Arson attack that killed innocent Melbourne woman linked to tobacco wars, police say
A house fire which killed a 'completely innocent' woman is a case of mistaken identity linked to Melbourne's tobacco wars, police say.
Katie Tangey, 27, died after arsonists hit the wrong address while she was house-sitting her brother's home in Truganina, in the city's west, in the early hours of 16 January.
Det Insp Chris Murray, from the arson and explosives squad, said the crime syndicate's efforts were 'relentless' and vowed to get justice for Ms Tangey and her family.
'Katie Tangey, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a beloved member of her community, has needlessly lost her life in this senseless and despicable incident, which we are investigating as a deliberate act,' he said on Tuesday.
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'This is a tragedy. To those responsible: we are committing every resource we have to finding you and holding you accountable for this homicide.
'The violence that we have seen from these organised crime syndicates and this relentless drive for profits above all else has resulted in this incident. It could be described as nothing less than a flagrant disregard for human life.
'This is the type of crime even the most hardened criminal would be disgusted with.'
The Hoppers Crossing woman, a popular burlesque performer, called emergency services for help but did not survive the blaze.
She and the family's golden retriever died at the scene, and the three-storey townhouse was completely destroyed.
Investigations over the past month have led police to believe the arson attack was likely linked to Victoria's illicit tobacco trade wars.
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A dark coloured vehicle, similar to a BMW X3, was captured on CCTV travelling north on Forsyth Road in Truganina at approximately 2.12am.
A security camera at the house captured the moment the building was engulfed, before two men, one carrying what appears to be a jerry can, fled the scene.
At the time of the arson, Tangey's mother, Tracey, said the blaze devastated the family, including her son and his wife who were on their honeymoon when tragedy struck.
'My son and daughter in-law have lost everything they own, their sister, their dog Sunny … we will never be the same again,' she wrote on Instagram.
'I need to wrap my love around them … thank you all, she would have been so humbled by all your love.'
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The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
A perfect storm of errors meant Darren was placed in an unsafe cell. He died two days later
Warning: this story contains descriptions of self-harm and some readers might find it distressing. When Darren Brandon was detained at Melbourne assessment prison, a perfect storm of missed paperwork and a lack of clear intake procedure between police and the jail meant he was assessed as being low risk of self-harm. This could not have been further from the truth, according to his brother Steve. Darren lived with a serious brain injury after a motorcycle accident. It had left him with memory problems and bouts of depression. The family home where he lived had been sold after the death of his mother and Darren was between accommodation. 'Everything in our family just went upside down,' Steve tells Guardian Australia. In June 2018, when he found out Darren had been picked up by police, Steve says he and his father thought, 'Look, at least he's safe. He's not sleeping in his car on the street somewhere. He's safe. He's in care.' But the 51-year-old was placed in a cell with a known hanging point and self-harmed the next morning. He died in hospital two days later. Darren's death is one of at least 57 across 19 Australian prisons from hanging points that were known to prison authorities but not removed, as revealed by a Guardian Australia investigation. But his story also exemplifies what experts say is the broader story behind Australia's hanging cells crisis. None of the 248 deaths examined by the Guardian could merely be blamed on the presence of a ligature point. In most cases, those prisoners' placement in an unsafe cell was just the final failure in a litany of them. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The investigation has also revealed repeated failures to properly assess, review or treat inmates with mental ill health, meaning their suicide risk was either missed or not properly mitigated. Of the 57 deaths, Guardian Australia has identified 31 cases where inmates who had been previously deemed at risk of suicide were sent into cells with known hanging points. There were 13 cases where inmates who had previously attempted self-harm in custody were sent into such cells. Guardian Australia has spent five months investigating the deadly toll of Australia's inaction to remove hanging points from its jails, a key recommendation of the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. The main finding – that 57 inmates died using known ligature points that had not been removed – was made possible by an exhaustive examination of coronial records relating to 248 hanging deaths spanning more than 20 years. Reporters combed through large volumes of coronial records looking for instances where a hanging point had been used repeatedly in the same jail. They counted any death that occurred after prison authorities were made aware of that particular hanging point. Warnings were made via a prior suicide or suicide attempt, advice from their own staff or recommendations from coroners and other independent bodies. Guardian Australia also logged how many of the 57 inmates were deemed at risk of self-harm or had attempted