1989. He'd admired Roseanne's car, which was a
Corvette, and asked if he could photograph it. Soon, he was visiting Catty's Body
Repairs two or three times a week, and Roseanne started opening up to him. According
to Vernon, she told him how Barry had sexually abused his children and asked if Vernon owned any guns.
He did as he was a professional kangaroo shooter. A few weeks after that, Roseanne
allegedly asked Vernon if he'd do a job for her, adding, "I want you to bump him
off for me because if he is out of the road, it is all finished and there will be no more problems."
Vernon understood that Roseanne was talking about killing Barry. He said she offered him $20,000 to do it, but he
refused. Vernon claims that Roseanne persisted in asking, but eventually accepted that he
wouldn't take her up on her offer. He said that she told him not to tell anybody what she'd asked. If he did, or
if he reported her to the police, she would know about it because she had friends within the force who would do
anything for her. Detective Peter Thomas applied for a warrant to search the cat home for
firearms. On the morning of Thursday, August 24, 1989, Roseanne and Barry's children had
just finished their breakfast when police arrived at the front door. Roseanne was still wearing her nighty
and dressing gown when she was handcuffed and seated on a stool outside of her bedroom.
A female constable took Barry's children to the police station while her colleagues moved from room to room
searching the property. Various items were collected and taken into evidence, including knives and
photo albums. A black handbag was reported to have been found tucked away in a drawer in
the main bedroom. It contained two medication bottles. One was labeled lithium and the other was
labeled Reverrol, a brand name of Clinazipam. Inside the bedroom wardrobe was a 22
caliber rifle. Another officer turned her attention to the bedroom's on suite. She checked the
cupboards under the sink and noticed several bottles of alcohol. She then opened a drawer of the bathroom
vanity and saw a small handgun lying there. "Oh, look what I found," she called.
The police had found the evidence they'd been looking for. Roseanne was told to get dressed and was
then escorted out of the house in handcuffs. By this stage, several reporters and
photographers had gathered outside, and they snapped pictures of Roseanne as she
was marched out and taken into custody. That afternoon, Roseanne Cat was charged
with a range of offenses against her husband, including assault, occasioning bodily harm, malicious wounding,
poisoning, and solicitation of murder. She was held in custody for several weeks before being granted bail.
A committal hearing was held in May of 1990, after which Roseanne was ordered to stand trial.
Her trial finally began in May 1991, almost 2 years after her arrest. Although she was initially charged with
14 offenses, she was only indicted on nine of these. The prosecution was alleging that
Roseanne Cat had planned to kill her husband so that she could assume control of his business and other assets,
including seven blocks of land he owned that were valued at around $600,000. Their case primarily consisted of
testimony from dozens of witnesses. Barry Cat took the stand and testified at length about his troubled marriage.
He told the court how Roseanne had taken control of his auto repair shop following their marriage and paid him
wages while keeping most of the income for herself. She paid her son double of what she paid
Barry even though he was still an apprentice. [Music] Barry told the court that Roseanne had
engaged in multiple physical attacks against him, including stabbing him at their picnic, hitting him with a cricket
bat, and dropping a rock on his head. His accounts were corroborated by others who said they had either witnessed or
overheard aspects of them. These included a man who said he had helped Barry tend to his wound after the
stabbing, a female friend who had been on the phone with Barry immediately prior to the alleged cricket bat attack,
and his sister Mary and apprentice Jack Harris, who were present for the rock throwing incident.
Barry said that Roseanne had frequently threatened to kill him or have someone else do it.
Adrien Newle also gave evidence about his suspicions that Barry was being poisoned.
He said he had felt the need to report his fears to the police because at the time his friend seemed reluctant to
report his wife, seemingly out of a desire to work on his marriage. Experts spoke about the spiking of
Barry's drinks. A detective who had attended the search of Roseanne's home described how he'd
found a black handbag in a bedroom drawer, which contained bottles of the prescription medication Barry was
suspected of having been drugged with. The detective who launched the investigation into Roseanne, Peter
Thomas, served as another key witness for the prosecution. The men who said Roseanne had asked them
to kill Barry gave evidence, as did other witnesses who'd seen or heard concerning things.
A woman named Amanda said she'd been visiting the cat family home when she saw Roseanne pour a glass of wine, then
add two white tablets that she took from her handbag. Roseanne had apparently placed the glass
on a table, then stated, "I hope it kills him." Another woman named Marie Whan testified
that Roseanne had told her of her plans to go to Sydney to buy a gun and how she
had subsequently shown Marie the handgun she had purchased. The trial came to an end after 4 months
with the jury deliberating for 2 and 1/2 days before returning their verdict. They found Roseanne Cat guilty of eight
of the nine counts against her. She was found not guilty on one count, that of soliciting Tim Smith to murder Barry
Cat. 44year-old Roseanne stood expressionless as the verdict was delivered. Barry Cat wasn't present in the
courtroom to see his ex-wife convicted. It was subsequently reported that he was
drinking at a pub across the road. Roseanne was sentenced to 12 years in prison and would have to serve a minimum
of 10 before she would be eligible for parole. This was a longer sentence than some
other individuals in the state had received after being convicted of murder. Case detective Peter Thomas spoke to the
media following the verdict, noting that he would be looking into recharging Roseanne with arson after burning down
her delicateess 8 years earlier, adding, "She's the most dangerous woman I have ever met in my life.
[Music] Roseanne Cat was sent to Malawa, the most violent women's prison in New South
Wales. The inmates she was housed with constantly screamed, cried, and fought. Some threatened Roseanne with physical
violence, and even death. One repeatedly punched Roseanne in the head, knocking her unconscious.
The guards weren't much better. On one occasion, a female guard sexually assaulted Roseanne while she changed
uniforms. More than a year into Roseanne's sentence, a letter arrived for her. She
recognized the handwriting on the envelope immediately. It was her ex-husband Barry's.
