Casefile True Crime - Case 10: Peter Shellard

Episode Date: March 12, 2016

The 7th of May 2005 was a typical run of the mill day for Shirley Withers. She worked the full day in her Melbourne fashion boutique and once the shop had closed, she bought a take-out meal and headed to the North Caufield mansion of her millionaire boyfriend Peter Shellard… For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-10-peter-shellard

Have you ever tried BBQ on BBQ? Picture this. Freshly prepared crispy seasoned chicken that's tossed in a smoky barbecue glaze and topped with a creamy barbecue sauce. Can't picture it? Well you can try it now at Tim's. Get our new BBQ crispy chicken loaded bowls and wraps for a limited time. The 7th of May 2005 began as a typical run of the mill day for Shirley Withers. She worked the full day in her fashion boutique and once the shop had closed she bought a takeout meal and then headed to a boyfriend's house in Caulfield in Melbourne, Australia. But what she found when she arrived there about 7pm was anything but run of the mill. I had so much trouble with this money. This money really is a thrill. This is for anybody after this. This is for that tiny 60 cent. Peter Shellard was a 56 year old self made millionaire. He lived in a luxury North Caulfield mansion worth about $6 million at the time.

He was the type of person that everybody had a story about. He was described as a bit of an oddball, a little bit out there. Many referred to him as the eccentric millionaire. And he lived up to that tag when he appeared on the Today Tonight TV show and outlined his plans to purchase the entire Rolls Royce factory worth about $16 billion. He said in that interview, well I probably am a bit mad, but it's nice to be a bit mad, isn't it? He made this fortune in real estate and then he bought into a successful high-end car dealership specialising in BMWs, Jaguars and his favourite Rolls Royce. He ended up being the director of several companies and would go on to own numerous residential and commercial properties. At the time of his death his estate was estimated to be worth around $15 million. Not only was Peter a successful businessman, he was known to be a ruthless businessman. He wasn't the type of person you would want to get on the wrong side of. He never resorted to violence. His method of battle was to try and financially cripple people. He would file lawsuits at the drop of a hat.

If there was a problem, Peter was suing. In the year 2000, Peter, aged 51 at the time, met Shirley Withers, who was 33 years old. Shirley isn't the type of woman you picture a multi-millionaire property developer and luxury car dealer going for. She wasn't your glamour type, so to speak. Regardless, Peter was smitten when he first met Shirley. Peter had previously been married twice and had three daughters. Shirley herself had been divorced once and had two sons. Their relationship blossomed and moved quickly. All of a sudden Shirley found herself in a completely new lifestyle filled with every luxury she could imagine. Peter was smitten, so whatever Shirley wanted, she got. Peter bought her an upmarket fashion boutique in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton. Shirley ran the business, but Peter financed everything.

And it wasn't long before Peter had another surprise for Shirley, a brand new house. Being divorced twice, Peter was in no hurry to move in together, so he stayed living in his Caulfield mansion, and Shirley could have her own house to live in. Shirley of course had a key for Peter's mansion and vice versa. Shirley was a bookkeeper, so Peter decided to make use of her skills. He put her in charge of the books at his luxury car dealership. On the 7th of May 2005, Shirley withers spent the full day working in her fashion boutique in Brighton. At the end of the day, she finished up all the book work, bought a takeout meal, and then headed to Peter's mansion in Caulfield. When she walked inside, she found Peter dead on the floor. He had been tied up with dog leashes, electrical cords and ropes. His mouth had been gagged shut. That's when Shirley made that frantic triple local.

Detectives arrived soon after, and they were confronted with one of the most bizarre crime scenes they had ever seen. They looked more like a movie set than real life. It's here that the secret world of Peter Shellard started to make a very public appearance. There was a great deal of bondage equipment at the scene. There were leather masks, leather outfits, whips, dog leads, chains, harnesses, belts and other equipment. The initial impression of the crime scene was that it appeared to be a sexual encounter that had gone horribly wrong. Peter had bruising all around his body as well as facial injuries. Had somebody gone too far?

A thorough examination of the crime scene was conducted, and the police were in luck. A bloody fingerprint was found on Peter's home phone, and a cigarette butt was found in the kitchen. Did these belong to Peter, or were they turning out to be vodal clues? Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing straight away. Detectives would have to wait until the results came back from the lab, which could take a little while. In the meantime, they had to get to work to find out what exactly happened to Peter. The first obvious person to question was Shirley Withers, Peter's girlfriend. She had found Peter dead and made the frantic emergency telephone call.

They asked her about Peter's interest in bondage, but she was unable to offer them too much information. Peter had asked her to participate in bondage previously, but she declined. Shirley told detectives Peter respected her decision and didn't pursue it any further with her. She was completely oblivious to any acts of bondage Peter was participating in. Detectives discovered that Shirley stood to gain nothing out of Peter's death. With the exception of $1 each, he left to each of his two ex-wives. Peter's entire estate was left to his daughters. This removed a very big, very common motive for murder.