suicide before they were sent into cells with known hanging points. In adherence with best practice in reporting on this topic, Guardian Australia has avoided detailed descriptions of suicide. In some instances, so that the full ramifications of coronial recommendations can be understood, we have made the decision to identify types and locations of ligature points. We have done this only in instances where we feel the public interest in this information being available to readers is high. In one 2018 New South Wales case an inmate known only as GS had warned officers he wished to kill himself, begged for psychiatric review for months, and was placed into a cell at Goulburn jail with a hanging point that had been used in five previous hanging deaths. That ligature point has since been covered. In another, an inmate assessed as having a high chronic risk of self-harm, and who had attempted suicide months earlier, in 2007 was placed into a cell at Sydney's Long Bay jail with what a coroner described as an 'obvious hanging point'. Staff at Arthur Gorrie correctional centre in Brisbane were told that an inmate had 'expressed an intention to commit suicide by hanging if the opportunity arose'. In October 2007 that inmate was placed into a medical unit that contained an obvious hanging point that had been used by another inmate in an attempted suicide just two months earlier. The hanging point was allowed to remain, despite one guard telling his superiors it needed 'urgent attention before we do have a suicide hanging'. The overwhelming majority of hangings from known ligatures points involved inmates on remand. Thirty-six of the 57 inmates were on remand, or awaiting trial or sentencing, which is known to be a time of elevated risk for mental ill health. Most people who experience incarceration have mental health problems but investment in prison mental health care is 'woefully inadequate', according to Stuart Kinner, the head of the Justice Health Group at Curtin University and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. The fact that prisoners do not have access to Medicare 'is a somewhat perverse situation', Kinner says. 'We have a system that concentrates a very high burden of mental health issues and simultaneously almost uniquely excludes those people from a key source of funding for mental health care.' It is unlikely that Australia will ever be able to make all areas in all prisons 'ligature free', he says. 'Therefore, we don't just prevent suicide by removing ligatures, we prevent suicide by providing care and connection.' Ed Petch led the State Forensic Mental Health Service in Western Australia before returning to clinical work as a psychiatrist in Hakea – the state's main remand prison. He says that while the removal of known ligature points is important, improving access to health services should be the primary focus, in and out of prison. 'We had more mentally ill people in the prison than Graylands hospital,' he says, referring to the state's main mental health hospital. It has 109 beds. Hakea housed 1,143 men in mid-2024. Between 2018 and 2023, Petch says he saw more than 12 people every day. 'They weren't adequate mental health evaluations,' he says. 'It was quick in, see what the people are like, decide what treatment to give them and see them in a few weeks' time, if I was lucky. 'The rate of mental illness – acute mental illness and psychosis and depression and loads of mental health disorders – was absolutely vast.' A scathing report published in February by WA's Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services emphasised that Hakea is overcapacity and a prison in crisis. After a 2024 visit, the inspector, Eamon Ryan, formed a view that prisoners in Hakea were being treated 'in a manner that was cruel, inhuman, or degrading' and noted suicides, suicide attempts and assaults. There were 13 attempted suicides in the first quarter of that year, the same number as took place in the whole of 2023. Physical and mental health services 'were overwhelmed', with a nurse-to-prisoner ratio of approximately one to 86, and only three full time-equivalent psychiatrist positions for the state's entire prison system. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Often the most severely mentally ill people are swept up by police, Petch says. 'The courts can't send them to hospital because they are full – or too disturbed – and cannot release them to no address or back to the streets so have no option but to remand them into custody where it's assumed they'll get the care they need. But that assumption is quite often false.' The WA Department of Justice said it was 'expanding the range of services provided to meet the needs of an increased prisoner population, including those with complex mental health issues'. This includes 36 beds in a new mental health support unit. A statewide program to remove ligature points had been running since 2005, a spokesperson said. Experts largely agree that a focus on hanging points, at the expense of all other problems, would be dangerous. Programs to modify cell design are expensive and can leave rooms inhospitable and cold, something that in turn may cause a deterioration in inmates' mental health. But Neil Morgan, a former WA inspector of custodial services, says a balance must be struck. 'I came across examples where changes were being made to cells … where the new beds were riddled with hanging points,' he says. 'Now that struck me as absolutely ludicrous in this day and age. Changes were only made after I raised my concerns.' Darren Brandon was a brilliant mechanic before his brain injury, Steve says. He had a coffee machine at his workshop and loved to host visitors and chat. 