There was no note inside, just two photographs from their wedding day. The images filled Roseanne with horror
and revulsion. They were a reminder of the chain of events that had led her here.
Roseanne's version was quite different to what the prosecution alleged in her criminal trial.
Originally from the New South Wales South Coast, Roseanne had relocated to Trey after leaving her abusive and
controlling first marriage. aged in her mid30s at the time. She purchased her own house to raise her two
children in and bought a delicateess with a business partner. The business did well and helped
Roseanne familiarize herself with the local community. Although she had to temporarily close
the delicateess after a fire late in 1983, she soon managed to have the business up and running again.
Roseanne crossed paths with Barry Cat after her son Peter was hired to work at his auto repair shop. Although Roseanne
didn't know Barry, he appeared to have been admiring her from afar as he constantly talked to Peter about what a
wonderful lady she was. One day, Roseanne went to visit Barry's shop to see where Peter would be working. She
noticed that the office was in terrible disarray, and Barry explained that he struggled to complete all of the
paperwork. He was a single father with four children who had recently been left by
his partner. Roseanne offered to help out and began sorting through all of Barry's bills and
invoices free of charge. She even fixed up Barry's tax return. Roseanne felt bad for Barry. His house
was in as bad a state as his office with maggots on the floor and mess everywhere.
Her pity increased when Barry visited her at home one day only to pass out on the bathroom floor.
He told Roseanne that his ex-girlfriend had been poisoning him, which must have caused him to collapse.
When Roseanne met Barry's young children, her heart went out to them, too. All four appeared emaciated and had
sores on their skin. Feeling she had to do something to help, Roseanne said about cleaning and improving Barry's
home so that it was appropriate for children. She even paid for it to be renovated to
include an extra bedroom with an on suite. Roseanne also invested in Barry's business after he invited her to become
a partner. As she had sold her delicateess sometime earlier and could afford a new venture,
Roseanne agreed and spent about $80,000 of her own money improving the auto repair shop.
Barry's children quickly grew attached to Roseanne. They didn't appear to be close with
their father. Soon they were visiting Roseanne's home every night for meals, and she took care
of their medical appointments, made sure they went to school, and taught them about hygiene.
Roseanne caring for Barry's children led to the two of them entering a romantic relationship.
She eventually moved into the cat residence, while her own son, Peter, now an adult, continued living at her house.
Barry could be gentle, funny, and sweet, and Roseanne found him physically attractive. He was a fan of Elvis
Presley and would slick back his hair in the same style as the rock and roll legend.
But over time, Roseanne noticed that Barry exhibited some disturbing behaviors. He was short-tempered and often started
ranting angrily about his children, calling them [ __ ] little bastards. Sometimes his rages would include
complaints about Roseanne. When Barry was on one of these rampages, Roseanne sometimes left the house to
escape, but she felt uneasy leaving the children alone with their father in that
state. After a little while, Barry asked Roseanne to marry him. She said no, having already decided that she never
wanted to marry again. But Barry continued to ask, begging her in public to be his wife.
Once he got down on his knees while they were having dinner at the pub and yelled
out, "Come on, Wonder Woman. Marry me." Another time, as they drove together through town, he started beeping the car
horn non-stop, shouting, "Marry me! I won't take my hand off the horn until you say yes."
Roseanne was mortified by the looks and attention that Barry's behavior garnered. He promised to change, saying,
"If you marry me, I'll be better. No more outbursts." Eventually, Roseanne gave in, hoping
that being married might make life easier. Life didn't improve after they were married. According to Roseanne, Barry
would disappear for long stretches of time, sometimes overnight. If Roseanne asked where he'd been, he would burst
into an angry tirade. 11 days into the marriage, Barry walked into the house as Roseanne and the
children were having breakfast. Without saying anything to them, he started screaming and punching himself
in the head. He soon turned his rage on his children, verbally abusing one of his sons. before punching him in the
mouth. Roseanne said that another child jumped up and tried to defend his brother,
which resulted in Barry punching him in the stomach. Roseanne grabbed both boys and ran to
her bedroom, locking the door behind them. As Barry yelled at her to open the door, she helped the boys jump out of
the window and told them to run for help. Barry eventually kicked in the bedroom
door, dragging his two daughters with him by their hair. He held them with one hand and hit them with the other.
Roseanne tried to pull Barry away, but he grabbed her by the throat and threw her on the bed where he choked her.
Suddenly, he stopped and ran out of the house, looking for his two sons. Roseanne said she called for help and an
ambulance arrived to take her and the girls to the hospital. Meanwhile, the two cat boys who fled out
the window made it to their aunt Mary's house for help only for Barry to find them there. He put both boys in his car,
but they were intercepted by the police as they were heading out of town. Following this incident, Barry was taken
to a psychiatric hospital and admitted as an involuntary patient. Roseanne discovered that her husband had
previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had spent several stints in psychiatric care long before the two had
met. Despite the claims Barry and his friends later made about Roseanne trying to
portray him as unstable and attempting to have him removed from the home, it actually appeared that this had been an
ongoing issue for many years. Just under a week later, Barry returned home. At first, he was calm and quiet,
but 5 days later, he is said to have attacked his family again. Police and paramedics attended the home,
and three of them had to hold Barry down as he fought violently against them. A pattern soon emerged throughout late
1987 where Barry would be taken to hospital for a few days before being released for a brief period and then
readmitted again. This lack of stability and Barry's aggression towards his children prompted
hospital staff to make a report to the New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services.
Barry's children were taken into temporary foster care and provided with counseling where terrible allegations
came to light. [Music] In January of 1988, Roseanne was informed that during their counseling
sessions, Barry's children alleged that they'd been sexually abused by their father as well as another relative.
According to Roseanne, all of the counselors who the children spoke to believed their allegations and found
them credible. Roseanne had never suspected sexual abuse and was horrified by what she was
told. There would be a police investigation and Roseanne was informed that the children would be split up into
different foster homes unless she was willing to foster all four of them. Roseanne agreed.
