Amid a series of extraordinary claims, Ben Roberts-Smith’s former private investigator has told a court he triggered a police investigation into an “unhinged” SAS soldier, along with many other indiscretions.
They includes watching woman as she allegedly faked an abortion and dressing as a bartender to spy on network Seven employees, all on behalf of Mr Roberts-Smith.
When the relationship came to an end, the private investigator told the court he called Mr Roberts-Smith a “weak dog” for compromising him in an alleged plot to threaten former SAS soldiers.
Private eye and former policeman, John McLeod has denied leaking information to the media. This was after the court heard he was closely communicating with Mr Roberts-Smith’s detractors who are accused of feeding private information to journalists.
Mr Roberts-Smith is now suing Nine and its journalists over a series of articles claiming he committed war crimes in Afghanistan, bullied his squadmates and abused his “mistress”.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied all the allegations. Insisting he only killed enemy combatants within the rules of war, did not cheat on his wife and he abhors domestic violence.
High profile private investigator John McLeod, a former fixer for Mr Roberts-Smith, was called to give evidence in the defamation trial on Wednesday.
Mr McLeod told the court he met Mr Roberts-Smith and his wife, Emma Roberts, while working security for a five-star hotel in Brisbane.
Mr McLeod became a fixer for Mr Roberts-Smith, running errands and organising mundane elements of their lives like concert tickets and repairs to their new home in Queensland.
In recent years, Mr McLeod had turned against Mr Roberts-Smith and was in recent contact with the SAS veteran’s ex wife, as well as being accused of leaking to Nine.
By the start of 2018, Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court, his marriage was on the rocks and he was dating a woman known as Person 17.
Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith was still with his wife at the time and punched Person 17 after they had gone to a ritzy VIP party in Canberra.
The court has heard Person 17 had travelled to Brisbane for an abortion after telling Mr Roberts-Smith she was carrying his child. Mr McLeod told the court Mr Roberts-Smith sent him to surveille the woman as she went to Greenslopes clinic for the termination.
Person 17 did not show up at the airport or the clinic but Mr McLeod said he eventually found her at the nearby Greenslopes hospital which he said does not perform abortions.
Mr McLeod told the court he filmed Person 17, who looked like “a normal woman”, coming out of the hospital and sent the video to Mr Roberts-Smith.
Mr Roberts-Smith in his evidence last year, told the court Person 17 met him in a hotel room minutes later and confessed she did not have an abortion. She had the abortion earlier, she allegedly told Mr Roberts-Smith, and he ended the volatile relationship.
“(It) gave me great concern that I was being manipulated so I’d stay in the relationship.”
Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team have claimed his ex-wife and her best friend, Danielle Scott, leaked private information to Nine ahead of a damaging 60 Minutes program.
In court on Wednesday, they began probing Mr McLeod’s relationship with Ms Scott in recent months.
“Letting you know I’m thinking of you, we’ll have a drink in Bali over this,” Ms Scott said on March 31.
A few days later, following the program, Ms Scott again checked in on Mr McLeod who responded, “They will come for me!!”.
“Do you think it was enough to wake Kerry?” Mr McLeod added.
Mr McLeod told the court it was likely he was speaking about Kerry Stokes, head of Seven and Mr Roberts-Smith’s financial backer, friend and supporter.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers are claiming he worked with Ms Scott to jeopardise the SAS veteran’s relationship with Mr Stokes.
The 60 Minutes episode included secret yet legal recordings of a conversation with Mr Roberts-Smith and others. Mr McLeod is believed to be present at the meeting, the court has heard.
Mr McLeod told the court he “despises the media” and denied he was a source.
Image: Nine News
