Evidence in up to 40 Victorian cold case murders has been destroyed, including exhibits for the murder of Shepparton teenager Michelle Buckingham currently before court.
Fairfax Media has been told police made the decision to destroy old exhibits for 30 to 40 cold case murders when evidence was moved to a new building in the 1990s.
Exhibits lost include those relating to the 30-year-old Buckingham case, which is being heard before the Shepparton Magistrates Court this week after fresh charges were laid for the teenager's death earlier this year.
It was the last case for veteran Homicide Squad policeman Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles - now the secretary of the Police Association - who was called to give evidence on Thursday and told the court there was no forensic evidence in the case.
"Sadly in 1994, an inspector ordered the destruction of all exhibits," Detective Senior Sergeant Iddles told the court.
Fairfax Media understands all exhibits were being moved from police headquarters in Russell Street to a new storage facility in Collingwood.
In the process of moving the exhibits, a decision was made to destroy certain exhibits and potentially crucial evidence has been lost.
It is unclear what other cases have been affected.
Michelle Buckingham's mother, Elvira Buckingham, called the decision to destroy the exhibits in her daughter's case "disappointing".
Her daughter was 16 when she went missing in October 1983. Her body was found about two weeks later dumped on the side of a lonely road just outside Shepparton with multiple stab wounds.
Senior Sergeant Iddles and his cold case team re-opened the Buckingham case in 2012, charging Steven James Bradley, 53, with murder in March this year.
This week, the Shepparton Magistrates Court has been hearing evidence in a committal hearing to test whether the case could go to trial.
The decision to charge Mr Bradley was based on a number of witnesses, Senior Sergeant Iddles told the court, particularly that of the accused's brother-in-law Norman Gribble.
Mr Gribble told the court on Wednesday that Mr Bradley came to him to morning after Michelle was killed and told him he had "murdered a girl" and implicated two other men.
One of those men, Rodney Butler, 47, of Brisbane, told the court on Thursday he knew "nothing about" the murder of the teenager who was once his girlfriend and had helped search for her when she disappeared in October 1983.
The court was also told on Thursday that Mr Bradley told his colleagues at a veterinary clinic in Brisbane, where he was living, that he had daily nightmares and was haunted by the ghost of a girl that would visit him at the end of his bed.
"He said he didn't know who she was. He said that when he walked the streets he would see this girl's face on other people and that would freak him out," veterinary nurse Tiffany Marshall said in a statement.
A police spokeswoman said the cold case and missing persons unit was in the process of reviewing all cold case investigations.
"Exhibit management will obviously be included in the review. We are not in a position at this time to comment on the status of exhibits relevant to cold case investigations," she said.
