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Airdate: Shadow of Doubt

Update: CI Network screens a special on a woman serving 26 years in a Hobart prison for the murder of her de facto husband despite hard evidence.

2013-07-05_1147CI Network will screen Shadow of Doubt, a special on Tasmanian Susan Neill-Fraser, who is serving 26 years in a Hobart prison for the murder of her de facto husband despite a lack of hard evidence linking her to his murder.

The compelling 90-minute special, produced by Australian filmmaker and psychologist Eve Ash, tells the story of Susan Neill-Fraser, a seemingly normal Tasmanian grandmother who was jailed in 2009 for 26 years for the murder of her partner of 18 years, Bob Chappell.

There were no witnesses to the crime, no weapon, no forensic evidence linking Neill-Fraser to the scene, no admissions or confession. Chapell’s body has never been found.

This is the first time someone has been jailed in Tasmania for murder based solely on circumstantial evidence and without a body.

Susan Neill-Fraser has always protested her innocence – and her family is now fighting to prove it. The more they investigate, the more they uncover – mistakes, assumptions and misrepresentation. How was the jury convinced beyond reasonable doubt?

Chappell was last seen alive on Australia Day, 26 January 2009, where he had been working on the couple’s new yacht, moored in Sandy Bay, on Tasmania’s Derwent River. The next morning, the yacht was found sabotaged and sinking. A small amount of fresh blood was found, but there was no sign of Chappell.

Four years in the making, Shadow of Doubt doggedly investigates the case, exploring a contaminated crime scene, problematic forensics, Susan’s possible motive and the strange clues regarding other persons of interest.

Featuring interviews with family, friends and associates of Neill-Fraser who are fighting for her release, as well as a representative from Tasmania Police, Shadow of Doubt unravels an incredible mystery that analyses whether Neill-Fraser is guilty – or whether a blatant miscarriage of justice may have occurred.

UPDATE: Wednesday, July 31 at 7.30pm AEST

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