In March 1988, proceedings began to grant Roseanne guardianship of Barry's children.
By this stage, Barry was back in Trey, but spent little time at his home. 2 months later, at the beginning of May,
an incident took place that would later be framed as Roseanne attempting to kill
her husband. There had been a dispute between Roseanne's son Peter, his fellow apprentice Jack Harris, and Barry's
nephew, Robert Tisdel. Roseanne took both young men over to Barry's sister, Mary's home, where
Robert lived so they could sort the matter out. As soon as they arrived, Mary began shouting at Roseanne, and she
realized it had been a mistake to stop by. Roseanne and the young man got back in
her car when Barry pulled up and raced over to Roseanne's car door, pulling the keys out of the ignition and punching
her in the head. According to Roseanne, Peter and Jack jumped out to restrain Barry, which led
to a scuffle between the three on the front lawn. Meanwhile, Roseanne claimed it was Mary who picked up a rock and
threw it at her. She was able to dodge the blow, but it still knocked the glasses off her face.
Mary then picked up the rock again and went to throw it at Peter and Jack. Roseanne shouted a warning, prompting
Peter and Jack to jump back. The rock hit Barry instead, grazing his head, and he was subsequently charged
with assault for hitting Roseanne during this altercation. The event was later dubbed the Rock
Incident with Barry and Mary testifying that Roseanne had been the one to deliberately throw the rock at Barry's
head and Roseanne was charged with malicious wounding as a result. [Music] Immediately after this incident,
Roseanne obtained an apprehended violence order to prevent Barry from being in contact with her or their
children. Barry subsequently moved into his office across the street. The proximity of his
new home rendered the AVO effectively useless, and Roseanne said he continued to harass them all. He made abusive
phone calls to them constantly and lurked across the street, shouting at any visitors who came and went.
Sometimes Roseanne and the children smelt cigarette smoke emanating from the floorboards. And when they checked under
the house, they saw Barry hiding there smoking. Barry also resorted to cutting the
property's phone line, which repeatedly had to be repaired. Roseanne would notify the police when
Barry breached his AVO, but nothing was done. He was eventually issued a $150 fine, but this didn't deter him, and he
maintained his campaign of harassment. Meanwhile, the investigation into the cat children's abuse allegations was
handed over to detectives from the Newcastle Police Child Mistreatment Unit, a squad that existed during the
late 1980s. On Friday, February 10, 1989, Barry Cat and another relative were each charged
with 15 counts of sexual assault. One month later, on the weekend of Saturday, March 11, Roseanne was
visiting the beachside city of Port McQuary, about an hour's drive north from Trey for a conference.
When she returned to her motel room that night, she was shocked to find Barry asleep in her bed. He had followed her
there. Roseanne fled and went back to the conference center. When she returned a
couple of hours later, Barry was gone. The next day, she drove to Swan's Crossing in the Carowong State Forest on
her way home, where she'd planned to have a picnic. Her adult children were driving the cat
children to join her. Roseanne set up a picnic rug and was waiting for the children to arrive when
she saw Barry striding towards her. She told him to leave, but he didn't. Instead, Roseanne said he began stabbing
the picnic rug with a small knife. In turn, Roseanne stuck out her foot as Barry walked towards her, causing him to
trip over. He left shortly after uninjured, as far as Roseanne was aware. It was several days later that Barry
showed a wound on his abdomen to a doctor who visited his auto repair shop, claiming his wife had stabbed him during
a picnic. Barry's version of this event became known as the Swans Crossing incident,
the second incident in which Roseanne was accused of trying to kill her husband.
Another supposed took place 2 months later on the morning of Saturday, May 6th. Roseanne had been at home with the cat
children when the two boys discovered they needed stationary supplies to complete their schoolwork.
Believing their father was out, they went over the road to his office to find some, but Barry was there and he
confronted them aggressively. Roseanne heard the children scream and ran over to see what was the matter.
According to Roseanne, Barry grabbed a bottle of eucalyptus oil from his desk and threw it at her, hitting her in the
face. Her eyes burned from the oil. Barry's son had been hit with the oil as well.
Roseanne and the two boys fled from the building with Barry hurling more items at them as they ran. He was subsequently
arrested and held in custody for the rest of the weekend. He pleaded guilty to assault and to
breaching his AVO and was ordered to pay a fine. Barry later reframed this incident in
court, stating that Roseanne had been the aggressor and had struck him with a cricket bat.
Almost 3 months later, at the end of July, Barry Cat had a committal hearing regarding the 15 counts of sexual
assault he had been charged with. After 2 days in court, he was committed to stand trial on Tuesday, August 1,
1989. At the same time, Adrienne Newell was seeking to have Roseanne Cat investigated for attempted murder and
suspected poisoning. Rather than report his concerns to the local Trey police, Adrien made
allegations that they were compromised and sought to have an outside investigator look into the case.
The problem was that the investigator who was assigned was anything but an impartial outsider.
Detective Peter Thomas first joined the New South Wales Police in 1970. When he was tasked with investigating
Adrien Newle's allegations in 1989, he was stationed in Newcastle. But just a few years earlier, he had been working
in Trey. He already knew Adrienne Ule and Barry Cat. In fact, Detective Thomas and Barry
Cat were friends. Barry had come to the detective's aid after the detective caused a car
accident that damaged another vehicle. Barry had repaired the damaged vehicle and helped strike a deal with its owner
that would prevent Detective Thomas being held responsible for the crash. Not only was Detective Thomas on good
terms with Barry Cat, but he knew Roseanne Cat as well. They had crossed paths some years before Roseanne met
Barry in late 1983. By then, Roseanne had been running her delicatessan in downtown Tari for 2
years. At 3:00 a.m. on Christmas morning of that year, she received a call informing
her that her business was on fire and had been severely damaged. Initially, it was indicated that the
fire was due to an electrical fault. But Roseanne soon fell under suspicion for Rson, and the detective
investigating her was Peter Thomas. There was very little evidence to indicate that Roseanne had burnt her
business down. She had actually cut back on her business's insurance policies just 2 months earlier.
