WA: Three high-ranking Jokers charged over Ora Banda bomb
By Selina Day
PERTH, Dec 10 AAP - Three Gypsy Jokers gang members have been charged over a bomb blastwhich destroyed a Goldfields tavern owned by a former Perth detective assassinated lastyear in a car bomb attack.
The Ora Banda Inn, owned by Don Hancock, was bombed in October 2000 - two weeks aftera Gypsy Joker bikie gang member was killed as he sat at a campfire near Ora Banda justhours after being evicted from the tavern.
Bikies are believed to have blamed Mr Hancock for the sniper-style shooting of WilliamGrierson, 39, and the bombing was seen as a warning to the former detective.
The blast, which destroyed the tavern, was accompanied by other explosions which alsoruined the Hancocks' house and affected a gold battery.
The violent incidents forced Mr Hancock and his family out of Ora Banda.
The former detective, who at the peak of his career was the head of Perth's CIB, waskilled in a car bomb explosion as he returned home from the races in September last year.
Police said today three high-ranking Gypsy Jokers members, aged 32, 35 and 54, havebeen charged with three counts each of wilfully setting an explosion likely to endangerproperty.
The charges relate to the bombing of the Ora Banda inn as well as Mr Hancock's houseand the gold battery.
The trio will appear in Perth magistrates court later today, Major Crime SuperintendentAlan McCagh said.
They would oppose bail for at least one of the accused.
Supt McCagh said the investigation was ongoing and it was likely further charges wouldbe laid against others.
Two Gypsy Jokers have been charged over the car bomb attack which killed Mr Hancock.
One of them, Sidney John Reid, 38, was sentenced in March this year to life imprisonment.
The sentence was handed down during a special, closed sitting of the West AustralianSupreme Court because authorities said the crime had involved "a terrorist-style attack,involving a powerful explosive device capable of being remotely detonated", and "the riskthat it might be repeated could not be excluded".
Another Gypsy Joker, Graeme Slater, is going through the court processes.
AAP sd/ldj/de
KEYWORD: HANCOCK
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