AS PREVIOUSLY RELATED in my first tome, The Fifth Estate, there was a Coronial Inquiry in May of 2001 into the death of the much respected Mr Lang Hancock, the pioneer of the worldwide boom in iron ore. It is a real shame that this Icon of Industry, after his death, had his name cemented in legal history along with the motley crew associated with Colin Burns Pace. There was also a plethora of lawyers all billing away at top speed but even they were left behind in a cloud of dust as the PI’s smelled the cash and jump started. Pace had originally been hired by the daughter and sole heir to the great man to assist in determining whether he had died by natural causes or otherwise. Gina Rinehart had concerns that the latter day wife of Mr Hancock, Rose (now remarried to upper echelon realtor, Willy Porteus) may have been in some way complicit in her former husband’s death. Pace was to work under the eminent QC, Peter Hayes.
The process of having a Coroner’s Inquiry called was a long and arduous journey not to mention expensive and heart breaking for all concerned.