And there was an alternative suspect. It turned out that the owner of the building where the delicates was located
had recently been ordered by the local council to undertake renovations to comply with fire regulations.
These renovations would have cost $60,000. The owner didn't take any steps to bring
the building up to fire code. Instead, they took out two new insurance policies, one that covered the building
and another for loss of rent. The security guard who'd first noticed the fire also reported that he'd seen
something unusual while doing a patrol at 2:00 a.m. The building's security light had been out, so the guard went to
take a closer look. Drawing near to the building, he saw the owner was there with another person he
didn't recognize. The security guard had offered to fix the broken light, but the owner refused
his offer, explaining that they just come down to the building to pick up something they'd left behind earlier
that day. This seemed strange to the security guard given the late hour, but he left
without further questions. Half an hour later, he had been driving down Tre's main road when he saw smoke
coming from the building. The security guard reported this to the police, but Detective Thomas still
arrested Roseanne. According to Roseanne, Detective Thomas had behaved inappropriately towards her
during the investigation, calling her persistently and repeatedly at home. He sexually harassed her by making
suggestive remarks and saying that the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers duet Islands in the Stream could be our song.
At one point during an interview, he made LWD remarks about Roseanne's body before pulling out his wallet and
running his fingers across the cash inside. Roseanne took this to mean that to make
the case go away, she would either have to sleep with him or pay him off. Roseanne also noticed that Detective
Thomas often rire of alcohol. Roseanne and her business partner were ultimately charged with arson and
subsequently received no insurance money for the damage. However, the building's
owner received a full payout. While on bail, Roseanne managed to repair the delicates and reopened it
with support from family and friends. Eventually, there was a committal hearing for harassing charges.
The prosecution's case fell apart when the owner gave evidence, and it emerged that they had been seen outside the
building immediately before the fire started. The owner also struggled to answer
questions about why they had increased their insurance immediately preceding the fire.
Ultimately, the attorney general opted against indicting Roseanne and the charges against her were dropped.
Not long after the fire, a man named Errol Taylor paid Roseanne a visit at the delicatessan.
He explained he'd also had a problematic encounter with Detective Thomas. Errol had been accused of growing and
supplying cannabis after a plantation was discovered in a state forest near his home. Errol had been arrested and
taken into custody where Detective Thomas handcuffed him to a desk for 16 hours. He also punched Errol in the face
several times. Errol could smell alcohol on the detective's breath. Furious about the way he had been
treated, Errol Taylor began putting together a report for the New South Wales Ombbudsman, an independent
integrity officer responsible for investigating complaints against the government.
Errol had heard of other incidents Detective Thomas had been involved in, including Roseanne's case, and invited
her to join him in filing a complaint. Roseanne agreed. Roseanne's job at the Delicatessan made
her well known and trusted in town, and she soon found that other locals began disclosing their own stories about
Detective Thomas to her. There were reports that he had assaulted people and engaged in corrupt practices,
such as paying witnesses off. He had also been in several car accidents when he drove police vehicles while drunk.
As people in Trey learned that Errol and Roseanne were filing official complaints, more and more joined in with
concerns of their own. In the end, between 20 and 30 complaints were included in Errol Taylor's report,
which led to an inquiry being held. The inquiry was ultimately inconclusive, but it did lead to detective Peter
Thomas being transferred from Trey to Newcastle. While he wasn't demoted, his promotion
to detective sergeant had been delayed by 2 years. The fact that he'd been investigated at
all would make any further promotions more difficult to come by. After Detective Thomas was relocated to
Newcastle, Roseanne didn't see or hear of him for a couple of years. When she first married Barry Cat, she
had no idea how close he was with the detective. After she left Barry and he was charged
with abusing his children, Barry began making threats that directly referenced Detective Thomas.
By early August 1989, Barry had been ordered to stand trial on the abuse charges.
Roseanne retained custody of Barry's children as well as control of Catt's body repairs. She was made trustee of
the auto repair shop and given permission to remain living at the family home with the cat children.
A couple of days later, Roseanne received a call from Barry. During which he stated,
"You're sitting on a time bomb. Tommo and I have got it all worked out. We're going to change the charges from me to
you." Roseanne knew that Tommo was Barry's nickname for Detective Peter Thomas. Some of Roseanne's friends warned her
about the connection between the two men as well. Errol Taylor, who had filed the
complaint against the detective, encouraged Roseanne to leave Trey in mid August. He had often heard Barry Cat
boast about how Detective Thomas owed him a favor and would do anything he asked.
On Thursday, August 24, just 2 weeks after retaining custody of the children and being made trustee of the auto
repair shop, Detective Thomas turned up at Roseanne's front door, armed with a search warrant and accompanied by a
large group of police officers. Roseanne Cat found herself charged with 14 offenses, including assault,
malicious wounding, solicitation to murder, attempted poisoning, and possession of an unlicensed pistol.
Around the same time that her husband Barry would be facing court for sexual assault, she would be going to trial for
trying to kill him. Barry Cat's trial began in November 1990. Roseanne's testimony was attacked by the
defense, who introduced evidence aimed to undermine her credibility, such as photographs of Roseanne at parties and
witnesses set to testify against Roseanne at her own impending trial. It was suggested that Roseanne had been
the mastermind behind the sexual abuse allegations, hypnotizing or brainwashing Barry's children into believing they had
been abused as a way of commanding control over his business and other assets. Detective Peter Thomas testified in
defense of Barry and other witnesses who had initially provided statements in support of the charges suddenly changed
their stories. One such witness was a woman named Marie Whan. She had known Barry Cat for a long
time and had worked as his housekeeper. In late July 1989, Marie had signed a statement confirming that she had
witnessed Barry abuse his children. A few days later, she'd also obtained an AVO against Barry.
