Presenter: Jack Sim, Author and Director Crime Tours Australia
Special guest: John Peel, former prison officer
Description:
Three days after the crime two men were arrested in relation to the Whiskey Au Go
Go nightclub firebombing. Both James Finch and John Andrew Stuart already had
extensive criminal histories; despite this they protested their innocence from their
first appearance in court. They claimed they were setup by corrupt police and began
a campaign within the walls of Brisbane’s Boggo Road Jail.
* * *
Sleepy Brisbane was changed forever when popular Fortitude Valley niteclub, the
“Whiskey Au Go Go” was firebombed on Thursday, 8th March, 1973.
Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen promised swift justice. John Andrew Stuart, 33, and
James Richard Finch, 28, were arrested and charged with murder and arson. They
would become household names around the country.
Queensland-born Stuart was regarded by detectives as one of Australia’s most
violent and dangerous criminals. Well-known in Sydney’s underworld, as a teenager
“Johnny” had been involved in crime including car theft, break and entering; as an
adult he graduated to safe-cracking, gangland killings, extortion and vice. John was
no stranger to Boggo Road.
Early in 1973 Stuart organised for his friend James Finch to come to Queensland to
assist his extortion plans. The two men had been close friends for years. Finch found
a mentor and master in Stuart. John enjoyed control over Jim: the two were birds of
a feather.
Like John, Jim had been a troubled youth. Born in England, Finch was sent to
Australia by the Barnados organisation when he was 10 years of age – like many
British orphans in the 1950s – and spent time at the Institution for Boys, Tamworth. At
15 he left school and drifted into crime; break and entering was his trade. Jim was in
and out of prison. Finch was only out of prison five months when he was arrested in
relation to the Whiskey Au Go Go.
Following their arrest Stuart and Finch were held on remand at Brisbane. From the
start Stuart and Finch claimed innocence. Core to the police case was a signed
“confession” by Finch in which he admitted their involvement. Finch claimed he had
been “verballed” – false words put in his mouth by police.
In Boggo Road Stuart sewed his lips together with wire – to prevent police
“verballing” him – drinking chemicals, and swallowing wire crosses. Made from
pieces of sharpened steel bed spring Stuart would bend the points of each cross
together and secure them using elastic from clothing or rubber bands. The cross was
then pushed into a piece of fruit and swallowed. Stomach acids would dissolve the
rubber, causing the crosses to fling open and tear his insides open. Twice Finch also
swallowed wire crosses like his friend. Stuart also refused to eat and went on
hunger-strikes.
In October 1973 Stuart and Finch were both convicted of murder. Stuart spent the
whole trial in hospital and made legal history when sentenced in absentia to life
imprisonment.
In S1 Episode 4 of Murder Trails special guest, former prison officer John Peel
oversaw both men inside. He shares his memories of the two killers with Murder
Trails author and publisher Jack Sim.
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