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Twenty three years later the case remains unsolved and continues to be fought by the Mickelbergs who maintain their innocence and allege a conspiracy by the police to frame them. According to the police, the Mickelberg brothers stole cheques from a Perth building society and then fooled the mint into accepting those cheques in exchange for gold bullion, which it was alleged, the brothers had picked up by a courier. The gold was delivered to Jandakot Airport , from where it disappeared. Author Avon Lovell wrote a book about the case, '' The Mickelberg Stitch '' in which he described questionable investigation practices by the Western Australian Police Force and made allegations of unsigned confessions and a forged Fingerprint . The police union collected a levy of $1 per week from each member to fund legal action against Lovell and his publishers and distributors to suppress publication of the book. It was estimated that between one and two million dollars was raised. In a bizarre twist, in 1989 55 kg of gold pellets, presumed to have been from the swindle, were found outside the gates of TVW-7 (currently Channel Seven Perth), a Perth television station, with a note addressed to one of the stations reporters, protesting the Mickelberg's innocence and claiming that a prominent Perth businessman was behind the swindle. In 2002 , midway through a State Royal Commission into police corruption, a retired police officer who had been at the centre of the case and who was present at the interviews with the Mickelbergs, Tony Lewandowski , made a confession of his involvement in fabricating evidence which was used to help frame the brothers. He was subsequently charged with attempting to Pervert The Course Of Justice , making False Statements , fabricating Evidence and Perjury . In May 2004, just before facing trial, Lewandowski committed Suicide . Lewandowski's senior officer during the investigation was highly respected police officer Don Hancock (see Crime In Perth ) who went on to become head of the CIB. Hancock was directly implicated in Lewandowski's confession. In September 2001 , Hancock was murdered after a Car Bomb planted under his car exploded outside his home in Rivervale , killing him and a friend Lou Lewis. In July 2004 the Western Australian Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the brothers' convictions after seven unsuccessful attempts. The Assistant Police Commissioner, Mel Hay , expressed disappointment with the decision to quash the convictions which prompted a threat of a Defamation Lawsuit from the brothers. The State is currently considering an ex-gratia payment to the Mickelbergs as compensation for their imprisonment. In September 2005 , the Mickelbergs announced that a package, alleged to have belonged to Lewandowski and containing police log books and other notes made by him was delivered to them from his Thai girlfriend. The girlfriend was said to have been given the package prior to Lewandowski's suicide. REFERENCES
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