The “Night Caller” audio is not a newly recorded interview: it comes from Eric Edgar Cooke’s 1963 murder trial. ABC reported that researcher Andrea Maushart found the deteriorating original court recordings and that they required expert restoration. The recordings later appeared in an ABC story, but the broadcaster says it removed the historical audio after a request from the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Neither the court’s later event notice nor ABC’s report establishes that the recordings can still be heard publicly.
What are the Eric Edgar Cooke audio files?
They are sound recordings made during Cooke’s 1963 murder trial in Perth, including his testimony—not a later interview or a newly discovered confession. In its report, ABC News described researcher Andrea Maushart’s discovery of original Supreme Court recordings. The tapes were stretched and deteriorating, and the report said they were difficult to hear and needed many hours of expert restoration.
ABC quoted Cooke describing his state of mind in testimony about the Australia Day 1963 murders: “It was, it was as though I was God and … it was like a mantle or like a cloud came over me, and I must, I must use that.” The words are testimony as reproduced by ABC; they should not be treated as a complete explanation of why he committed crimes.
Can you listen to the recordings now?
Current public access is not established by the available court and broadcaster notices. ABC updated its 2017 story on 31 May 2021 to say the historical audio had been removed following a request by the Western Australia Supreme Court. The court’s 2023 Open Day notice said visitors at that event could hear audio from Cooke’s trial. That confirms a past playback at a particular event, not an ongoing listening service, general release, or permission to republish the material.
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How does the audio fit the wider case?
The testimony belongs to a case with consequences beyond Cooke himself. The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) says Cooke confessed before his execution to the murders of John Button and Darryl Beamish, for which other men had been convicted; it also states that both convictions were later overturned. The audio is one piece of the historical record, not proof by itself of those wrongful convictions or their overturning.
The NFSA catalog describes Cooke as responsible for eight murders and fourteen attempted murders between 1959 and 1963. It records that he was convicted of wilful murder in November 1963, sentenced to death, and was the last man hanged in Western Australia. These figures and details are the NFSA’s account of the 1993 Seven News special, rather than a claim that the audio itself establishes each crime.
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The case should be remembered with the victims and the men wrongly convicted in view, not only through the killer’s testimony. Cooke’s account gives a disturbing glimpse of how he described his actions in court, but it does not supply a full psychological cause. The NFSA catalog notes that childhood accounts featured in his insanity defence, while state mental-health professionals deemed him sane at trial.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where can you find other accounts of Cooke’s case?
Estelle Blackburn’s Broken Lives: The Complete Life and Crimes of Serial Killer Eric Edgar Cooke is a directly relevant book. Museum of Perth lists a revised and updated 2002 paperback edition from Hardie Grant Books, ISBN 9781740640732; it covers Cooke and the wrongful-conviction cases.
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For a later audio retelling, Casefile’s official site lists Case 307: The Night Caller, Part 2 and Part 1. These episodes are a subsequent narrative treatment, not the original 1963 court recordings.
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- Author: Myers, Walter Dean.
- Publisher: Amistad
- Pages: 281
- Publication Date: 2001
- Edition: Illustrated
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