Former Furlan murder suspect wants justice

TONY WALL talks to a woman still haunted by her treatment by police.

She had a public spat with murder victim Tania Furlan and received a mysterious phone call from the Furlan home on the afternoon of the killing.

Nicolette Milroy says that was enough for police to treat her as their main suspect in the murder of Mrs Furlan and the abduction of her baby daughter, Tiffany.

Mrs Milroy was later cleared - Christopher John Lewis was charged instead - but she says her reputation and her family's were ruined.

She hopes a reinvestigation of the Furlan murder - announced by police this week - will expose what she believes was outrageous treatment.

"If there are allegations that police didn't handle their inquiry right, I can tell you we weren't handled right," she said from her new home in Australia yesterday.

Mrs Milroy is still haunted by her interrogation at the Otahuhu police station in 1996, when an officer stood over her accusing her of murdering Mrs Furlan to get to baby Tiffany.

Mrs Milroy said she was separated from her husband and two small daughters, then aged 5 and 4, who were questioned alone and told "don't tell mummy."

She said the family home was searched and items removed, two cars impounded, and friends questioned about her character.

Scottish-born Mrs Milroy and her husband, Les, came to Auckland from Australia in 1994 with their children when Mr Milroy got a job with Big Fresh.

Victor Furlan brought his family out from Canberra a week later when he also got a job with the firm, and they became close friends.

However, Mrs Milroy said she and Mrs Furlan fell out a couple of months before the killing. They argued publicly at their children's kindergarten.

On the afternoon Mrs Furlan was killed, the Milroys were out shopping.

"When we got back and played the answering machine, there were a couple of calls, and then there was one that was just a screech, and then nothing."

Police later traced the call as coming from the Furlan home.

"Whether she was trying to sort it out between us, nobody will ever know," Mrs Milroy said.

Two days after the murder, the Milroys were questioned for nine hours straight.

An officer took numerous written statements, her photograph and fingerprints, then his attitude suddenly changed.

"He said: 'You were seen at the house ... your car was seen.' Then he started shouting. He said: 'You killed her ... and you took the baby.' I said there was no way I would do anything like that, I'd never even seen the baby."

In tears by this stage, Mrs Milroy said the officer told her police knew she had had a hysterectomy and suggested that was why she had taken the baby.

"I told them it [the hysterectomy] was voluntary, I needed it and it didn't bother me as I'd had my children and didn't want any more. But he didn't believe me - he said that was why I took the child."

The family were told they were in the clear about a week later, after no evidence could be found.

John Haigh QC, who was employed by the Milroys, said yesterday: "She was not treated at all well by the police, from what she told me, unquestionably she deserves an apology from those officers involved."

Mrs Milroy said she and her husband also hoped to be compensated for the $3000 they spent on legal services.

She said they left New Zealand soon after the murder and had not taken any civil action against police.

One of the officers involved in the interviews, Detective Sergeant Richard Middleton, said yesterday: "Yes, she was interviewed as a suspect, but I have no knowledge of her seeking compensation or an apology. I have no further comment."