On Sunday night the Seven Network aired a chilling episode of Crime Investigation Australia which centered on the harrowing 1984 murder of Sydney horse trainer George Brown.

The explosive airing which honed in on the circumstances around one of the biggest crimes in racing history, followed the Herald Sun's Andrew Rule's expose last August which revealed explosive allegations made by David Waterhouse in a statement to police about his father Bill Waterhouse's involvement in George Brown's murder.

Excerpts from the Andrew Rule book Chance follow.

In an eight-page dossier to police, Waterhouse declared his late bookmaker father Bill Waterhouse had threatened to silence him after admitting he had sent two thugs who tortured, murdered and incinerated Sydney horse trainer George Brown in 1984.

David Waterhouse told police that his father made the admissions on a drive from Sydney to Victoria on a Sunday evening in July or August, 1989.

The charred remains of the Sydney trainer were found in the burnt-out shell of his car at Bulli Tops south of Sydney, in April 1984, two days after he refused to go through with a brazen “ring in” at a Brisbane race meeting.

Speculation linking Bill Waterhouse and his associates to the murder has loomed over the famous racing family for 37 years, but NSW police did little to investigate the case for years before finally announcing a $1m reward for information in 2019.

The chilling statement included allegations that the thugs who had killed Brown had “disappeared” after returning to their homeland of Tonga.

Bill Waterhouse said his Tongan contacts would have no compunction about using similar tactics to hide the truth about Brown’s murder.

David Waterhouse was aghast at the revelation and asked his father: “Aren’t you worried they could come back at you?” to which Bill replied: “I got the King to take them straight back to Tonga and they’ve disappeared. They’ll never be heard of again. The Tongans cook pigs and humans in the ground.”

Bill Waterhouse was a close friend of the then King of Tonga and was Tonga’s Honorary Consul-General in Australia from 1970 until the end of the century.

David Waterhouse told police he kept silent about his father’s links to the murder for more than two decades because he and his young family were later menaced by violent criminal Bertie Kidd, a longtime enforcer for Bill Waterhouse’s interstate race-fixing racket.

Now in his 80s and living in Tasmania, Waterhouse went to police with Kidd’s threatening letters, some of which named his children and stated he was acting on behalf of Bill Waterhouse.

He added that he did so last year no longer in fear of Kidd who is now in his 80s and living in Tasmania.

Waterhouse’s stunning admissions to police also details explosive details about his late father and his network of associates, including rogue strappers, horse “nobblers” and enforcers, famously responsible for fixing dozens of races and pulling numerous racetrack frauds.

On the trip to Melbourne where Bill Waterhouse is alleged to have divulged his involvement in the murder of Brown to his son, the former bookmaker had a late lunch and had consumed a bottle of riesling.

As a result, David states, “Bill had been speaking very openly about skulduggery in the racing game, including the Big Philou doping scandal of 1969.”

This referred to the nobbling of the Melbourne Cup favourite by a strapper paid by Bill Waterhouse to “stop” the horse by administering a powerful purgative.

Waterhouse also boasted that he had got away with nobbling the great racehorse Tails in the same race.

David then asked his father the story behind the death of George Brown, reminding him of an altercation in which an associate seemed to be blaming Bill for the George Brown murder.

Bill Waterhouse had retorted: “Crap. It wasn’t my fault.”

He then heatedly explained that the associate had asked him “to send the Tongans” to get the down deposit that had been paid to Brown the week before.”

This was a reference to Brown being paid in advance to substitute a better-performed horse for the low-class filly Risley at Doomben two days before his death.

Brown had got cold feet and failed to do the ring-in, so the race fixers wanted their bribe money back.

David Waterhouse states his father told him the thugs had gone to Brown’s stables in Sweetmouth Ave, Rosebery, on the Monday after the Doomben fiasco and “scooped Brown up and demanded the refund of the money”.

“Brown asked to go and see (an associate), so the Tongans rang me (Bill Waterhouse) and I gave them (the associate’s) car phone number. They rang (the associate) and he said to bring Brown down to (provincial) races …

“They met in the car park of the racecourse. (The associate) demanded the money back and Brown said he would get it this afternoon.”

The thugs had taken Brown back to his stables and he telephoned around desperately, stalling for time and trying to borrow the money.

When he couldn’t produce the cash, the thugs drove him back to the now deserted provincial racecourse, looking for Bill’s associates, who had left.

