Bill Jenkings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bill Jenkings was a reporter for the now defunct Sydney, Australia newspaper The Daily Mirror. A crime reporter, he covered some of the most high-profile cases of the 1960s including the Graeme Thorne kidnapping, the Bogle-Chandler case and the Wanda Beach murders. One of his leading sources of information was the detective Ray "Gunner" Kelly, who benefited from a high profile as a result and became one of the best-known policemen in Australia.

Jenkings published two books. Crime Reporter was a pulp-paperback about some of his highest-profile reporting cases, while As Crime Goes By.. was mostly ghost-written for him just before he died. As Crime Goes By.. became a best-seller. In it he suggested that he knew the solutions to the Bogle-Chandler and Wanda Beach cases, though the suspect he named for the latter commenced legal action which only ceased with Jenkings' death.

Jenkings was also unabashed at his support for several of the men he'd met in his working life. He had known Rupert Murdoch when Murdoch ran the newspaper and insisted that he was a great boss. He also notably refused to believe allegations about the involvement of Sydney policemen "Gunner" Kelly, Fred Krahe and "Bumper" Farrell in corrupt activities, saying that he had known them personally.

Bill Jenkings live with his family, for most of his life in Bondi. Despite a sharp mind, his contacts both in the underworld and the police force he was never a reasonable judge of character. When Bill died so died with him the the image of the classic "Crime Reporter", his life was more like a detective novel than most private detectives real lives.