A judge has referred a Queensland police officer to the state's anti-corruption watchdog for signing off on false evidence that kept a man behind bars for almost two years.
Supreme Court Justice Peter Davis has taken aim at Detective Senior Constable Julian Libbis after three alleged bikies were cleared of two Gold Coast murders.
Brodie Singh, Nathan Miller and Garry Brush were last month discharged after a magistrate found insufficient evidence to commit them to trial for the October 2019 murders of alleged bikie Shane Ross and business partner Cameron Martin.
The judge said it was an "outrage" Mr Singh was in custody for almost two years since being refused bail based on police evidence now found to be "plainly, objectively false".
In the judgment published on Tuesday, Justice Davis also accused Det Snr Const Libbis of signing off on key evidence without seeing it.
The judge had knocked back Mr Singh's 2020 bail application based on an objection from Det Snr Const Libbis, who cited key evidence to indicate the alleged bikie was an "unacceptable risk".
A key part of the case was that two mobile phones were in the vicinity when Mr Ross and Mr Martin were murdered, the judgment stated.
A red phone was linked to Mr Singh and a green handset to Mr Miller.
Det Snr Const Libbis claimed CCTV footage at a petrol station showed Mr Singh and Mr Miller with the respective phones on the night of the murders.
However, almost two years later the police officer told the committal hearing "that was an error" and the CCTV footage did not show the pair in possession of the handsets.
Mr Miller's first bail application in May 2020 was also refused based largely on the police's mobile phone claim.
Mr Miller and Mr Singh again applied for bail along with Mr Brush in February, but Justice Davis waited to make his ruling after the committal hearing was finalised.
The bail applications were dismissed after the three men were discharged, but Justice Davis said serious questions arose as to the conduct of police in the investigation.
"The alleged evidence sworn to by DSC Libbis placing Singh and Miller in possession of the red and green handsets ... is the critical evidence in the Crown case," he wrote.
"That evidence just does not exist. The footage does not depict what DSC Libbis swore on oath it depicted.
"It was common ground on the (bail) applications before me on 15 February 2022 that the assertion by DSC Libbis that Singh and Miller are seen with the telephones is false.
"The obvious inference is that DSC Libbis has sworn the affidavit without viewing the footage."
Justice Davis referred the matter to the state's Crime and Corruption Commission, the police minister and Queensland Police's ethical standards command.
"Singh has been in custody for almost two years after making a bail application which was defended on assertions put before the court which were plainly, objectively false," he said.
"That is an outrage and the circumstances of the present case ought to be investigated."
