Bellingen's Bob Alexander receives award for his work in a murder case
by Janene CareyBob Alexander retired from the fire brigade in 2014 and moved to Bellingen the following year, but a commendation for work he did almost a decade ago has only just caught up with him.
The former NSW Fire & Rescue Superintendent has received an award from NSW Police State Crime Command recognising "a high level of commitment, initiative and professionalism in the murder investigation of Wollongong solicitor Katherine Foreman at Corrimal on 27 August 2011".
He's chuffed because the praise is so specific.
"I'm very proud of it, it'll go in my study. It's not very often that you get wording like that. Normally the commendation is for 'your professional expert assistance' in the case," Bob said.
Katherine Foreman's death by fire might have been interpreted as a tragic accident if not for Bob Alexander's convincing expert testimony, which established that liquid accelerant (petrol) had been poured in her bedroom as she slept.
The murder turned out to be a complicated one involving a love triangle, "a plot hatched by a man with whom [Foreman] was intimately involved and another woman he was seeing", the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Bob's investigation and the evidence he presented at the Supreme Court trial was crucial in determining that foul play had been involved.
Text messages indicating a plot to kill Katherine Foreman were another critical component of the Crown's case.
"I spent a day giving evidence and continually the defence was saying, okay, tell us how else this fire could have started? Then they started asking technical questions, did this room go to flashover or did it not? You're put on the spot there, and you've got to give an opinion."
Flashover is when a room combusts, after transitioning into one hot layer from a cold layer with a hot layer above it. If this had occurred, it would have destroyed evidence and signalled a different type of fire behaviour, but Bob argued it had not occurred because carpet was still intact.
The defence also produced an alternative expert witness but his credibility was questioned by the Crown and he was dismissed.
Based on Bob's evidence being accepted by the court and the jury as accurate, three people were found guilty of murder and given sentences ranging from 20 to 36 years in jail.
The award from the Police in Bob's study joins the prestigious Australian Fire Service Medal he received in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2012.
That citation notes that he "has frequently been the lead fire investigator at high profile or complex investigations here in NSW, interstate and overseas".
One such high profile case was that of Roger Dean, the registered nurse who killed 11 elderly residents in a Quakers Hill nursing home when he lit multiple fires to hide his theft of painkillers.
"I led the investigation on that. We did a whole lot of testing and proved he set the fire and how he set the fire."
We rebuilt full-sized scale rooms and burnt them and mimicked the fire's behaviour.Bob Alexander
They also made a video demonstrating the difference a sprinkler system would have made, convincing the state government to change regulations that had previously exempted some nursing homes.
Bob spent 40 years in the fire brigade - 16 of them in the fire investigation unit. He estimates that he investigated 1000 fires. About two-thirds of them turned out to be accidental or undetermined; about a third involved criminal activity, 52 involved fatalities.
He also worked as a fire investigation trainer, not only within FRNSW but also in other agencies, other states and other countries.
In retirement he continues to teach forensic-based subjects through the Canberra Institute of Technology.
That's all done via distance education, using e-learning systems and walk-through technology made possible by the NBN.
"We can put a fire scene online that is real, for all intents and purposes, so students get assessed on actual fires that have occurred and have a known outcome," Bob said.
It's similar to stepping through a house on a real estate website, except it's more detailed and layers of excavation are involved.
In the wake of last season's disastrous bushfires, Bob has also become involved in a volunteer capacity with Bellingen Shire Council's resilience and capability-building programs.
He's been checking out community halls and talking about risk and fire protection measures with the local committees who manage them.
"The halls are a central place for communities and a logical communication point when systems go down," he said. "They're a focal place for the community to get information."