A columnist at the centre of a leaks scandal over an investigation into Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial sent the presiding judge a meme comparing him to a powerful Pulp Fiction character before sending her an advance copy of his final report.
The chain of communications between Australian columnist Janet Albrechtsen and former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff KC was released by the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Mr Sofronoff last year chaired a Board of Inquiry (the ACT’s version of a Royal Commission) into the conduct of the police and former Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold in the run-up to Lehrmann’s criminal trial in 2022.
The findings against Drumgold were so damning that he successfully challenged them in court and numerous texts and emails between Sofronoff and Albrechtsen were produced.
The judge hearing Mr. Drumgold’s case found that Mr. Sofronoff’s 273 interactions with Ms. Albrechtsen over a seven-month period gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias in preparing his 300-page investigative report.
Communications between the two show she texted him in May 2023, while the inquest was underway in Canberra, saying: “You may not realise there are memes being made about you. Some memes you might like.”
On June 1, he sent her a meme of himself and Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction, a character who specializes in covering up violent murders.
Australian columnist Janet Albrechtsen had a close relationship with Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff
Pictured: A meme Janet Albrechtsen sent to Waltrer Sofronoff during the ACT Board of Inquiry in 2023
Emails show the couple were introduced by Hedley Thomas, a journalist for The Australian, in February last year, about a month before the hearing began.
“Janet Albrechtsen is a lawyer and longtime conservative columnist for The Oz,” she wrote in an email.
“Several of my left-leaning friends find her very persuasive. In all my experiences with her she has been scrupulously honest and professional.”
‘I think it would be fair to speculate that Janet’s relationship with Lehrmann’s defense team in the Higgins case would be much more rosy than with the prosecution.’
In an additional text, he said Ms Albrechtsen was “happy to collect your writings for you and your research”.
In March, Albrechtsen and Sofronoff had lunch together in Brisbane. The following month, they had an 18-minute phone conversation and she sent him Lehrmann’s contact details.
During the hearing a month later in May, the texts show Albrechtsen asked the judge if he was “allowed to know what was happening during the muted sections.”
Shane Drumgold (pictured) resigned as ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions following the Soronoff Inquiry last year.
In the image: Texts between Janet Albrechtsen and Walter Sofornoff
In the image: Texts between Janet Albrechtsen and Walter Sofronoff
Audio in the courtroom was periodically turned off while private health matters or suppressed topics were being discussed, meaning journalists could not hear or report on those details.
Mr. Sofronoff replied: “I will send you a transcript in the morning.”
He then suggested that Drumgold’s attorney, Mark Tedeschi KC, was “boring.”
The texts and emails also show that Mr. Sofronoff sent Ms. Albrechtsen a series of documents that he labeled “confidential.”
On July 12, Ms. Albrechtsen asked Mr. Sofronoff for “copies of any potential adverse findings” he might make against those who had given testimony at the inquiry to assist her in her report, not for publication.
He replied: “I will. Send me an email… I will get back to you with proposed conclusions.”
Two days later, he texted her to say he would “love an embargoed copy” of her report and asked if she would hand it over to the ACT government by the July 31 deadline.
He replied: “Not before the 31st. Copy embargoed, ok.”
Bruce Lehrmann is pictured outside the Federal Court in Sydney in March 2023
Ms Albrechtsen said: “Any draft chapters would be welcome.”
He sent the final version of the report to her on July 31, days before it was due to be delivered to ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and a week before it was made public.
Once she finished reading it, she texted him to say, “I loved the section toward the end of your report about the presumption of innocence.”
She then gave her advice on how she would structure the report, as a professional writer.
‘My editing side is kicking in now – I’d put it at the beginning – when I read it, I wish I’d read it much earlier: it’s an important and clear exposition of legal principle and form.’
On August 3, The Australian published an article outlining Sofronoff’s full findings, breaking the embargo agreement.