But in court more than a year later, she changed her story, saying that her signed statement was a forgery and that
she'd never witnessed any abuse of the children. In a memoir Roseanne later published,
she described Barry's trial as a farce. Quote, "We had this ridiculous situation
where if the crown won, it would destroy their upcoming case against me, in which
I was supposed to be an evil manipulator. I was a crown witness in this case and
Barry was a crown witness in mine. Only one could win. The trial lasted 2 weeks. In closing,
the crown prosecutor informed the judge that they would not be encouraging the jury to convict Barry due to
unsatisfactory evidence. This led to Barry Cat being found not guilty of all charges.
Roseanne's trial began 5 months later. Barry was the star witness, testifying for days on the stand about how Roseanne
repeatedly threatened, verbally abused, and assaulted him. He said she had told him that she planned to have him killed
despite the fact that he loved her and thought she was fabulous. Barry accused Roseanne of separating him
from his children, claiming he hadn't seen them in 18 months. Other witnesses supported Barry's
claims, including several people who had previously made statements to the contrary.
Jack Harris, one of Barry's apprentices, had originally supported Roseanne and her son's version of the rockthrowing
incident during the initial police investigation. But in court, he took Barry's side and
also claimed Roseanne had asked him to kill Barry. Then there were the charges related to
attempted poisoning. Barry's friend, Adrienne, had said he suspected Roseanne was drugging Barry because of how
strangely Barry was behaving. When Adrien took several beverages from Barry's office fridge and had them
tested, it was found that they had been spiked with lithium and clinzipam. Yet during the period when Roseanne was
supposedly drugging Barry, he was having blood tests every 3 weeks as part of his
psychiatric treatment. His levels for lithium and clinazipam always came back as normal.
As for the pistol found in Roseanne's home, the defense alleged that Detective Peter Thomas had planted it there as
part of a conspiracy to frame Roseanne. The pistol had been dusted for fingerprints, but had none on it at all.
The rifle recovered from Roseanne's wardrobe had actually belonged to Barry, and one of his children had stored it
there. The defense argued that Roseanne was the victim of collusion between many of the
prosecution witnesses and presented her version of events. Roseanne testified about Barry's fits of anger and violent
rages. She provided a different perspective on all of the incidents she had been charged for, asserting that she
was the victim, not Barry. All of Barry's children supported Roseanne at her trial. One of his
daughters detailed how her father had always been abusive, punching his children and sometimes swerving his car
at them while they walked to school. She also said that when she was younger, police officers had visited her family
home to watch pornographic films with her father. Detective Thomas had been one of them.
The teen went on to state that she and her siblings regularly drank the beverages stored in her father's office
fridge and they never noticed anything strange about them. Nor had Roseanne ever warned them to steer clear of them.
A doctor testified that orange juice or milk spiked with lithium would have tasted very bitter and unpleasant.
At the end of the 4-month trial, the judge advised the jury that they would need to decide whether Roseanne Cat was
an evil, manipulative woman or the victim of a monstrous conspiracy. Seemingly convinced by the number of
witnesses who had testified against Roseanne, the jury opted for the former, finding her guilty of eight of the nine
charges. [Music] Roseanne appealed her conviction in 1993, but lost. She stopped using her
married surname and reverted to her maiden name, Roseanne Beckett. Meanwhile, Barry Cat and Detective Peter
Thomas went on with their lives. In 1993, Barry applied to the state's victim's compensation board for damage
caused by Roseanne. He was ultimately paid $89,000 for his injuries, even though the evidence he'd
provided was inconsistent with medical evidence. Barry Catat's children continued to
support Roseanne in the years immediately following her conviction and resided for some time with Roseanne's
sister. Their world had been upended by Roseanne's conviction. After she was first arrested, Adrienne
had taken custody of them. Detective Thomas refused to tell the Department of Family and Community Services where the
children were staying. Social workers also reported being subject to ongoing intimidation and
threats from Detective Thomas. One even gave evidence that Barry Cat had threatened to rape her.
This prompted the Department of Family and Community Services to file a complaint against Detective Thomas,
which led to another internal review by New South Wales Police. What the jury at Roseanne's trial hadn't
known was that in the months before Thomas took the stand to testify against Roseanne, he had been under
investigation for misconduct and violation of child protection orders. There had also been another allegation
made against him related to a drug case. Thomas had reportedly said he would destroy evidence in exchange for
$30,000. Internal Affairs was just about to charge Thomas with a disciplinary offense when he suddenly resigned in
January of 1991. Once he left the police, Thomas was no longer under their jurisdiction and the
investigation was dropped. It had been the fourth such adverse finding into Thomas's conduct during his
21-year career, in addition to the dozens of complaints he'd been the subject of.
Facing no consequences, Thomas relocated north to the neighboring state of Queensland and entered the private
sector. He became a private inquiry agent hired by insurance agencies to investigate
fires they had received claims for. Investigating arson had been Thomas's specialty while employed as a police
officer, even though his work there had been checkered at best. In addition to the 1983 fire at
Roseanne's Delicatessan, which Thomas charged her for, despite a total lack of evidence, there had been several other
controversial investigations he was responsible for. In 1987, Thomas arrested a hotel owner
for arson. This charge was later dropped due to the extremely weak circumstantial
evidence. In another case from 1989, Thomas charged a couple with planting a firebomb at their restaurant.
Covert recordings later revealed that Thomas had promised the wife she could walk if she helped implicate her
husband, stating, "In the long run, we will shake the life out of both of you." The couple was acquitted after Thomas
left the force with a judge describing his evidence as patently insufficient and his conduct as reprehensible.
Despite Thomas' history of problematic arson investigations, he did well in the insurance industry, which was far more
lucrative than working for the police. Because insurance companies had a vested interest in not paying out policies,
Thomas received $10,000 every time his work led to a customer's claim being rejected.
