Tony Byrne, father of Caroline. Picture: Stephen Cooper Source: The Daily Telegraph
Death at the Gap - model Caroline Byrne. Picture: Supplied Source: The Daily Telegraph
Industry sources say 60 Minutes paid $200,000 for Wood Caroline Byrne's dad upset; says they lied to him The interview is due to air next Sunday night on Nine
TONY Byrne has criticised Channel 9's 60 Minutes for paying $200,000 for an interview with Gordon Wood.
Mr Byrne said he was disappointed the program allegedly had lied to him when he contacted them about a month ago and asked if they were planning to interview the man whose conviction for murdering his daughter, Caroline Byrne, was overturned in February.
"I can only label their actions unconscionable," Mr Byrne, 76, said.
The current affairs program yesterday declined to say how much had been paid to Mr Wood for an interview due to air next Sunday night but industry sources told The Daily Telegraph it was "at least" $200,000.
Mr Wood, 47, spent more than three years in jail after being convicted of throwing his girlfriend Ms Byrne, 24, off The Gap at Watsons Bay in June 1995.
Within days of being granted his freedom by the Court of Criminal Appeal in February, he revealed he was considering a TV offer of $200,000 as well as lucrative book deals.
After Mr Wood gave his first paid interview to The Australian Women's Weekly last month, Mr Byrne contacted both the magazine and 60 Minutes.
Mr Byrne had put together a summary of the prosecution case and a list of 12 questions he said Mr Wood never answered during his trial because he exercised his right to silence.
He said he received a polite reply from the magazine and had spoken to a 60 Minutes producer. "He told me they were not doing anything with (Mr) Wood," Mr Byrne said.
He said the producer told him to send him the documents, which he had done.
"I said the reason I'm sending you this is because I wouldn't want (Mr) Wood to be given money for what he has done and I hope you would not be doing anything with him and he said 'no, we haven't got anything planned with Gordon Wood'," Mr Byrne said."
In 2008 Mr Byrne donated $60,000 from paid interviews and the sale of his book The Killing Of Caroline Byrne: A Journey Of Justice to a hospital.
60 Minutes said yesterday they never commented on whether payments had or had not been made for interviews.
