World · East Asia & Pacific · 3 hrs ago
Police investigate whether Perth murder suspect was linked to UK deaths
Gloucestershire police are investigating Simon Rochford's possible links to three unsolved deaths in the UK before he moved to Australia.
The deaths happened in 1989, 1992 and 1993, and the new information came to light during a documentary investigation by Colleen Egan.
Rochford was identified as the likely killer of Pamela Lawrence, who was murdered at her jewellery shop in Perth in 1994.
Andrew Mallard was wrongly convicted of Lawrence's murder, spent 12 years in prison and was freed in 2006.
Rochford was already serving a sentence for murdering his girlfriend when he was named as a person of interest in Lawrence's case; he died by suicide the next day.
Egan's team gave police a dossier about Rochford's time in the English town of Stroud, including information about his proximity to the deaths.
Police are reviewing the previously unsolved cases, but the information does not establish that Rochford committed those crimes.
Police in Gloucestershire are investigating whether Simon Rochford was linked to three unsolved deaths in the UK.
The deaths occurred in 1989, 1992 and 1993, before Rochford moved to Australia.
New information about Rochford’s movements was uncovered by a documentary investigation led by journalist Colleen Egan.
Rochford was previously identified as the likely killer of Pamela Lawrence, who was murdered at her jewellery shop in Perth in 1994.
Andrew Mallard was wrongly convicted of Lawrence’s murder, spent 12 years in prison and was exonerated in 2006.
- Who
- Gloucestershire police are investigating Simon Rochford’s possible links to three unsolved deaths.
- What
- Police are examining information gathered by a documentary investigation into the deaths.
- When
- The deaths occurred in 1989, 1992 and 1993. The documentary investigation and police review are described in an article published on October 31, 2026.
- Where
- The deaths were in the UK; Rochford’s movements were investigated in Stroud, Gloucestershire.
- Why
- The investigation uncovered information placing Rochford in close proximity to the deaths, and police considered him a person of interest.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
One of the three suspicious deaths later examined by the documentary investigation occurred.
A second suspicious death later examined by the documentary investigation occurred.
A third suspicious death later examined by the documentary investigation occurred.
Pamela Lawrence was murdered at her jewellery shop in Mosman Park.
Rochford died by suicide the night after he was named as a person of interest in an ABC television news story.
- UK deaths
- Three suspicious deaths, in 1989, 1992 and 1993
- Lawrence murder
- Mosman Park, 1994
- Wrongful imprisonment
- Andrew Mallard spent 12 years in jail
- Mallard exonerated
- 2006
- Rochford
- Died by suicide in 2006
What people are saying
A lot of what we collected was information that was very new to the Gloucestershire police.
As soon as they [police] saw our dossier, they thought that Simon Rochford was clearly somebody who was of interest to them, who they didn't even realise existed.
From what the police told us, in the UK it was almost unheard of to receive a dossier such as ours and use that to reopen cold cases from decades ago.