In the early 1960s two young Perth men, John Button and Darryl Beamish, were wrongfully found guilty of crimes committed by notorious serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke. The temporary exhibition at the Old Court House Law Museum, ‘When Justice Goes Wrong’, examines their long path to exoneration in the early 2000s, specifically the evidence that proved instrumental for each man in overturning the wrongful conviction that has left them with lifelong psychological scars.
In 1963, on his 19th birthday, John Button was charged with wilful murder for the hit and run killing of his girlfriend, Rosemary Anderson. After helping police with their immediate initial inquires, John, still in shock from discovering his girlfriend severely injured, was driven back to police headquarters. John explained that he was then subjected to brutal questioning during which his interrogators accused him of lying and punched him in the stomach. It was during this period that he was told Rosemary had died.