James Ryan O'Neill was convicted in November 1975 of the murder, in Tasmania in February 1975, of a young boy. He was sentenced to imprisonment for life. He had been born Leigh Anthony Bridgart and took a new name after leaving Victoria in the 1970s.
The murder conviction is the only one on record. In May 1975, in an interview with Tasmanian police, he confessed to the murder in April 1975 of another young boy, aged nine. After the conviction for the February killing and the life sentence, the Tasmanian prosecuting authorities announced that they did not intend to proceed with charges in relation to the April 1975 matter. The second death was therefore never tried, and it is not a conviction.
The February 1975 death is the one for which O'Neill stands convicted. The victim was a young boy; his name, his age and the town in Tasmania are not on record. The conviction came in November 1975, and the sentence was imprisonment for life. The court that sentenced him is not on record.
The April 1975 matter involved a boy aged nine. O'Neill confessed to it in a police interview the following month. He was not tried. Prosecutors stated that they did not intend to proceed with charges once the life sentence had been imposed for the February killing.
O'Neill served his life sentence in Tasmania. By 2005 he was held at a lower-security prison in the state, and he took part in a day-release program that became a political controversy in the state, with the parliamentary Opposition calling for him to be moved to a higher-security prison. His lawyer said he deserved a second chance if the Parole Board found him suitable for release. A planned meeting between O'Neill and a journalist in February 2005 was prohibited by the Director of Prisons.
In October 2014 he was still held in a prison in Tasmania and gave evidence to a Western Australian inquest by video link from there.
In January 2005 a documentary about O'Neill, produced by a former police officer and a film company under contract with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was shown at the Hobart film festival. The ABC planned a national broadcast for April 28, 2005. The film raised the possibility that he was connected to other child murders in Australia, including the 1966 Beaumont children case in South Australia. No one has been charged, tried or convicted over the Beaumont case. O'Neill's lawyer rejected the allegations and said that South Australian police had discounted him as a suspect.
On April 15, 2005, O'Neill began an action in the Supreme Court of Tasmania against the ABC and the producer, seeking damages for defamation and an injunction against the broadcast. The Supreme Court granted an interlocutory injunction. The ABC appealed to the Tasmanian Full Court and lost, then appealed to the High Court of Australia.
On September 28, 2006, the High Court allowed the appeal by a majority of four to two and lifted the injunction. The majority held that free speech had not been given appropriate weight and that courts should not restrain allegedly defamatory material where damages are an adequate remedy. The date of the national broadcast is not on record.
In October 2014 O'Neill gave evidence by video link from Tasmania to a coronial inquest in Derby, Western Australia, into the 1974 death of a 12-year-old boy, which was not the subject of any charge. He said that he had moved to Derby in mid-1974 to work for the Agriculture Department and left for Tasmania in November 1974. He denied any involvement: "Nothing whatsoever." He also said he did not know the boy.
On December 23, 2014, the coroner recorded an open finding. The coroner could not conclude, to the required standard, whether O'Neill was responsible.
The second Tasmanian death (April 1975) is a confession only, not a conviction. No trial took place.
The Beaumont children case (1966, South Australia): no one has been charged. O'Neill has been named publicly as a possible suspect. His lawyer denied any connection.
The 1974 Western Australian case: the coroner's finding was open. Nothing was proved against O'Neill.
February 1975: murder of a young boy in Tasmania, later the subject of the conviction.
April 1975: second death, a boy aged nine; confessed to police, never tried.
May 1975: interview with Tasmanian police in which he confessed to the April 1975 matter.
November 1975: convicted of the February 1975 murder; sentenced to life imprisonment.
January 2005: documentary shown at the Hobart film festival.
April 15, 2005: begins Supreme Court of Tasmania action against the ABC and the producer.
September 28, 2006: High Court of Australia rules for the ABC, 4 to 2.
October 2014: gives evidence to a Western Australian inquest from a Tasmanian prison.
December 23, 2014: Western Australian coroner records an open finding.