Boyfriend arrested in Sydney model murder inquiry

CANBERRA - Sydney model Caroline Byrne died a decade ago when she fell from a harbourside cliff in an arc that physicists calculated not even an Olympic athlete could accomplish.

Her boyfriend, Gordon Wood, claimed Byrne had committed suicide. Police investigating the 1995 death at The Gap in Watson's Bay, well known for suicides, believed him.

But now Wood, 43, has been arrested in London for Byrne's murder and was due to appear in court last night (NZ time), where police intended to oppose bail pending an extradition hearing.

Behind the arrest lies an 11-year epic that embraces jealousy, allegations of corporate fraud, a skiing hideout in the French Alps and the determination of Byrne's family and friends to prove murder and bring her killer to justice.

Byrne's death was the subject of two inquests and a parliamentary campaign by firebrand preacher and New South Wales MP the Rev Fred Nile, a friend of the family, before police investigations became a murder inquiry. Yet friends and acquaintances who knew the couple were convinced from the start that Byrne, who came from a strong Christian family and who had a passion for life, would never have killed herself.

Wood was an economics graduate and personal fitness trainer when he met Byrne, then working for Australian fashion icon June Dally-Watkins.

Wood, despite a passion for his own physical appearance and a circle of eccentric friends, appealed to her in a relationship that many found odd.

Wood found a new job as chauffeur to Rene Rivkin, the flamboyant Sydney stockbroker who killed himself last year after his marriage collapsed in the wake of a conviction for insider trading and an international investigation into suspected fraud.

Rivkin showered Wood with gifts, including overseas trips, expensive watches and a car. He even bought the flat where Wood lived with Byrne.

Wood tried to borrow A$500,000 ($591,000) to buy shares in a printing company recently acquired by Rivkin called Offset Alpine and boasted he could double his money.

Shortly afterwards, Offset Alpine was destroyed by fire and Rivkin made a substantial profit from an insurance payout of more than A$50 million. Both Rivkin and Wood were interviewed by police about the fire on their return from an overseas trip.

The following night, a witness saw a man resembling Wood shouting at a crying woman. Another man stood some distance away. About 11.30pm, two fishermen heard a woman scream near The Gap and saw Wood run up, yell "Oh no, she's done it", and run off.

Wood returned with Byrne's father and brother and claimed to see her leg on the rocks 30m below.

In 1998, with new evidence emerging, police set up Task Force Irondale and re-opened their investigation, including experiments with dummies and athletes that concluded Byrne could never have leaped far enough to land where her body hit.

But they had insufficient evidence to prevent Wood, who holds dual British and Australian citizenship, from leaving the country and living in the French Alps. But on Monday, London's Metropolitan Police extradition unit arrested Wood when he arrived from France.

The path to arrest has included continuous speculation, most of it centering on suggestions Wood killed Byrne either because she knew too much about the Offset Alpine fire or in a fit of jealous rage at reports Byrne intended to leave him.