As far as detectives could tell, Shirley had no other motive to harm him. She appeared shocked and heartbroken, and her actions didn't raise suspicion at all. Detectives started to look elsewhere for motive and opportunity. Despite what the crime scene looked like, they weren't completely sold on the theory that Peter had died as a result of a bondage session gone wrong. They were more than open to the possibility that the crime scene had been staged to make it look that way. They started diving into Peter's past business relationships and looking at the long list of people Peter had filed lawsuits against. Despite the thinking being there was a long list of people with a reason to harm Peter, detectives really didn't find anything significant.

No obvious suspects jumped out at them. This led detectives to go back to the bondage gone wrong theory. And if this is what happened, they needed to establish who Peter's partner or partners were on the night of his death. Despite his partner Shirley saying that Peter hadn't pursued his interest in bondage any further with her, detectives soon found that it hadn't stopped Peter pursuing his interest in bondage elsewhere. He was very much into it. He had paid several visits to the Hellfire Club in Melbourne. At the Hellfire Club, you could do things such as get tied up, get whipped, have hot wax poured over you and so on.

Alternatively, you could do these things to somebody else if you so desired. This was useful information, but again, detectives still couldn't come up with any suspects from the bondage angle. A few days later, the autopsy result came back and it would have a major impact on the investigation. It was found that Peter suffered repeated blunt force trauma to the head, resulting in a fractured skull. And not only that, Peter's body had been pumped full of heroin. Peter wasn't a user of heroin. In fact, he wasn't a user of drugs at all. He was known to be quite anti-drugs. The theory that he may have died as a result of an overzealous bondage session was shot out of the water. It was clear Peter had been deliberately beaten and then given a hot shot, a hit of heroin designed to kill.

There was now no doubt, somebody had intended to kill Peter. And it wasn't long after this, the detectives got the break in the investigation. They had matched the bloody fingerprint and it didn't belong to Peter. The fingerprint matched a girl by the name of Sophia Stupas. Not only that, her DNA was found on the cigarette that had been left in the kitchen. Sophia was known to police. So was her boyfriend, Stanley. They were small-time petty criminals and known drug addicts. They were both particularly fond of heroin.

But despite their long criminal records, neither was known for violence. It was all drugs and property theft type stuff to support their drug habit. But what was interesting for police was that Sophia had a history in bondage. Police knew this after bondage equipment was found at a place during a police raid that had been conducted previously for an unrelated matter. Sophia had definitely been at the crime scene and wherever Sophia went, Stanley was usually there as well. Their involvement could explain both the bondage angle and the heroin angle. Police now had their prime suspects. But as detectives were getting ready to make their move on Sophia and Stanley, the case took an unexpected twist.

A telephone call had just been intercepted by police and this telephone call had massive significance for the murder investigation. A contract had just been put out for the lives of Sophia and Stanley. While they both had long criminal records, they were small-time, low-level drug addicts, petty criminals. They didn't mix in the circles where people put hits out on each other. But it turns out it wasn't fellow criminals that wanted them dead. The hit was ordered by Shirley Withers. This raised some very interesting questions. How the hell did Shirley Withers know Sophia and Stanley were involved in Peter's death?

Had somebody leaked the information to her? Or did Shirley know more than she was letting on? Either way, detectives had to find out. So they sent in Victor the hitman. It was of course not a real hitman. He was an undercover police officer. Victor tells Shirley that he can do the job for $10,000. But he needs photos of them and their addresses.

Shirley gave Victor this information handed over photos and a cash deposit. She said to Victor, They are the ones that killed my Peter and they have to pay for what they've done. I want blood. Detectives quickly made their move on Sophia and Stanley. Although Shirley had just hired a police officer to kill them, they weren't too sure if maybe she'd hired a second person as well. So they arrested them and took them back to the police station

to find out exactly what they knew. During the initial stages of questioning, both of them deny having any knowledge about Peter's death. They put up the wall of silence. They put up the wall of silence. They put up the wall of silence. But that soon changed when police told them Shirley had just put a hit out on them. When they learnt that, they couldn't talk quick enough.

They admitted to police that they were there the night that Peter died and they know what happened to him. But according to them, they weren't there alone. They both named a third person who was there with them. Detective started to take a much closer look at Shirley Willis. She was born in India before migrating to Australia. She suffered abuse at just nine years of age and this led her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

After the birth of her second son, she was in and out of hospital for over a year, suffering severe post-natal depression. And she ended up making three suicide attempts. Detective started going through the books of Shirley's high-end fashion boutique. From the outside looking in, everything seemed to suggest the shop was successful and doing quite well. But a closer look at the finances showed that the business was actually going backwards and was in significant debt.

