NSW: Secrets and lies surround the mystery of Tegan Lane

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2006
NSW: Secrets and lies surround the mystery of Tegan Lane

By Kim Arlington

SYDNEY, Feb 16 AAP - Tegan Lane is probably dead, but seven years of inquiries into
the Sydney baby's disappearance have produced more questions than answers.

NSW Coroner John Abernethy this week ruled that the child had been dead for almost
a decade, although there was insufficient evidence to establish where, or how, she died
- or to charge anyone over her death.

If the girl's mother, Keli Lane, holds any more clues to the mystery of what happened
to her daughter, she's not letting on.

But inscrutability seems to be one of Ms Lane's defining characteristics - after all,
she managed to hide from her family, friends and partners the fact she gave birth to three
children, including Tegan.

Ms Lane had three babies between 1995 and 1999, keeping the pregnancies and births
secret from all those around her.

The first and third babies were adopted out but Tegan vanished on September 14, 1996,
two days after Ms Lane gave birth to her at Auburn Hospital in Sydney's west.

Ms Lane, now 30, chose not to give evidence at the inquest into Tegan's suspected death,
which concluded with Mr Abernethy saying he was "comfortably satisfied" she had died around
1996.

No human remains that could belong to Tegan have been found and the coroner said it
was still possible she would be found alive and well.

"In the meantime, I am disturbed at the possibility that Tegan may have met with foul
play," Mr Abernethy said.

When she attended a wedding at Manly two hours after she and Tegan were discharged
from hospital, there was no sign of the child.

Ms Lane said she gave the newborn to the girl's natural father, a man with whom she'd
had an affair named Andrew Norris.

He, his mother and his de facto girlfriend collected the child outside the hospital,
she told police.

However, Mr Abernethy said he was "completely unable to accept" Ms Lane's final account
of what happened to Tegan, and referred the case to the homicide detectives for possible
re-investigation.

Called to the witness box at Westmead Coroner's Court on Monday, Ms Lane exercised
her legal right to silence.

Her barrister, Peter Hamill SC told the court he had "great concerns" her evidence
would be used against her in future proceedings.

While acknowledging her right not to answer questions, Mr Abernethy said without Ms
Lane's evidence "this court is unable to make a meaningful assessment as to whether (her)
inherently unlikely version of events may be true".

Tegan's disappearance went unnoticed for three years, until the adoption process for
Ms Lane's third child uncovered paperwork relating to Tegan's birth.

Questioned by social workers, Ms Lane initially denied the pregnancy, then said Tegan
was living with a couple from Perth who befriended her just before the birth.

Police were notified in 1999, but the investigation was slow to gather momentum and
Ms Lane was not interviewed until early 2001.

She continued to offer what Mr Abernethy described as a litany of "untruths and half-truths"

before telling police she handed Tegan over to Andrew Norris.

Delivering his findings, Mr Abernethy asked why, if Ms Lane was giving Tegan to her
natural father, did she keep telling lies?

In police interviews, Ms Lane gave "evasive" answers to sensitive questions and "appears
to realise just how incredible her story is", he said.

The inquest heard there was nothing to corroborate Ms Lane's account, with a nationwide
search turning up no trace of a man matching Norris's description.

Several of Ms Lane's relatives and close friends testified to knowing nothing about
an Andrew Norris - or, until police investigations began, her first three pregnancies.

Her boyfriend from 1994 to 1998, footballer Duncan Gillies, said it was a "hell of
a shock" to discover Ms Lane twice fell pregnant and gave birth without his knowledge
during their relationship.

Mr Gillies said that in retrospect, he could see how Ms Lane managed to hide the pregnancies
- her weight often fluctuated and she was reluctant to let him embrace her during sex
- but at the time he "wasn't skulking around in the dark to see if the woman I loved was
having babies out the back door".

Police searched all Australian schools and trawled through more than 86,000 NSW birth
records hoping to find Tegan, without success.

If the girl was registered under fraudulent details or - as her family believes - the
child's father gave Ms Lane a false name, Tegan might never be found.

Coronial advocate Rebbecca Becroft said there were three scenarios - that Tegan was
given to her natural father, to an unknown person, or met with foul play.

Ms Lane, a former Australian water polo representative, has vehemently denied to police
that she or anyone else killed Tegan.

Mr Hamill acknowledged Ms Lane had spun an "an extraordinary web of deceit" but said
she did not fit the case studies of "desperate mothers" who denied their pregnancies and
killed their babies.

She had merely relinquished her babies to someone in a better position to care for
them - in Tegan's case, the natural father.

When he adjourned the inquest last June for further police inquiries, Mr Abernethy
said it "wouldn't be a bad idea" for Ms Lane to have a psychiatric report produced on
her behalf, but it is understood no assessment took place.

Mr Hamill attributed her behaviour to shame, embarrassment and humiliation at giving
her babies up for adoption and "being an inadequate mother to the children she gave away".

She was embarrassed about her sexual conduct and failure to use contraception effectively,
and worried she would lose her family and friends if her secrets were discovered.

Her emotion and confusion during the police interviews "is entirely consistent with
a young woman whose deepest secrets are in the process of unravelling and being disclosed
to the closest people in her life", Mr Hamill said.

In 2001, Ms Lane had another child, who lives with her and her now husband.

The man, whose name is suppressed for legal reasons, was one of several witnesses to
testify about her good character and caring nature, saying she was "a fantastic wife,
a wonderful mother and I love her dearly".

"There's no way in the world she would ever do anything to harm a child," he said.

The sentiment was echoed by Ms Lane's father, retired policeman Robert Lane, who sat
by her side throughout proceedings.

In evidence, he said his daughter confided that abortion was never an option, telling
him: "I couldn't hurt a baby."

Her family's loyalty and praise prompted tears from Ms Lane, who otherwise betrayed
few emotions during the inquest - even when told by the coroner that her daughter was
most likely dead and her story implausible.

Despite the publicity surrounding the case, nobody has ever come forward with the child.

Homicide detectives will review the case, but for now mystery still surrounds the fate
of a child who will celebrate her 10th birthday this year - if she is still alive.

AAP ka/was/bwl

KEYWORD: LANE (AAP BACKGROUNDER-FILE PIX) RPTNG

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