Australian man receives $7m as compensation for false detention

David Eastman received a life term in 1995 for the killing six years earlier of Colin Winchester, an Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner.

He was later freed after a court ruled he had had an unfair trial. He was acquitted in a second trial last year.

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Mr Winchester’s murder remains unsolved.

His killing rocked the legal and political establishment and sparked one of the nation’s largest-ever criminal investigations.

Mr Eastman, 74, had earlier rejected A$3.8m compensation offer from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government.

In earlier hearings, the ACT Supreme Court heard that Mr Eastman had lost the opportunity to have a family and a career because of his imprisonment. His mother and two younger siblings had also died during that time.

“He has lost a significant chunk of his life,” his lawyer, Sam Tierney, said outside the ACT Supreme Court on Monday.