Page 22 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, February 6, 2013
www.MelbourneObserver.com.au
CRIME
By Ash Long, Editor
THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF STEPHEN COOKSON
Former Victorian criminal Stephen Cookson has been found dead in Western Australia. An 11-year-old girl found his severed head in a plastic bag. Editor ASH LONG looks back at the violent life of a school colleague. ■ Straight-laced school teacher Richard Stowell should have seen it coming when he tried to teach the Nicene Creed to 11-year-old ‘Divinity’ pupils in 1968. “Sir, what’s a virgin? And would I find one in Reservoir?” The questioner was Stephen Ramon Cookson, newly enrolled student at Ivanhoe Grammar’s Junior School. Fresh from the working-class suburb of Reservoir, he brought a rough-and-tumble approach to his new “posh” school. ‘Cooka’s’ questions flustered the Junior Headmaster, even though the schoolboy humour would have gone over the heads of most of the pre-pubescent lads. ‘Cooka’ showed no fear, whether it be in the classroom, as a wicketkeeper in cricket, or as a tough junior footballer. Before he became a teenager, he became proficient in using fear against his opponents - whether they be teachers or students. So it came as no surprise to his Ivanhoe school mates from 40 years ago when news came that his severed head had been found in a plastic bag at Rottnest Island in Western Australia. He was full of contrasts. Stephen Cookson opted for a life of violence from an early age. Many/most of his classmates had copped a bashing at some time early in their association with him. Yet he was Equal Dux in his first year at Ivanhoe, winner of the prizes for Composition, Literature and Sport, and a member of the Chess Club. (The other Equal Dux was me.) Clever ... yet some 40 years on, Cookson had served serious jail time in Germany and Western Australia, for serious drug offences. Also known as ‘Cookie’, he had been described in the press as “the baddest man in WA racing”, had been warned off Perth racecourses, was reported for bashing racing identities, had been a heroin user, and was about to face court for possession of enough methylamphetamines with intent to sell or supply. He was said to be involved in the Perth brothel scene. But let’s rewind to 1968.
● Stephen Cookson, school footballer, 1973
● Stephen Cookson, cricketer Steve Cookson, to my knowledge, was the eldest child in a family from Reservoir. His father was a plumber, who would often drive his son to school in a battered old Holden. Both dad and son had a passion for punting. By the time he was just a teenager, ‘Cooka’ was wagging school days to attend midweek race meetings at Moonee Valley and Caulfield. He would bet on anything. Stephen Cookson would quickly show that his fists would solve an argument, if reason could not. In Form 4 (Year 10), we were both working on a community service project during a week in the Spring school holidays: painting a pensioner lady’s house in West Heidelberg. There was an argument about something incidental, probably paint, so he held me down on the ground, sitting atop me, delivering a round of damaging punches to the head. That was 1972, I still reckon I don’t breathe properly because of that bashing. But ‘Cooka’ could also be engaging. We walked home together that night to Reservoir. School friends remember that at a school dance featuring flamboyant entertainer Jeff Duff and his group Kush, the school came under assault by ‘the Heidelberg Boys’. He fought them off single-handedly, they recall. In 1973, Stephen Cookson violently assaulted one of the school’s most-able athletes. In the language of the times, he was asked not to return to Ivanhoe Grammar. The last time I spoke to ‘Cooka’ was in 1973 - 40 years ago. He finished his final secondary school year at Carey Baptist Grammar School, boasting later that one of his contemporaries there - and at Monash University - was Peter Costello, later to be Federal Treasurer.
● ‘Cooka’, age 11, 1968 ‘Cooka’ reportedly increased his interest in the ponies and punting. It is unsure whether he completed his law studies at Monash. Gossip has it that he was involved with a hold-up at his Victorian workplace, but staff recognised the familiar waddle of the accused. The need for cash to fund his gambling saw Stephen Cookson become involved in the drug industry. He was jailed in Germany, and later Western Australia. Police sources told me that there were outstanding warrants in Victoria for him that would prevent his return to his home state. Ahead of our school reunion (1989, I think), I phoned the WA jail where ‘Cooka’ was an inmate. Guard: “Mr Cookson will be an apology. When is your next reunion?” Me: Five years.
● Stephen Cookson in Perth. Photo: 7 News Upon his release, he returned to Guard: “Mr Cookson will also be whale-size gambling. He pumped so an apology for that reunion.” Whilst in jail in WA, ‘Cooka’ be- much cash through the East Perth came part of some very heavy prison TAB that a Federal Police check was conducted at the branch. life. ‘Cooka’ was a magnificent storyHis ex-prison colleague Trevor told me: “Steve Cookson was well feared teller. He told of being a winning trainer in jail and he had good connections in of a horse in the Melbourne Cup. He had defended himself in a High the drug world, “He and I nearly came to blows Court appeal, albeit unsuccessfully. Former classmates laugh as they though. I didn't like him. They were getting my allocation of ice cream in recall him delivering an assignment, jail and I was getting none so I took giving a speech written on a roll of toilet paper.. Steve's. He boasted of being a member of “He was well pissed off and a delegation was formed to stop me taking Mensa. On the other hand, locals in Perth say he was a character that "their" ice cream. “It was comical but quite serious, rarely showered or changed clothes. After an argument about ownerthese blokes would kill you for an ice ship of a horse, the owner returned cream.” several days later to find the horse dead in the yard. That owner also received a broken nose for his troubles. Another horse racing identity complained about injuries after a Cookson bashing. ‘Cooka’ replied that the man had “brittle bones”. Police say that another person involved in similar ‘meth’ drug trafficking had also been found dead. Stephen Cookson was a brilliantlyable man who was “off the hinges”. He charmed us with his words, and terrorised us as a thug. But no-one deserves to die like this.
● Schoolboy debaters: Ash Long (now Editor of the Melbourne Observer), the late Peter Huxley (coach), Terry Bramham (now a solicitor), and Stephen Cookson in 1973
● Stephen Cookson, schoolboy swimmer, 1970