The senior media adviser to NSW’s top cop has been ousted after Commissioner Karen Webb was heavily criticised for comments she made during the investigation into the deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
NSW Police confirmed on Wednesday that Liz Deegan, Executive Director of Public Affairs, had ‘served her last day’.
Ms Deegan had been in the role for almost a year after holding senior jobs at News Corp and the NRL.
She was the third person to be in the position since Commissioner Webb took charge of NSW Police two years ago.
The development comes after Commissioner Webb was slammed over her handling of the investigation into the deaths of couple Luke Davies and Jesse Baird.
A senior media adviser to NSW’s top cop has paid the price after Commissioner Karen Webb was heavily criticised for comments she made during the investigation into the deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies
Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, 28, is behind bars after being charged with murdering former Ten reporter Jesse Baird, 26, and flight attendant Luke Davies, 29, in Sydney on February 19.
Investigators allege Lamarre-Condon’s crimes followed a months-long campaign of ‘predatory behaviour,’ culminating in the fatal double shooting.
The Commissioner faced a storm of criticism and calls for her to resign from her $679,000-a-year job over her approach to the alleged murders.
It began when Ms Webb took a number of days to front the media over the police investigation into the killings.
She was then forced to apologise after describing the deaths of Baird and Davies as a ‘crime of passion’ in a press conference about the case.
During a bizarre interview on Sunrise, the Commissioner was confronted by Barr and her co-host Matt Shirvington and accused of ‘going into hiding’ during the week-long investigation.
She referenced a Taylor Swift lyric as she told the hosts: ‘There will always be haters. Haters like to hate. Isn’t that what Taylor says?’
‘I have a job to do. It is a big job. This is just one of many. We actually had seven murders last week.
‘This, though, of course is a complex matter. All we need to do now is find Jesse and Luke.’
After the discovery of the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies (pictured), Ms Webb came under further criticism when she said in a press conference that police were ‘grateful’ to the accused for assisting police
After the discovery of the pair’s bodies, Ms Webb came under further criticism when she said in a press conference that police were ‘grateful’ to the accused for assisting police.
Mitch Swanson, a close friend of Jesse Baird, slammed the comment after the Commissioner announced police had found Baird and Luke Davies’ remains in surfboard bags on a property at remote Bungonia, in the NSW Southern Tablelands.
But in a subsequent interview with the Today Show, Commissioner Webb doubled down on her comment, telling host Sarah Abo that it was the alleged victims’ families who were grateful their remains had been found.
Mr Swanson was incensed when he heard Ms Webb’s apparently thoughtless choice of words.
‘Saying how GRATEFUL they are to [Lamarre-Condon] for revealing information is just another blow to his family and friends,’ Swanson wrote to friends.
‘He deserves no form of thanks at all. The police handling of this is an absolute trainwreck.’
In a subsequent interview with the Today Show, Commissioner Webb doubled down on her comment, telling host Sarah Abo that it was the alleged victims’ families who were grateful their remains had been found