The business owed close to $300,000. The truth was Shirley had no idea how to run a business. She kept ordering high-end stock, despite not being able to sell the stock she currently had on hand. But it didn't worry her. She had Peter's large bank account to steal from. As detectives dug further, they found that Shirley had been stealing from Peter to keep the business afloat and to allow her to keep living the life of luxury she had become accustomed to.

She started writing checks to herself using Peter's bank account. In total, she stole around $900,000 from him. A few weeks before his death, Peter started to catch on to what Shirley had been doing. He called his accountant to check his books. His accountant told him there was more than enough evidence for Shirley to be charged. Peter was furious. He immediately froze Shirley out of all his accounts. Shirley's life was at risk.

He had no idea what he was doing. He had no idea what he was doing. He froze Shirley out of all his accounts. Shirley's life of luxury had just come to an abrupt halt. Not only that, Peter put Shirley's house on the market. This stung Shirley and she started to formulate a plan to stop Peter from cutting her off. She befriended Stanley and Sophia. They came from a world far away from Shirley's upmarket lifestyle.

Shirley essentially groomed them for the job she had planned. She gave them thousands of dollars in cash in order to buy their friendship and trust. She also won them over with stories detailing how Peter forced her to participate in bondage sessions. She said that he tied her up and abused her. Stanley and Sophia lashed on. Shirley was throwing money at them and they saw her as an easy target. They would do whatever she wanted. Stanley and Sophia told police everything in their interviews.

It became clear to them that Shirley had set them up and had planned all along for them to take the rap for Peter's murder. They both said they were of the belief that they were just going to rough Peter up for cutting off Shirley's money supplier and forced him to sign some documents for her. This included him signing the house she lived in over to her so we couldn't sell it. On the night of May 6th 2005 Shirley picked up Stanley and Sophia and drove over to Peter's house. Shirley still had a key to his place so they got in easily. They made their way to Peter's bedroom where he was found asleep. They immediately jumped on him and started the attack. During the initial struggle Peter was able to bite Sophia's finger which is what would cause the bloody fingerprint to be left later.

Sophia responded by belting him over the head. Peter was knocked unconscious but he wasn't dead. They dragged him out of his bed down to the floor and tied him up. Shirley then injected Peter with heroin. They left the house but then Shirley returned the next day to give Peter another shot of heroin just to make sure he wouldn't wake up. Shirley then set the crime scene up to make it look as though Peter had been engaging in a bondage act. She went to work for the day then returned that night where she made that fake frantic triple O call. Police and emergency services.

The police were also looking for a way to get him out of the house. They were also looking for a way to get him out of the house. They were also looking for a way to get him out of the house. They were also looking for a way to get him out of the house. Shirley made that fake frantic triple O call. Police and emergency services. There's blood everywhere, is that correct? Listen to me, is there blood everywhere?

Is he conscious and breathing? So now it was the word of two drug addicted petty criminals against the word of an upmarket boutique shop owner. Shirley continued to deny she had any involvement in Peter's death. So police arranged for Victor the hitman to pay her another visit. And they struck gold. The undercover police and emergency services were looking for a way to get him out of the house. They were also looking for a way to get him out of the house. So they arranged for Victor the hitman to pay her another visit.

And they struck gold. The undercover police officer expertly got Shirley to confess her involvement in Peter's murder. Shirley was arrested soon after. I put it to you that you were in fact involved in the planning and execution of a plan that resulted in Peter Schillard's death. What do you say to that? I have no comment to make. Shirley refused to say anything to detectives. So Shirley withers ordered a hit on Sophia and Stanley so they wouldn't talk and implicate her in the murder.

Which is kind of ironic. Because they didn't start talking until they found out Shirley had put a hit out on them. Although to be fair it was still early days and it's doubtful they would have continued to stay silent about Shirley's involvement. They probably would have started to look for a deal at some stage. Sophia and Stanley both pled guilty to manslaughter. In exchange for testifying against Shirley they were both given reduced sentences of six years jail with a non-parallel period of three and a half years. Shirley pled guilty to hiring a hitman conspiring to kill Sophia and Stanley but pled not guilty to the murder of Peter. After a six-week trial Shirley was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 26 years in jail with a non-parallel period of 18 years.

But Shirley thought she could do better so she appealed this sentence. She argued that it was never her intention to kill Peter and that she had merely wanted to teach him a lesson. She argued she had no way of knowing how much heroin would kill Peter. Despite the brutal and premeditated nature of the attack, the staging of the crime scene, her attempts to have the people she hired for the job killed so they couldn't talk, she managed to convince the appeal judges and have her charge downgraded from murder to manslaughter. Here's what one of the judges had to say. The evidence fell short in our view of establishing an intention to kill or cause serious injury. Even though in the weeks leading up to Peter's death Shirley had written a new will that she intended to get Peter to sign.

The new will still left $1 each to Peter's ex-wives but left the remainder of his estate to Shirley. For her role in the brutal murder of Peter Shellard, Shirley Withers was sentenced to 13 years jail with a non-parallel period of just 9 years. She is eligible for release this year. You