Call for investigation after NSW police brief media on alleged crimes involving five-year-old

Barwon MP Roy Butler says ‘flashy headlines create bias’ after it was revealed officers have not spoken to any of the alleged offenders nor laid any charges

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New South Wales’s peak Indigenous legal body has called for an independent investigation after state police briefed media outlets about the alleged involvement of a five-year-old in a break-and-enter and car theft before officers had spoken to the alleged offenders or laid charges.

Repeatedly asked about the incident in the outback town of Bourke over subsequent days, police media refused to officially confirm the ages of the alleged offenders despite two metropolitan mastheads quoting separate officers referring to a five-year-old.

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