He quickly climbed the career ladder and from 1993 to 1995, he served as president of the Queensland Association
of Fire Investigators. But just as it had in New South Wales, a familiar pattern of complaints and
concerns about Thomas' methods soon emerged. In 1993, Brisbane couple Bruce and Beth
Gutage suffered a terrible tragedy when their beautiful heritage home burnt down.
The grand residence had originally been built in the 1860s, and the couple had spent 15 years restoring it. Beth had
been home alone when the fire broke out, and she escaped the blaze unharmed, but the house was destroyed with the
damages estimated at $2 million. As Bruce Gutage was a Vietnam War veteran, the property had been insured
with Defense Service Homes, which was owned by the federal government. They engaged the agency Peter Thomas was
working with at the time to investigate the fire, and Thomas led the investigation.
Thomas soon became convinced that Beth Gutteridge had deliberately lit the fire.
Years earlier, Beth had suffered a skiing accident that left her with chronic pain.
To manage this pain, her doctor prescribed her a strong tranquilizer, which was primarily used to treat mental
illnesses. Thomas decided that Beth was unstable and had lit the fire because she hated
the house. He pressured witnesses to agree with him, prompting at least one person to
warn the gutteres about Thomas's methods. There was no physical evidence to corroborate Thomas' theory, which Beth's
loved one said was ridiculous. She had adored her house. But Thomas was so certain that he even took the matter to
Queensland police and managed to convince them to look into it. This led to an inquiry by the coroner
who found the gutteres had no case to answer. Regardless, the process had been traumatic with Beth's private medical
history made public. The Gutages later sued their insurer and settled in the Supreme Court.
Bruce Gutage said he had been fortunate to have the financial resources to pursue the matter. Those who didn't
might not have been as lucky. In a subsequent case, Peter Thomas accused an invalid pensioner of burning
down his home. The pensioner faced criminal charges which he was acquitted of, but he didn't receive his insurance
payout. The same happened to another homeowner in 1997. In 1998, a baker in central Queensland
had his business satellite after burglars broke in, attacked him, and tied him up.
Firefighters had to use bulk cutters to set him free. Thomas was tasked with investigating and
concluded that the baker was responsible. This led to a police inquiry and insurance money once again being denied.
In another case where a pub burned down, a woman who was friends with its owner said Thomas had offered her $10,000 if
she would say the owner had admitted to lighting the fire himself. She refused, and there was no evidence
the pub owner had lit the fire. In fact, one month before the blaze, he had spent almost $100,000
refurbishing it. The fire was thought to have been caused by an electric blanket a guest had
admitted to using. It later emerged that Thomas had paid the guest $1,000 to say he'd never used
the electric blanket. Eventually, Thomas's antics caught the attention of the press. On Saturday,
October 21, 2000, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Wendy Bacon published a story
about Peter Thomas's work as a private fire investigator. This was followed 3 days later with a
feature article about Roseanne's case headlined, "Should this woman be in jail?"
That same week, the ABC's current affairs program, Four Corners, released an episode called Burned, in which a
number of witnesses spoke openly about their dealings with Thomas, calling him slime, a conman, and a liar.
Roseanne Beckett's friend, Errol Taylor, was one of these witnesses, telling Four
Corners about his own experiences with Peter Thomas almost 20 years earlier. The episode also explored Roseanne's
case with the show's host Sally Neighbor stating the arrest and conviction of Roseanne
Cat was the crowning achievement of detective Peter Thomas. It was announced that a new defense
attorney had taken on Roseanne as a client and he was requesting a new inquiry into the case.
In addition to the countless complaints of corruption and misconduct against Peter Thomas, Roseanne's defense team
had uncovered a new witness who was willing to provide a sworn statement. When Peter Thomas first started working
as a private arson investigator in Queensland, he had worked alongside a man named Peter Caesar.
Peter Caesar told Roseanne's attorney that Thomas had boasted about his days in New South Wales police, bragging
about occasions where he had people bashed and kneecapped. But the topic Thomas seemed most fixated
on was that of Roseanne Beckett. He had an open fixation with her, speaking about her often and still
carrying her case file with him despite having left the police. He even admitted to framing Roseanne,
telling Peter Caesar, "It's common knowledge I planted the gun on the bitch." This act of planting a pistol in
Roseanne's home was something Thomas boasted of frequently. He'd also bragged, "If you get three or four good guys
around you, basically plan your attack in court, everyone sticks to their story, and the person's charged and
jailed." Peter Caesar had seen firsthand how intimidating Thomas could be. Once he clashed with a woman who worked
in their office and threatened to do her in. After a female coworker filed a sexual
harassment claim against Thomas, he told her he would set her up like he did that
[ __ ] Peter eventually fell out with Thomas after Thomas attacked him while drunk,
then later threatened to send the police after him. Peter Caesar's statement was fresh
evidence that could be used to reopen Roseanne Beckett's case. It was filed alongside dozens of other
affidavit from witnesses who were prepared to give evidence in Roseanne's defense.
After reviewing the evidence, the New South Wales Attorney General referred the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal
for a review. On Monday, August 6th, 2001, Roseanne was released from prison, having served
10 years of her 12-year sentence. The judge who released her addressed the new evidence that had been submitted,
noting that it could indicate something went very wrong with this trial. The review of Roseanne's case didn't
begin until early February 2003, a year and a half after her release. Many shocking revelations came to light,
such as the fact that the Internal Affairs Department at New South Wales Police had found that Peter Thomas
should be charged with misconduct before Roseanne's trial even began. At one point, Thomas had been ordered
off the case by his superiors. He protested, claiming the order was unlawful and was ultimately permitted to
continue leading the investigation. Multiple judges had also called out the fact that the case's lead detective had
a history with Roseanne and felt intense acrimony towards her. A judge who had granted Roseanne Bale
prior to the trial had said that the case should be handed over to a more neutral investigator in the interests of
justice. The trial judge had remarked, "If there was any member of the New South Wales police who should not have
been assigned to the case, it was Peter Thomas due to his history of antagonism with Roseanne Cat."
