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By Wayne Flower, Melbourne Correspondent 01:06 14 May 2023, updated 08:30 15 May 2023

A chess teacher once suspected of being the notorious Mr Cruel has backed calls for detectives to interview a woman who claims she knows where the real killer lives.

Karmein Chan, a 13-year-old private schoolgirl snatched from her home after her sisters were forced into a wardrobe, was shot three times in the head by a man later dubbed Mr Cruel.

Christian Bennett had taught chess at the same school both Karmein and Nicola Lynas - who was abducted and released by Mr Cruel - attended atPresbyterian Ladies College in the 1980s.

He had been an early suspect in the case due to his ability to speak the two Chinese languages spoken by Karmein, was known to have visited Hong Kong many times and had a Hong Kong Cantonese girlfriend at the time of the crimes.

'Needless-to-say, this caused police a great deal of excitement but I had alibis fortunately for the last two crimes,' Mr Bennett told Daily Mail Australia.

Daily Mail Australia reported this month a woman, who believes she lived next door to the killer, claims she is being ignored by 'stubborn' homicide squad detectives.

'Even if they thought the information wasn't credible, it's a basic failure to do their job,' the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

It can be revealed the woman's claims form part of a 6000-word statement she provided to Crime Stoppers three years ago in the hope Victoria Police homicide squad detectives would interview her about the cold case.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia a homicide squad detective spoke to the woman on the phone, however determined the information she supplied via Crime Stoppers was not able to progress the investigation.

Mr Bennett, who last year exposed the official 1991 joint Victoria Police and FBI profile on the case to be flawed, claimed Victorian detectives needed to interview the woman.

'Police should have checked out this lady's story.Just as a matter of good public relations, police should have done more to check out her story,' he said.

'Ive complained to multiple police chief commissioners that a do nothing approach loses the narrative to others by default.

'Since 2016, almost all the announcements and discoveries on the Mr Cruel cases have been made by private researchers, general public, witnesses and or media. Police have done little and at times been an obstruction to information.'

Investigators had worked under the mistaken assertion that the home invasion and three abductions had all happened during school holidays.

Christian Bennett said that1991 profile was used for years and only recently had its credibility destroyed in a Herald Sunarticle by legendary crime reporter Andrew Rule.

'I wrote a 800 page MSS on the Mr Cruel cold case crimes, of which Victoria Police has a copy (probably gathering dust).

'It covers physical evidence such as railways lines (closed down, planned or operating) being near most of the crime sites, to left field things like apparent circumstantial connections with popular media such as books and TV shows,' he said.

Mr Bennett said he had 'paid the price' for going public with his views on the Mr Cruel investigation.

'Almost every serious researcher in the Mr Cruel case has been targeted by trolls, myself included,' he said.

On April 13, 1991,John and Phyllis Chan were at work in their Chinese restaurant leaving daughters Karmein, 13, Karly, nine, and Karen, seven, at home in Templestowe - north east of Melbourne.

Armed with a knife Mr Cruel forced Karly and Karen into a wardrobe and disappeared into the night with Karmein.

Karmein's remains were found near a substation known as the Thomastown Terminal Station about a year after she vanished.

Mr Cruel's first victim was not removed from her house and was instead assaulted just metres away from her parents, who'd been bound and gagged.

But the next three were all abducted, two would return home but Karmein would never be seen again.

The new 'witness' told Daily Mail Australia she had buried the traumatic events of the time deep within herself for decades until it all come flooding back.

'It's definitely a match for Karmein. There's no way it's not,' the woman said. 'And regardless, why haven't police interviewed me?'

In 2016, Victoria Police announced a $1 million reward for anyone who could provide information leading to the conviction of Karmein's killer.

The woman believes that reward combined with the historic cost of the Mr Cruel investigation is behind the homicide squad's decision.

'Money appears to be the real pressure point now with this investigation,' the woman said. 'They're paranoid about people just wanting to get their hands on the reward.'

Mr Cruel's brazen attacks were so meticulously planned and committed in such a calculated fashion he was initially known as 'Mr Cool'.

None of the surviving victims ever saw Mr Cruel's face, which was hidden by a chilling black balaclava with white stitching around the eyes and mouth.

The woman claims Mr Cruel did not act alone and believes his accomplice is the man detectives believe is Mr Cruel.

Mr Bennett's personal research on Mr Cruel was aired in part last year on Channel Nine'sUnder Investigationprogram.

The programproduced an image of a man it believed was Mr Cruel, suggesting he may have worked or posed as a substation employee, or lived closeby.

The home detective correctly identified that each of the four attacks seemed to have occurred close to high-voltage power lines or substations.

Mr Bennett said he had experienced great difficulty in getting Victoria Police to accept information and 'correct its own mistakes'.

'I and countless others have discovered when putting something forward to police - that they may not wish to even contemplate - they will use mistakes to discredit the submission,' he said.

'I have advised a number of people who wish to submit information to police to have it independently checked out for everything from spelling mistakes to factual errors.'

Mr Bennett claimedsome police doubt the Karmein Chan kidnapping was the work of Mr Cruel due to its apparent lack of sophistication.

'Trust me, where the offender is said by two journalists, in a book called Rats, to have exited with Karmein, over the wall into Church Road, the people who lived opposite could only have seen them with great difficulty though the only small window on that side of their house, that was in their bedroom. This home has long since been pulled down,' he said.

'Another police quibble was that the only reasonable (to them), escape route was left down from Church Road into Foote Street. This seemed like an unnecessary risk, as the offender would not be able to see over the hill and could have been subject to a road block.

'There must have been some embarrassment when I pointed out in 2013/14 that the offender may have used an unmarked SEC electricity utility road, which doubled as a walking track but was not marked on the Melway Street Directory at that time.'

Mr Bennet claimed the killer could have circled back through Sarah Crescent, crossed Serpells Road onto the apparently closed road system starting at County Terrace before following the SEC high voltage transmission lines, which could also prevent low flying helicopters getting too close.

'This route makes more sense if the offender is headed south,' he said.

Police have long believed the killer went north.

Anyone with information is urged to call crime stoppers on 1800 333 000.

See the original post:
Chess teacher once suspected of being Mr Cruel backs new witness - Daily Mail