Jill Lesley GAMBLIN

Name: GAMBLIN Jill Lesley Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 04 Nov 1949 Age Now: 59
Age when missing: 30 Height (cm): 165.0 Build: Thin
Hair Colour: Blonde Eye Colour: Blue Complexion: Fair
Nationality: British Racial Appearance: Caucasian    
Circumstances - Jill was last seen on 2 December 1979 at Darlinghurst.

Police search for woman 29 years after she vanished

 
Georgina Robinson - SMH
November 11, 2008
 

THE mystery of missing woman Jill Lesley Gamblin is as puzzling now as it was nearly three decades ago when she disappeared after visiting a theatre in Sydney.

Ms Gamblin, described as "unstable but likeable", was last seen leaving the Paris Theatre in Liverpool Street, Sydney, on December 2, 1979.

A coroner's inquest 12 months ago concluded the fun-loving Bellevue Hill woman, then 30, might have been murdered, but no suspects were identified.

Now police are excavating a bunker on a property in the Blue Mountains after a tip-off to Crime Stoppers about the time of the inquest.

Yesterday about 30 police officers, with sniffer dogs and earth-moving machinery, began searching a property in Wombat Street, Blackheath, for Ms Gamblin's remains.

Property records indicate her former lover, Adrian Chenhall, owned a property in Wombat Street. Police would not confirm it was the one being searched.

"The information we received indicates that Jill Gamblin was linked to the owner at the time," said Detective Inspector John Maricic, from Rose Bay police.

The inquest heard that Ms Gamblin had spent a weekend at Mr Chenhall's home shortly before her disappearance. The pair had argued and Mr Chenhall, who has since died, had tried to hit Ms Gamblin, the inquest was told.

Detective Inspector Maricic said police had no suspects and stressed that the present owners of the Wombat Street property were not linked to the inquiry.

Ms Gamblin had visited her new lover, Wallace Randolph, at the Paris Theatre on the night she disappeared. A few days later a note, apparently from

Mr Randolph, appeared on her pillow saying: "I missed you last night. Where are you? Give me a call."

At the inquest Mr Randolph denied ever knowing her.

A friend of Ms Gamblin, Gavin Gatenby, told the inquest he had gone to Blackheath to visit Mr Chenhall but found the property locked like a fortress.

An inquiry into Ms Gamblin's disappearance was launched in 2004 after the then state coroner, John Abernathy, asked that historic disappearances be reinvestigated and finalised in inquests.

Yesterday Inspector Maricic acknowledged criticism of the initial handling of the case but said that in the circumstances, Ms Gamblin's family was taking the new search well.

"Obviously at the end of the day they'd like some closure in relation to Jill's disappearance," he said.

"It's obviously difficult for any family after 30 years to still be stuck on the fact that a daughter's death has gone unsolved. But we're keeping them informed and they're very appreciative of the work still being done."

Vanished Jill a 28-year mystery

Article from: The Daily Telegraph

By Kara Lawrence

November 20, 2007 12:00am

A FREE spirit who epitomised Sydney in the late 1970s, Jill Gamblin left the old Paris Theatre in the city one night - and was never seen again.

The attractive 30-year-old loved to drink and party, had an interest in alternative religions and was casually seeing two men.

But one thing her family and friends are certain of is that she never would have chosen to disappear without a trace.

Yesterday, 28 years after Ms Gamblin's disappearance, her family and friends fronted Glebe Coroner's Court in the hope of finding out how and why Ms Gamblin vanished on the night of December 2, 1979.

State Coroner Mary Jerram found she had died - and was possibly murdered - that night or afterwards, but told her family and friends not to hold out hope the mystery would ever be solved.

In a day of evidence dotted with colourful snippets of 1970s culture - such as the Beatles' promotion of Indian spiritual enlightenment - the inquest heard there were no suspects into Ms Gamblin's death.

She had been living in a share house in Bellevue Hill at the time, was unmarried and had no children, and was starting up a business selling clothing at markets.

She had expressed interest in sects and alternative religions, including the "Orange People" and a group called the "Temple of Ra".

In the weeks before she disappeared, she had been seeing two men. One, artist and set creator Wallace Randolph, had invited her to a production of Boy's Own McBeth, which she saw the night she vanished. The court was told Mr Randalph was the last known person to have seen her, as she left the former Paris Theatre on Liverpool St and headed towards Hyde Park to catch a cab.

Mr Randolph, whom the coroner stressed was not a suspect, told the court he could not remember Ms Gamblin or recall her going missing.

The court was also told another man named Adrian Chenhall, whom had since died, had spent a weekend with Ms Gamblin at his Blackheath home shortly before she disappeared and had tried to strangle her during a violent argument in a car.

"She was quite distressed about what had gone on," Ms Gamblin's friend Jean Hawkins told the inquest.

Constable Victoria Payne, assigned to reinvestigate the case in 2004, said the previous lack of police contact with family members about efforts to find Ms Gamblin was "disgusting".

"I would just like to apologise to the family in relation to the lack of attention that NSW Police has paid to the matter because I believe 20 years is far too long," she said.

Ms Jerram said Ms Gamblin's disappearance was not in character.

Older sister June Gamblin said outside court she believed her sister had met foul play.

"But I really want to thank the police for helping us this time around, they've been so compassionate and caring," she said

Police discover macabre dungeon in missing woman search

Article from: The Daily Telegraph

By Tim Vollmer and Gemma Jones

November 11, 2008 12:00am

THIS macabre dungeon hidden on a mountain property may hold the key to a 30-year mystery.

Police searching for the body of a missing Sydney woman yesterday discovered the underground chamber at a walled, electric-fence rimmed Blue Mountains property.

Jill Gamblin was last seen leaving the Paris Theatre in the city in 1979.

Investigations yesterday led to the Blackheath home of her now dead former boyfriend, Adrian Chenhall.

A buried shipping container he told neighbours was his nuclear shelter is the focus at the overgrown and unoccupied bush property.

Police opened the bunker but Detective Inspector John Maricic, who is co-ordinating a three-day search, said police were yet to forensically examine it.

Mr Chenhall had tried to strangle Ms Gamblin, 30, when she spent a weekend at the sprawling property shortly before she vanished, a coroner heard last year.

"Everybody has always said there was a body buried," said a neighbour, who asked not to be named.

"There were a lot of crazy things that went on in there. We heard he had built a concrete nuclear bunker and one morning we woke up to find he had put these big fences up."

Other neighbours described Mr Chenhall as an eccentric and said rumours had circulated about the house for decades.

Ms Gamblin's sister Sandra Copland, who lives in Western Australia, yesterday said the family was braced for bad news.

A coroner told the family last November that Ms Gamblin was dead and that she may have been murdered. The family now hopes her body will be found.

"At least we could bury her next to Dad," Ms Copland said.

"My mother is 93. I don't know how she would deal with it if they find out what really happened."

She said police were of little help when friends and family first reported Ms Gamblin missing

She said she was relieved police had finally acted and were "bending over backwards to try and find out what happened to Jill".

Police said yesterday a tipoff last year to the Crime Stoppers hotline led to the reopening of the case and to yesterday's dramatic search.