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Gary White: Bikie associate serving life sentence for 2001 murder of Anthony Tapley to stay in jail
A bikie associate serving a life sentence for a murder he insists he did not commit seems destined to stay in jail after an assessment of his case by the WA Prisoners Review Board.
Gary White is serving a life sentence for the 2001 murder of Walpole’s Anthony Tapley.
White was convicted of the murder in part due to testimony given at trial by Gypsy Joker supergrass Sidney “Snot” Reid , who testified that he saw the then 46-year-old truck driver shoot Tapley six times while chasing him around an industrial property in Maddington.
White — a one-time associate of the Gypsy Jokers — was convicted in 2003 after one of the fastest murder trials in WA history. It lasted less than a week.
White’s appeal against his conviction was dismissed in March 2006.
When the High Court refused to consider the case, White — who has always maintained his innocence — was left relying on the mercy of the attorney-general of the day to get a fresh trial, which never happened.
The West Australian can now reveal that White was recently considered for parole and a resocialisation program.
In a statement given to The West, a Prisoners Review Board spokesperson confirmed that White’s case was considered in April.
It was determined to make no recommendation that White be able to participate in a resocialisation program or be granted parole.
Camera IconSidney Reid (left) is arrested outside the Central Law Courts in 2001. Credit: Ian Ferguson/WA News
“The (board) chairperson is not prepared to release the reasons for the decision at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The West Australian understands that White’s legal team at Holborn Lenhoff Massey are considering the board’s recent decision and whether a review is appropriate.
A bombshell taped confession about Tapley’s death was expected to blow the 23-year-old case wide open.
The confession was sensationally revealed in the sixth and final episode of The West’s true-crime documentary series Bikie Code: Murder, Revenge and the Gypsy Jokers.
The 15-minute telephone conversation, in which a woman admits she was present when Tapley was killed in August 2001, was recorded by an advocate for White.
Camera IconFamily pictures of murder victim Anthony Tapley. Credit: Shannon Beven/Supplied
The woman caught on tape said that White was innocent and had been set up by Reid.
She claimed that she knew the real story because she was present Tapley, 35, was killed.
Her startling admission was recorded three years ago by Gordon Wright, a friend of White’s and the author of a book about the Tapley murder.
White’s lawyer at the time Hubert Gawley said in 2022 that the admission was one of several new pieces of evidence that would be used to convince judges than the bikie deserved another day in court.
Dennis Biggers, who spent time with White in jail, told The West in 2022 that he believed his former jailhouse pal was an innocent man.
Camera IconDennis Biggers. Credit: Ross Swanborough/The West Australian
Biggers told the Bikie Code documentary how when his own jail time was slashed after he successfully argued his sentence was excessive, he became a sought-after jailhouse lawyer.
One of the prisoners who approached him for advice was White.
“I heard Gary White speaking about his innocence,” Biggers said.
“And I just brushed it off as just being another prisoner aggrieved at the fact that they’d been caught.
“It wasn’t until probably 18 months or two years into my association with Gary that I began to have doubts about his conviction. It just didn’t add up.”
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