Evidence suggested that Peter Thomas hadn't even conducted the investigation at the local police station. He had
based it out of an unoccupied house owned by Adrien Newell, Barry Catat's close friend.
Multiple witnesses had been taken to this house and interrogated for hours at a time with no official oversight from
New South Wales police. A woman named Marie Whan had originally supported Roseanne's case, providing a
sworn statement that she had witnessed Barry Cat abuse his children. She also took out an AVO against Barry, whom she
had previously been involved with. It was alleged that on Wednesday, August 23, 1989, the day before the police
would raid Roseanne's house, Detective Thomas and one of his colleagues picked up Marie and escorted her to the
residence owned by Adrienne. They spent 3 and 1/2 hours interviewing her, then wrote up statements for her to
sign. These statements reiged on the initial version Marie had provided and instead
claimed that Roseanne had told Marie of her plans to buy a gun. Roseanne denies any such conversation
ever took place. After this incident, Marie Whan told at least four people that she had been
taken away by the police and made to sign statements that weren't true. She was terrified.
Jack Harris was taken to the same house. He was a witness to the rockthrowing incident, a violent altercation at the
home of Barry Cat's sister, which had led to Barry being charged with assault and Roseanne accused of attempted
murder. Jack's version of events initially aligned with Roseanne's and that of her
son, Peter. The same day that Detective Thomas and a colleague took Marie Whan to the
deserted house, they picked Jack Harris up from his workplace and drove him to the same property.
Thomas told Jack, "If you are telling lies and we find out, you will be charged with perjury."
After that, Jack changed his story. He also suddenly claimed that Roseanne had tried to solicit him to kill Barry.
There were questions raised when it came to the solicitation of murder charges Roseanne was convicted of.
Aboriginal liaison officer James Morris had been one of several men who'd accused Roseanne of trying to hire him
to kill Barry. He said Roseanne had proposed the idea to him while they were both out at the
local RSL. Although Morris knew Barry well, Roseanne didn't know Morris and completely denied that the conversation
had ever taken place. Another witness who had seen both Roseanne and James Morris at the RSL on
the night in question said that Morris had been extremely drunk and there had been no conversation between him and
Roseanne. Barry's friend Vernon had also accused Roseanne of asking him to kill Barry for
money. While he never reported this alleged solicitation to the police, he made a
statement about it after Detective Thomas and others visited him at his home. Allegations that Roseanne poisoned Barry
were also found to be questionable. The levels of lithium and clinazipam found in the drinks Adrien collected
from Barry's work office were so high they exceeded the amount of drugs Barry had been prescribed.
Whoever had spiked the drinks had access to more pills than Barry was ever given.
At Roseanne's trial, a detective had testified to having found two pill bottles in Roseanne's purse when her
home was searched. One was labeled lithium and the other was labeled Ravitrol, a brand name of
Clinazipam. This was presented as proof that Roseanne had access to the medications
and was using them to spike Barry's drinks. The problem was photos from the search
showed no images of the purse or the bottles. Neither were they recorded in the police exhibit book.
The defense's position was dealt a major setback when the cat children, now adults, denied any abuse had occurred
and claimed Roseanne had influenced their earlier accounts. They had vehemently supported Roseanne
for years after her conviction, but gradually lost contact with her. In 1993, just before Roseanne's
unsuccessful appeal, the crown prosecutor, Patrick Power, and police spoke to one of Barry's children.
He subsequently withdrew his previous allegations of sexual abuse and adopted the Crown's case that Roseanne had
brainwashed him and his siblings. So did one of Barry's daughters. The cat children gave evidence at the
inquiry, claiming that back in 1989, Roseanne had ordered them to crush tablets and pour them into Barry's food
and drinks. The defense argued that the cat children were unreliable witnesses due to having
changed their stories. There was also a problematic factor when it came to Crown Prosecutor Patrick
Power. In 2006, Power was found to have a large amount of child abuse material in his
possession. He was charged for this crime, pleaded guilty, and sentenced to 15 months.
Roseanne's advocates pointed out the inappropriateness of such a man speaking with alleged survivors of child sexual
abuse. Although it had likely been clear to the jury at Roseanne's trial that Peter
Thomas had disliked Roseanne, they hadn't known the extent of it. Nor had they known just how renowned the
detective was for bribing, threatening, and intimidating witnesses into providing the testimony he wanted.
In 2004, it seemed clear to many that this corrupt approach was persisting to the present day.
Several defense witnesses reported being threatened after they had agreed to give
evidence at Roseanne's new inquiry. A tre woman named Patricia testified about Barry Cat's pattern of violent
behavior towards women. After Patricia rejected Barry's romantic advances in the late 1990s, he stalked her for 2
years, attacked her with an iron bar, and punched her in the face. Patricia had Barry charged with assault,
but the Tre Chamber magistrate, who was friends with Barry, refused to take the case further.
Barry also made incessant phone calls to Patricia, calling her 70 times in a 5-day period.
Terrified, Patricia recorded many of these calls, which frequently featured angry rants and threats of violence.
Sometimes he spoke of Roseanne. After Roseanne was released and granted a new inquiry, Barry told Patricia,
"I set her up, sent her to jail for 11 years." He mentioned that he, Peter Thomas, and
some other acquaintances would fix it up so that Roseanne would be returned to prison for an even longer sentence.
After Patricia returned home from testifying at Roseanne's inquiry, she found her pet dog hanging dead at her
property. Some documents and tapes she needed for an upcoming court case were missing.
Another Tre witness said that Barry Cat had once asked him to obtain a gun so that Barry could arrange for Roseanne to
be shot in prison. After word got out that he would be testifying at Roseanne's inquiry, two
men approached him and handed over a bullet, which he took as a threat. Phone records revealed that key
prosecution witnesses had been in near constant contact with one another throughout the inquiry, despite a
judge's orders that they not speak. These included Peter Thomas, Barry Cat, and another detective.
