Keli Lane

Keli Lane (born 21 March 1975), is an Australian woman who was convicted of the 1996 murder of her newborn baby, Tegan, and of three counts of making a false declaration. Her final application for appeal of her conviction was rejected by the High Court of Australia in August 2014.

Lane was originally serving an 18-year prison sentence and was to be eligible for parole on 12 May 2024, after serving a period of 13 years and five months in custody. and remains incarcerated in the Silverwater Women's Correctional Centre, a maximum-security facility in New South Wales.

Early life Lane is the daughter of Sandra Lane, a former hospital worker at Manly Hospital, and Robert Lane, a retired police officer. placing the first and third babies up for adoption, and allegedly murdering the second.

After four failed attempts to be induced early at Ryde Hospital, on 12 September 1996, Tegan Lee Lane was delivered at around 38 weeks at Auburn Hospital. Less than two days later, and prior to being discharged, Lane left the hospital with Tegan at around 11 am-12 pm, and by 3 pm, she arrived at her parents' home alone. A few hours later, she then attended a friend's wedding dressed in white with her partner Duncan Gillies. There was no sign of or mention of Tegan.

In 1999, 25 weeks pregnant with her third child (i.e., her fifth pregnancy), Lane flew to Queensland to seek a late term abortion. She was refused due to the foetus being of a viable gestation. Three months later, in May 1999, Lane gave birth to a boy whom she decided to put up for adoption (as she did with her first-born child in 1995). Lane advised a social worker that this was her first child and that Gillies was the father. Gillies denied the claims. The inquest resulted in the coroner declaring that he was "... comfortably satisfied that Tegan Lane is in fact deceased..."

Subsequent police investigations From 2006, police investigations focused on locating Norris, Melanie (Mel), and Noeline (Nana) Norris, Andrew Norris's mother, all alleged to have participated in or witnessed carriage of baby Tegan from Auburn Hospital. Despite nine documented versions of what happened that day, it was reported that police were unable to locate any persons who matched those profiles. Sightings of Norris were reported at the Sydney Aquarium but discounted as according to Caroline (Caro) Meldrum Hanna on the ABC Exposed Documentary post screening, Lane had told her "Andrew had no interest in water". Police also sought to locate Tegan Lane by searching the records of over 9,000 primary schools in Australia – a search process that lasted two years. Two girls named Tegan Lane were found in Queensland and another possibility was picked up on a Torres Strait island. Finally, police excluded all possible leads.

The police investigators, assessing that they had no conclusive evidence or any physical evidence pointing to Tegan's death, decided not to charge Lane; however, they referred the matter to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Nicholas Cowdery. Lane pleaded not guilty, and the matter went to trial by jury.

Trial and aftermath The matter was heard in the Supreme Court; presided over by Justice Anthony Whealy; with Mark Tedeschi, QC as the Crown Prosecutor; and Keith Chapple, SC defending Lane under instruction from Legal Aid; and began on 9 August 2010. placing two babies up for adoption, and allegedly murdering her baby, Tegan, on 14 September 1996. The jury heard that Lane concealed her pregnancies from her family and friends in order to protect her personal image and reputation. According to Supreme Court judge Peter Hammill, who acted in her defence in 2006, images would have been destroyed by revelations of the salaciousness of her sex life centering around numerous rugby players from The Manly Marlins club over which Robert Lane presided. The Crown produced evidence that, as a motive for murder, Lane was prepared to abandon her children at birth to increase her chances of representing Australia in water polo at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. There was also evidence she believed children would interfere with her educational plans, her social life, and the regard in which she was held by parents and friends. It was also alleged that her friends' wedding on 14 September may have been a crucial factor; as Lane sought a permanent solution to a potential problem to hide evidence of the pregnancy and birth from family and friends. A little later on the same day, the jury found Lane guilty of murder of Tegan. It was reported that psychiatrist Michael Diamond, who appeared before the hearing on behalf of the Crown, found no evidence of a psychiatric disorder and that Lane's decisions appeared to be based on "problem solving". On 15 April 2011, Lane was sentenced to 18 years' jail expiring on 12 December 2028, with a non-parole period of 13 years and five months. She became eligible for parole on 12 May 2024.

Appeal and aftermath Lawyers acting for Lane lodged an appeal against her conviction on 18 April 2011. The same day, claims were aired in the media that a taxi driver saw Lane dump a baby in bushland, en route to Manly.

Some news reports allege that, since being jailed, Lane has been attacked by other inmates, causing facial injuries. Lane has responded by denying such incidents.

An appeal was lodged and was heard in the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal between July and December 2013. The court dismissed the appeal, commenting that there was "ample" evidence available to the jury of Lane's guilt. Lane made a further application for leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia, and that application was rejected in August 2014.

Lane was denied parole on 22 March 2024 in accordance with the "No body, No parole" laws of New South Wales.

In 2025, New South Wales MLC Sue Higginson revealed that Lane alleged she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by Wayne Astill, a corrections officer at Dillwynia Correctional Centre, and harassed by other staff. Higginson also stated that Lane was a witness in the government inquiry against Astill, who was jailed in 2023 for assaulting multiple incarcerated women.

Exposed: The Case of Keli Lane In September 2018, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation aired a three-part documentary, an opinion piece, which featured interviews with Lane, conducted via numerous six-minute telephone calls from inside jail of which a small percentage were included and edited down for production space.