Gangland barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo - who enjoyed celebrating milestone occasions - was lonely on the anniversary of her stroke, a royal commission has heard.
She'd lost her friendships because she'd stopped turning up at events, instead socialising with criminals, in a move encouraged by her police handlers.
She wanted to be "the best human source that Victoria Police had ever had", but Ms Gobbo - also known as Lawyer X - had come to realise the arrangement hadn't "made her better off, after all".
The commission in to police informers heard Ms Gobbo was struggling in her romantic relationship and the costs of paying her mortgage while the criminals she worked with were "flaunting" cash.
Following her 2004 stroke, Ms Gobbo reportedly felt lonely after only spending time with her police handler on its anniversary.
Her lawyer, Peter Collinson QC, told the inquiry on Wednesday that Ms Gobbo signed up to inform on her clients "to do the right thing", to put the Mokbel clan behind bars, and only received "modest" rewards.
He suggested Ms Gobbo didn't sign up over a guilty conscience for not preventing the execution-style murders of police informer Terence Hodson and his wife Christine.
Last week, former detective Gavan Ryan, who headed the Hodson investigation, said he believed Ms Gobbo had a "hunch" something would happen, then decided to "roll over" to police, regretting having done nothing to prevent it.
But her former handler, known by the pseudonym Sandy White, said he was sceptical Ms Gobbo was motivated by guilt.
Ms Gobbo was registered as an informer in 2005, a year after the pair was murdered.
Mr Collinson added that doing so wouldn't have protected her from potential criminal liability.
"It certainly wouldn't protect you but it might ameliorate the offence if you were charged," Mr White replied.
He said for someone in Ms Gobbo's position after the murders, it "wouldn't be a bad move" to assist police, but agreed her "hypothetical guilty conscience" was never discussed between the pair when she first signed on.
Instead, Ms Gobbo was largely motivated by her desire to be Victoria Police's "best source ever", Mr Collinson said.
Mr Collinson also put to Mr White that Ms Gobbo had been rushed into making her decision to sign on, with no time or guidance to "second-guess" if she was doing the right thing.
Mr White agreed that although the Source Development Unit (SDU) started winding down its involvement with Ms Gobbo after two years, putting their relationship into "babysitting" mode, her handlers continued to set her tasks as she came forward with more information.
He agreed Ms Gobbo wanted to keep active as a human source so she didn't feel "abandoned" by the SDU.
Australian Associated Press
