Leonard Fraser
{{Short description|Australian serial killer and rapist}}
{{about||the lawyer and political figure in Nova Scotia|Leonard William Fraser}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name=Leonard Fraser
| image=Leonardjohnfraser.jpg
| caption=
| birth_name=Leonard John Fraser
| alias=The Rockhampton Rapist
| birth_date={{Birth date|df=yes|1951|6|27}}
| birth_place=Ingham, Queensland, Australia
| death_date={{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|1|1|1951|6|27}}
| death_place=Princess Alexandra Hospital in Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia
| victims=4–7+
| country=Australia
| states=Queensland
| beginyear=28 December 1998
| endyear=22 April 1999
| apprehended=1999
| penalty=5 × life imprisonment + 25 years
}}
Leonard John Fraser (27 June 1951 – 1 January 2007), also known as The Rockhampton Rapist, was an Australian convicted serial killer.
Biography
Fraser was born in Ingham, Queensland in 1951 and moved to Sydney in 1957. He left school in the 1960s and had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1966, when at age 15 he was sentenced to 12 months in a boys home for stealing. He would spend the following years in and out of jail for theft and various other crimes.{{cite news |url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rockhampton/coroner-to-open-fraser-inquest/news-story/18e9249673fb2f96d11073e8da8e8a71 |title=Coroner to open Fraser inquest |first=Adrian |last=Taylor |date=10 June 2010 |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |access-date=6 April 2023}}
Crimes
Before a life sentence on 7 September 2000 for the abduction, rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, Keyra Steinhardt, in Rockhampton, Queensland, Leonard Fraser had spent almost 20 of the preceding 22 years behind bars for the rape of women. He even raped a terminally ill cancer patient with whom he had been living with in early 1997. He was subsequently charged with four murders. Police found many trophies of his victims in his flat; these included ponytails from three different women which could not be traced to any of his known victims.{{cite journal |url=http://www.pansw.org.au/PolNews/Nov38-52.pdf |title=From Sexual Predator to Murderer |last=Bassingthwaighte |first=Ted |date=November 2006 |journal=Police News |publisher=Police Association of New South Wales |access-date=2 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050615215035/http://pansw.org.au/PolNews/Nov38-52.pdf |archive-date=15 June 2005}}
Fraser originally confessed to five murders in an apparent deal with police to avoid general population in prison, but one of those victims was 14-year-old Natasha Ryan, who was found to be alive and living secretly with her boyfriend in a nearby town after being listed as a missing person for five years.{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2003/s832080.htm |title=Fraser trial judge criticises media commentary |first=Peter |last=McCutcheon |date=14 April 2003 |work=The World Today |publisher=ABC |access-date=2 January 2007}} Although there was an obvious inconsistency with his confessions, his defence did not file for a mistrial. Nor did his defence object to the prosecution using the same confession made in custody, which included the Ryan confession, for three other victims whose remains were found. The Ryan 'murder' was also based on testimony from a fellow prisoner who alleged that Fraser drew detailed maps showing where Ms. Ryan's remains could be located.{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/10/1049567807305.html |title=Victim in murder trial found alive, but three others are definitely dead, say police |date=11 April 2003 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=11 April 2003}} The judge in the case, Justice Brian Ambrose, heavily criticised the media for commenting on the value of confessions to crimes made to police under duress or to other prisoners while in custody, which might have affected the trial.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}
In June 2003, Fraser was sentenced to three indefinite prison terms for the murders of Beverley Leggo and Sylvia Benedetti, and the manslaughter of Julie Turner in the Rockhampton area in 1998 and 1999.{{cite web |url=http://www.mako.org.au/pedofraser.html |title=Leonard John Fraser |last=Doneman |first=Paula |work=Movement Against Kindred Offenders (M.A.K.O) |access-date=2 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061105090916/http://www.mako.org.au/pedofraser.html |archive-date=5 November 2006}}{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/qld/content/2003/s851395.htm |title=Fraser guilty verdict |first=Kim |last=Landers |date=5 September 2003 |work=Stateline Queensland |publisher=ABC |access-date=2 January 2007}} At his trial, the judge described him as a sexual predator who was a danger to the community and his fellow inmates.{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1820028.htm |title=Qld serial killer dies in hospital |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=ABC News |access-date=2 January 2007}}
Death
Fraser was being held at the Wolston Correctional Centre and, after complaining of chest pains, he was taken to a secure section of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Woolloongabba, on 26 December 2006,{{cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20977923-1248,00.html |title=Serial killer in hospital after heart scare |first=Paula |last=Doneman |date=27 December 2006 |website=News.com.au |access-date=2 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218165802/http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C20977923-1248%2C00.html |archive-date=18 February 2008}} where he died of a heart attack on 1 January 2007.
Media
Fraser's murders are the focus of the Crime Investigation Australia series 2 episode "The Predator: Leonard John Fraser"{{cite web |url=http://www.citv.com.au/microsite/CrimeInvestigationAustralia/episodes/episode.aspx?id=25 |title=Leonard John Fraser |website=Crime Investigation Australia |access-date=26 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711122538/http://www.citv.com.au/microsite/CrimeInvestigationAustralia/episodes/episode.aspx?id=25 |archive-date=11 July 2009}} and Crime Stories episode "Leonard Fraser: the Rockhampton Rapist".
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{Cite book |last=Doneman |first=Paula |title=Things a killer would know: The true story of Leonard Fraser |publisher=Allen & Unwin |date=June 2006 |isbn=1-74114-231-8 |page=240}}
External links
- {{Cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/01/03/1820722.htm |title=Queensland's first convicted serial killer dies |first=Martin |last=Powley |date=3 January 2007 |website=ABC Radio Brisbane}}
{{Australian crime}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Leonard}}
Category:Australian murderers of children
Category:Australian people convicted of child sexual abuse
Category:Australian people convicted of murder
Category:Australian people who died in prison custody
Category:Australian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Category:Australian serial killers
Category:People convicted of murder by Queensland
Category:People from Ingham, Queensland
Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Queensland
Category:Prisoners who died in Queensland detention