'He worked on Porsches and BMWs, all the high-end stuff,' he says. 'But he could work on anything.' But the motorbike accident hit him hard. The coroner noted his repeated attempts at suicide and self-harm. 'The up and down, the depression – this was the side-effects of his brain injury,' Steve says. '[Some days] he could go back to being like a standup comedian. I mean, he was so sharp and just witty and funny.' After the family home was sold, Darren began a residential rehabilitation program but left, and was reported to police as a missing person. When he went to a police station accompanied by a case manager, he was taken into custody due to a missed court date. Prison staff were not fully aware of his history of self-harm. This meant he was given a lower risk rating and was placed in a unit with a known hanging point and which was not under hourly observation. The coroner overseeing the inquest found that the design of Darren's cell was the 'proximate cause' of his death. He wrote that the 'rail inside the cell was known to be a ligature point well prior to Darren's death'. A spokesperson for Victoria's Department of Justice and Community Safety said the state's prisons had strong measures in place to reduce self-harm and suicide, including the use of on-site specialist mental health staff and training in the identification of at-risk inmates. Inmates are now required to undergo a mental health risk assessment within 24 hours of arriving in custody and are seen by a mental health professional within two hours of being identified at risk of self-harm. The state government has aimed to build all new cells in accordance with safer design principles for more than 20 years. 'The Victorian Government continues to invest in modern prison facilities to improve the rehabilitation and safety of people in custody,' the spokesperson said. Steve and his wife, Annie, keep a photo of Darren on their fridge. There are so many what-ifs. So many moments when something could have gone differently. 'If he'd been assessed properly, they would have said, 'Oh, this guy's had some attempts in the past, brain injury … OK, let's put him in a safer spot where there's no ligature points,'' Steve says. 'He'd still be alive.' Annie says: 'The system certainly failed him, and us as a family.' In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Bombshell development after innocent dancer was killed in horrific botched gangland house fire
A home has been raided by police as they continue to hunt for the killers of an innocent dancer who fell victim to a bungled underworld house fire. Katie Tangey, 27, died while she was house-sitting at her brother's Dover Street home, in the western Melbourne suburb of Truganina, on January 16 when two people set the townhouse alight. Ms Tangey, who performed burlesque under the stage name Vivien May-Royale, was tragically left trapped inside to die while the arsonists, believed to be aged between 25 and 30, fled the scene. Police have now released footage of Arson and Explosives Squad detectives raiding a home in Dandenong on Thursday morning in a huge breakthrough. Several mobile phones were seized, which will now be forensically analysed in an effort to identity the killers. The raid followed a public appeal for information held at a police information caravan on the same street the fire took place in Truganina in April. Back in February, Victoria Police revealed it's believed the fire was likely linked to Victoria's ongoing tobacco wars, with the arson attack a targeted one but at the wrong address. Ms Tangey, who has been remembered by loved ones as a 'beautiful soul' was completely innocent and had no links with the illicit tobacco trade. CCTV of the fire showed on January 16 shortly after 2am, two people got out of a dark coloured vehicle, similar to a BMW X3 or X5, parked outside the Dover Street home. An explosion was heard and the pair fled the scene in the same vehicle. Emergency services responded to reports of the fire made by Ms Tangey as she was inside the house about 2.30am. The 27-year-old dancer and her brother's golden retriever, Sunny, died at the scene and the three-storey townhouse was completely destroyed. Her brother Ethan Tangey and his wife Brooke were just days into their honeymoon when the fire took place. CCTV captured the vehicle the killers fled the scene in travelling north on Forsyth Road in Truganina at approximately 2.12am. Detectives have confirmed they are 'absolutely determined' to provide Ms Tangey's family with 'closure and justice'. Arson and Explosives Squad's Detective Inspector Chris Murray said: 'I know Katie's family would want nothing more than to see her live out the whole life she had ahead of her, but the least we can do is make sure those responsible for this tragedy are held accountable for their actions. 'I would like to thank those who have already provided information to us via Crime Stoppers, but please, we need you to come forward with additional information. 'We know this is solvable, and we know we are getting closer. If you know absolutely anything, I cannot implore you enough to find it in yourself to do the right thing and come forward.' Ms Tangey's mother, Tracey, previously said she was 'broken' following the death of her daughter. 'It is with a heavy heart (that) I let you all know my beautiful baby girl passed away in a targeted house fire yesterday morning at 2am,' she said. 'I am completely broken and don't know how we are going to heal from this devastating news. If you could all remember our beautiful soul in your own way. 'Rest my baby bub, mum loves you more than you will ever know, you are and always will be my best friend and the love of my life. My heart will be forever broken.'
