Medium to solve case

Debbie Malone (R) Mrs Rayney (L)


WA detectives have resorted to using a psychic medium who claims to speak to the dead in their hunt for Corryn Rayney's killer, according to a new book.


Debbie Malone, one of Australia's most prominent psychics and spirit mediums, has revealed police investigating the unsolved murder of the young mother approached her for information after she claimed to have made unexpected contact with Mrs Rayney a year after her murder.

Malone told The Sunday Times police gave her Mrs Rayney's diary as an ``energy source'' so she could perform a technique known as psychometry, where people communicate with the dead and see past, present and future events.

Two detectives accompanied her to the Subiaco street where the 44-year-old's abandoned car was found and a track in Kings Park where her body was recovered from a bush grave, she said.

WA police have never disclosed these details before.

Mrs Malone has revealed her role in the Rayney investigation in Never Alone: A Medium's Journey, published this month.

It documents the Sydney-based psychic's work with police forces across Australia, including the NSW Missing Persons Unit.

The mother of three is promoted as Australia's own Allison Dubois, whose life is the basis of the TV show Medium.

In the book Malone details the work she claims to have done with WA police, but only calls Mrs Rayney a ``female lawyer''. However she confirmed the woman in the book was the murdered Supreme Court registrar.

Mrs Rayney disappeared after a bootscooting dance class at Bentley Community Centre on August 7, 2007. Her body was discovered a week later in a bush grave at Kings Park after her silver Ford Fairmont was found dumped in Kershaw St, Subiaco.

Police controversially named Mrs Rayney's husband, prominent lawyer Lloyd Rayney, as the ``prime'' and ``only'' suspect in the murder, but he has vehemently denied any involvement in the death of his wife and is suing police.

Malone said her first contact with Mrs Rayney was in September last year while in Perth working on the Claremont serial killer case.

She said she was under hypnosis and initially became confused by the contact because she thought Mrs Rayney was related to the Claremont case.

``She showed me that she drove a silver vehicle and that she was extremely upset about her children,'' Malone wrote in the book.

``She then began to show me how she had died and I felt a very sudden pain in the right-hand side of my head.

``I started to see visions of the woman's two children and the sadness she felt about not being with them as they grew up.''

Detectives have never revealed the precise cause of death or information about any injuries.

Malone was reluctant to comment in detail about the information she gave police, saying she did not want to compromise the homicide investigation. Nor would she provide The Sunday Times with the identity of the two officers she worked with.

Malone said she was given the diary to use as an energy source.

``I didn't read it or anything. I just held the outside of the item for the energy,'' Malone said.

``I was asked would I be able to see what I could see. She was very sad about (her daughters).

``She was a great mum. That's what I could see. That's what came through under hypnosis -- that (she) just loved her girls and that they need to know the truth.''

She said she included her Rayney experience in her book as an example of how she could pinpoint a ``murder scene without any (previous) knowledge of it''.

``There's a lot of information that's not in (the book) and only the police are privy to that because it's an ongoing case. It's a pretty intriguing case. There's a lot more going on,'' she said.

Yesterday, WA Police spokesman Neil Stanbury declined to respond to Malone's assertions or categorically deny that detectives involved in Operation Dargan, the investigation into Mrs Rayney's murder, had used the services of Malone.

Instead, he issued a statement, saying: ``WA Police does not use psychics or seek their services. However, if any person contacts police with what they believe is important information about a crime we will consider what they have to provide.''

He said police did not publicly comment about each person they spoke to as part of their investigations.

But police sources confirmed psychics had been used in previous WA murder investigations.
Malone said: ``I don't believe that psychics can solve cases. It would be great if it was like on (the TV show) Medium. I've worked on so many cases but I couldn't say that I've been the sole factor to solving a case.

``Families will come to me or police officers will come to me ... but I don't go to the families.

``I don't charge the police for my work. I just volunteer my time. Everything I do is with the utmost respect.''

``It's not about money or fame... For me, it's a privilege to be able to assist.''

Don Spiers, father of Sarah Spiers who vanished from Claremont in 1996, has previously criticised psychics and clairvoyants, saying he has been hounded by hundreds of them since his daughter disappeared.

Mr Spiers said he was given false hope and suffered depression as a result of being approached by psychics offering information about Sarah's whereabouts.