“They tortured Brown to try and get the money,” David Waterhouse states his father told him. The thugs went too far and killed the trainer that night before returning to Sydney. His arms and legs were broken and his skull smashed.”

For the inside story of George Brown’s murder and the Fine Cotton ring-in scandals, see Andrew Rule’s book, Chance.
Racenet

The morning after making the chilling admission to his youngest son, the disgraced bookmaker warned him that if he revealed the truth he too would be in danger.

George Brown�s murder is universally regarded as the worst crime in Australian racing history.

The charred remains of the Sydney trainer were found in the burnt-out shell of his car at Bulli Tops south of Sydney, in April 1984, two days after he refused to go through with a brazen �ring in� at a Brisbane race meeting.

Speculation linking Bill Waterhouse and his associates to the murder has loomed over the famous racing family for 37 years, but NSW police did little to investigate the case for years before finally announcing a $1m reward for information in 2019.

The Herald Sun also reports that the chilling statement includes allegations that the thugs who had killed Brown had �disappeared� after returning to their homeland of Tonga.

Bill Waterhouse said his Tongan contacts would have no compunction about using similar tactics to hide the truth about Brown�s murder.

David Waterhouse was aghast at the revelation and asked his father: �Aren�t you worried they could come back at you?� to which Bill replied: �I got the King to take them straight back to Tonga and they�ve disappeared. They�ll never be heard of again. The Tongans cook pigs and humans in the ground.�

Bill Waterhouse was a close friend of the then King of Tonga and was Tonga�s Honorary Consul-General in Australia from 1970 until the end of the century.

David Waterhouse told police he kept silent about his father�s links to the murder for more than two decades because he and his young family were later menaced by violent criminal Bertie Kidd, a longtime enforcer for Bill Waterhouse�s interstate race-fixing racket.

Now in his 80s and living in Tasmania, Waterhouse went to police with Kidd�s threatening letters, some of which named his children and stated he was acting on behalf of Bill Waterhouse.

He added that he did so last year no longer in fear of Kidd who is now in his 80s and living in Tasmania.

Waterhouse�s stunning admissions to police also details explosive details about his late father and his network of associates, including rogue strappers, horse �nobblers� and enforcers, famously responsible for fixing dozens of races and pulling numerous racetrack frauds.

On the trip to Melbourne where Bill Waterhouse is alleged to have divulged his involvement in the murder of Brown to his son, the former bookmaker had a late lunch and had consumed a bottle of riesling.

As a result, David states, �Bill had been speaking very openly about skulduggery in the racing game, including the Big Philou doping scandal of 1969.�

This referred to the nobbling of the Melbourne Cup favourite by a strapper paid by Bill Waterhouse to �stop� the horse by administering a powerful purgative.

Waterhouse also boasted that he had got away with nobbling the great racehorse Tails in the same race.

David then asked his father the story behind the death of George Brown, reminding him of an altercation in which an associate seemed to be blaming Bill for the George Brown murder.

Bill Waterhouse had retorted: �Crap. It wasn�t my fault.�

He then heatedly explained that the associate had asked him �to send the Tongans� to get the down deposit that had been paid to Brown the week before.�

This was a reference to Brown being paid in advance to substitute a better-performed horse for the low-class filly Risley at Doomben two days before his death.

Brown had got cold feet and failed to do the ring-in, so the race fixers wanted their bribe money back.

David Waterhouse states his father told him the thugs had gone to Brown�s stables in Sweetmouth Ave, Rosebery, on the Monday after the Doomben fiasco and �scooped Brown up and demanded the refund of the money�.

�Brown asked to go and see (an associate), so the Tongans rang me (Bill Waterhouse) and I gave them (the associate�s) car phone number. They rang (the associate) and he said to bring Brown down to (provincial) races �

�They met in the car park of the racecourse. (The associate) demanded the money back and Brown said he would get it this afternoon.�

The thugs had taken Brown back to his stables and he telephoned around desperately, stalling for time and trying to borrow the money.

When he couldn�t produce the cash, the thugs drove him back to the now deserted provincial racecourse, looking for Bill�s associates, who had left.

�They tortured Brown to try and get the money,� David Waterhouse states his father told him. The thugs went too far and killed the trainer that night before returning to Sydney. His arms and legs were broken and his skull smashed.�

For the inside story of George Brown�s murder and the Fine Cotton ring-in scandals, see Andrew Rule�s new book, Chance, launched Sunday.