It took more than a year for the inquiry to conclude and for the judge to deliver
his findings. On Wednesday, October 27, 2004, Judge Tom Davidson found that Roseanne Beckett
might have been falsely convicted on unreliable evidence provided by Barry Cat, Peter Thomas, and others.
Judge Davidson believed there was evidence that Roseanne had been framed by prosecution witnesses, including that
the pistol in her home was likely planted by Peter Thomas. The judge determined that Thomas
pressured witnesses in a way that encouraged them to give false evidence. He described Barry Cat as verbose,
rambling, and at times irrelevant to the point of incomprehensibility. [Music] This finding paved the way for Roseanne
to lodge a new appeal. And the following year, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal quashed most of the
charges Roseanne had been convicted of. These included attempting to poison, possession of an unregistered firearm,
assault, perjury, and solicitation of murder. The charges of malicious wounding and
assault, which related to the rockthrowing incident and the alleged stabbing at Swan's Crossing, were upheld
due to no new evidence being admitted for those convictions. Despite being cleared of almost all of
her convictions, Roseanne wasn't offered any financial compensation by the New South Wales government.
Individuals who have been victims of government wrongdoing can be offered payment as an acknowledgement of their
pain, suffering, and losses. However, the crown still insisted Roseanne was guilty.
In turn, Roseanne sued the New South Wales government for malicious prosecution.
Her legal team set out to prove that Peter Thomas had acted with malice and had no reasonable cause to charge her
with a crime. Roseanne had lost a decade of her life due to her wrongful conviction and she
had no income or retirement savings. Her children's lives had been significantly impacted as well and a
personal tragedy only increased the family suffering. In 2007, Roseanne's daughter was in a
terrible car accident in Canada which left her quadriplegic. Roseanne became her primary carer, which
made receiving compensation even more important. Suing the state government was her only
avenue. The government fought back against Roseanne and in 2010 even issued her a
bill for $89,000 for Barry Cat's victim's compensation payout. It took another decade for the matter to
be resolved, but Roseanne ultimately won her malicious prosecution case in August
of 2015. After ruling in Roseanne's favor, the presiding judge spoke of just how much
Roseanne had lost due to the crown's wrongful prosecution, stating, "The enormity of this loss is made still
more staggering by the significant period of time for which that loss was suffered."
The drawn out process Roseanne had been made to endure was made even worse when it was revealed that New South Wales
police had held doubts about her conviction as far back as 2000. They had revisited the case after
receiving media inquiries which led to senior police officers referring the matter to the police commissioner due to
their concerns that Roseanne might have been framed. Despite this, Roseanne had been held in
prison for another 10 months. More than a quarter of a century after Roseanne Beckett was first arrested, the
New South Wales government was ordered to pay her more than $4 million in damages and interest, plus legal
expenses. Peter Thomas and Barry Cat were never held accountable for their roles in
having Roseanne Beckett imprisoned. They weren't called by the Crown to testify during the malicious prosecution
case, which meant Roseanne's team couldn't cross-examine them either. On Sunday, August 24, 2014, while
Roseanne's malicious prosecution case was still before the court, Peter Thomas died of prostate cancer at the age of
65. His death coincided with the 25th anniversary of his raid on Roseanne Beckett's home.
Barry Cat died later that same year. He had remained living in Tre and a number of other people had taken out
AVOs against him over the years. Roseanne Becka credits her faith in God with helping her survive prison.
While incarcerated, she formed strong relationships with religious volunteers who visited the prison, including a
female chaplain and an administrative manager who made it their mission to help Roseanne find justice.
This support and the support Roseanne received from her family, friends, and legal team provided counterpoints to the
persecution she'd experienced at the hands of her former husband and Peter Thomas.
In 2005, Roseanne published a memoir about her experiences titled 10 years, which was named for the time she spent
serving her sentence. In the book's final chapter, Roseanne detailed the anger she has lived with
for decades as a result of Peter Thomas's actions and the failure of the authorities to stop him or hold him
accountable. This anger only compounded when Roseanne saw how others who came forward to speak
in her defense were threatened and harassed as well. Following her vindication in court,
Roseanne knew she had to find a way to move forward. She wrote, "This matter has consumed not only my
every moment, but those of my two beautiful children, my family, and now my supporters.
It is going to take all my concentration to let it go to realize that I don't have to fight anymore. I've got to dust
myself off and pick up my life where I left it the day I met Barry Cat. [Music] [Music]

In mid-1989, in the small New South Wales Town of Taree, local residents and law enforcement alike began investigating a woman named Roseanne Catt. There were allegations that Roseanne was a violent and cruel woman, intent on killing her husband: it was reported that she had thrown a rock at his head, stabbed him with a knife, poisoned his drinks, and solicited hitmen. But this investigation was just the beginning of a case that would grow even stranger the more it unravelled…

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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Brief Summary

Roseanne Cat's tumultuous marriage led to her wrongful conviction for poisoning and soliciting murder, later overturned due to misconduct evidence.

Key points

The Troubling Marriage of Roseanne and Barry. Roseanne Cat's marriage to Barry Cat quickly spiraled into chaos and violence.
Allegations of Poisoning. Concerns arise that Roseanne may be poisoning Barry with prescription drugs.
A Shocking Proposal. Roseanne allegedly offers money to multiple individuals to harm her husband, Barry.
Trial Begins. Roseanne's trial begins almost two years after her arrest, with serious charges against her.
Life in Prison. Roseanne is sent to the most violent women's prison in New South Wales.
Allegations of Abuse. Roseanne learns of her husband's children's allegations of sexual abuse against their father.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I hope it kills him.

Roseanne's chilling statement about poisoning Barry.

30:52WatchSep 13, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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