The Guardian
4 days ago
- The Guardian
Crossbenchers call for federal intervention after ‘deeply shocking' revelations about prison deaths
Key crossbenchers have called for the federal government to intervene to drive reforms to state prison systems after revelations that 57 Australians died from hanging points that were known to authorities but not removed. A Guardian Australia investigation on Tuesday revealed that inaction to remove known hanging points from 19 prisons across the country had caused a shocking death toll, more than 30 years after state governments promised to make prisons safe in the wake of the Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission. In one case, 10 inmates hanged themselves from the same type of ligature point at Brisbane's Arthur Gorrie prison over almost 20 years, despite early warnings that it be immediately addressed. Guardian Australia has spent five months investigating the deadly toll of Australia's inaction to remove hanging points from its jails, a key recommendation of the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. The main finding – that 57 inmates died using known ligature points that had not been removed – was made possible by an exhaustive examination of coronial records relating to 248 hanging deaths spanning more than 20 years. Reporters combed through large volumes of coronial records looking for instances where a hanging point had been used repeatedly in the same jail. They counted any death that occurred after prison authorities were made aware of that particular hanging point. Warnings were made via a prior suicide or suicide attempt, advice from their own staff or recommendations from coroners and other independent bodies. Guardian Australia also logged how many of the 57 inmates were deemed at risk of self-harm or had attempted suicide before they were sent into cells with known hanging points. In adherence with best practice in reporting on this topic, Guardian Australia has avoided detailed descriptions of suicide. In some instances, so that the full ramifications of coronial recommendations can be understood, we have made the decision to identify types and locations of ligature points. We have done this only in instances where we feel the public interest in this information being available to readers is high. In another, four inmates were able to hang themselves from the same hanging point at the Adelaide Remand Centre after the state government was explicitly warned to either remove it or minimise its risk. In many cases, prisoners who were known suicide risks – like Gavin Ellis, a beloved son whose mother still mourns his loss – were sent into cells with hanging points that had been used in prior deaths. The revelations prompted immediate calls from crossbenchers for the Albanese government to show national leadership on the issue and pressure state governments to engage in reform of their justice and prison systems. The independent senator David Pocock said the cases were 'deeply shocking' and highlight 'a widespread failure in our prison system'. 'I would support more federally coordinated action to better address these persistent failures, whether through a Senate inquiry or action by national cabinet,' he said. The Greens justice spokesperson, David Shoebridge, said the 57 deaths showed Australia's prison system was 'fundamentally broken and killing people, even though governments have been on notice for decades'. He said it was time for the federal government to intervene. 'Thirty-four years after the Royal Commission, First Nations people are still dying from government inaction and broken promises,' he said. 'It's impossible to imagine something more awful than families losing their loved ones because a hanging point, that the authorities knew had killed before, still hadn't been removed.' The deaths disproportionately affected Indigenous Australians, who remain vastly overrepresented in the system. Seven Indigenous Australians hanged themselves in 2023-24, a number not recorded since 2000-01. The independent senator Lidia Thorpe said Guardian Australia's findings revealed 'shocking negligence'. She said the federal government could not keep 'pretending this is just a state issue'. 'That's not only misleading – it's a shameful abdication of responsibility,' Thorpe said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'The Prime Minister needs to show leadership. These are preventable deaths. This is life or death. And it's long past time for action.' Thorpe called for the coronial system to be overhauled, and 'real accountability mechanisms' to be put in place. She also wants to see someone tasked with the responsibility of overseeing and driving the implementation of the royal commission recommendations. 'Thirty years after the Royal Commission, people are still dying in exactly the same way. Governments are sitting on their hands while our people die in these brutal facilities,' Thorpe said. 'Implementing the Royal Commission recommendations won't just help First Nations people – it will save lives across the entire prison system.' The independent MP and former barrister Zali Steggall said the deaths represented a 'systemic human rights failure' that 'demands immediate action'. 'I call on the government for firm national leadership,' she said. 'There urgently needs to be commitment and a timeline for the implementation for reform and previous recommendation. 'It's been more than 30 years since the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and countless more inquiries, and little has changed. It's clear that a step change on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy is needed by the government who have done very little to push progress since the referendum.' In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support. Other international helplines can be found at
