Disgraced? The cop at the centre of Melbourne’s Gangland Wars. Paul Dale. 2013.

Paul Dale grew up in Yackandandah wanting to be a cop. He achieved his dream and became a detective who thrived on catching crooks. But in 2003, things started to go wrong. Another detective was arrested burgling a drug house with an informer, Terry Hodgson, and in return for a lighter sentence, Hodgson named Dale as an accomplice. Then Hodgson was murdered, and Dale was arrested as a suspect. There followed a nightmare that lasted nearly ten years.

While the gangland wars raged, Victoria Police pursued Dale, rewarding hitmen and drug lords for statements against him. He spent seven months in the states most notorious jail, charged with murder on the testimony of killer Carl Williams, and was even accused of organising the murder of Carl Williams in prison. In. 2013, Dale finally came before a jury on perjury charges and was found not guilty on all counts.