Graeme Thorne kidnapping

Graeme Thorne
A family photo of Graeme Thorne
Born	Graeme Frederick Hilton Thorne 18 December 1951
Died	c. 7 July 1960 (aged 8) New South Wales, Australia
Body discovered	Grandview Grove, Seaforth, New South Wales 16 August 1960
Nationality	Australian
Known for	Murder victim

The Graeme Thorne kidnapping was the 1960 kidnapping and murder of Graeme Thorne for the money that his father, Bazil Thorne, had won in a lottery. A crime which caused massive shock at the time and gathered huge publicity, it was the first known kidnapping for ransom in Australian history. The police investigation that led to the capture and conviction of his murderer, Stephen Bradley, is regarded as a textbook example of forensic investigation.

In 1960, the construction of the Sydney Opera House was proving expensive and so the New South Wales Government initiated a lottery to help raise money. The £100,000 (equivalent: A$827,000 in 2014 values) prize was won by Bazil Thorne in the lottery drawn on 1 June. There was no option of privacy for lottery winners at the time, so the details of the Thornes' lottery win were published on the front pages of Sydney newspapers.

The Thornes lived in Edward Street, in the Sydney suburb of Bondi. Eight-year-old Graeme Thorne's routine was to wait at the corner of Wellington and O'Brien streets, where a family friend, Phyllis Smith, would pick him up and take him to school. On the morning of 7 July 1960 Graeme left for school as usual at 8:30am, but when Smith came to collect him Graeme was nowhere to be seen.

Smith drove to the Thornes' home to find out if Graeme was going to school. His mother confirmed that he was and wondered if he might have arrived at the school by some other means. Smith drove to the school, The Scots College in Bellevue Hill, but Graeme was not there. The police were notified that Graeme was missing.

At 9:40am, 70 minutes after Graeme had left for school, a man telephoned the Thorne household. Sergeant Larry O'Shea of Bondi police had already arrived. Unfortunately he was unaware that the Thornes had recently won the lottery.

Pretending to be Bazil Thorne, O'Shea answered the telephone. The kidnapper demanded £25,000 before 5pm, or "the boy will be fed to the sharks." O'Shea expressed doubt as to his ability to get hold of such a large sum of money. The caller then said that he would call back at 5pm with more details, and hung up.

The kidnapper phoned again at 9:47pm but the telephone was answered by a different police officer. The kidnapper gave instructions that the money was to be put in two paper bags, but then hung up abruptly without giving further instructions.