Stuart And Finch Bombing Case Study

On Thursday 8 march 1973 at 2:10 am, there was a fire bombing at the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub in Brisbane Fortitude Valley. James Richard Finch and John Andrew Stuart both started this fire. Finch was 29 and Stuart was 33 when they were arrested for setting two 23 litre barrels of fuel in the clubs foyer on fire. James Richard Finch who was 29 at the time was born in England while John Andrew Stuart (33) was born in Australia. Finch had previously been found guilty of malicious wounding with an unlicensed pistol, which he fired two shots injuring two men in Oxford Street Paddington.
At 2:10 am Two 23 litre barrels of fuel were dropped into the foyer, which then where lit by a torch thrown in through the open doors. People started to notice
Stuart went around and told anyone that would listen to him that the bombing was linked to where the work of Sydney criminals attempted to muscle in on Brisbane’s organised crime scene. This gave him away as one of the people involved in the fire. He was then arrested, and finch was soon after. They were both arrested for “Arson and for murdering 15 people. When they were questioned they both protested their innocents and claimed they had been convicted based on false confessions and both pleaded not guilty. Finch and Stuart both went to dangerous measures to withhold the trial. Finch interrupted the proceeding when claiming to have bitten the top of his fingers and had swallowed wire. Later X-rays had confirmed that there was foreign objects inside his stomach making him not able to appear. Stuart also underwent 5 operations to remove foreign objected from his stomach. The jury however found out that the fire bombing was part of an extortion terror campaign aimed at Brisbane night clubs and he was sentenced to life. Stuart made Australian history as he was sentenced without being in court. At the time he was recovering from his third