Sources said Hodson had many enemies and was known to be security conscious.

His house was heavily fortified with security cameras, floodlights.

Hodson was due to give evidence in the prosecution of suspended officers Dale and Miechel - Hodson's police contacts and co-accused in the alleged $1.3 million drug burglary.

The Age reported that the suspended police officers had been questioned about the murders and provided alibis. Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Simon Overland said they remained "persons of interest" whose alibis would be examined.

It is thought that both men co-operated with detectives.

Drug charges against Detective Sergeant Paul Dale, were dropped after the Hodson's deaths.

It was later revealed that Hodson had turned spy for police.

The Hodsons were killed after a top secret police report detailing his informing activities was leaked to the underworld.

The top-secret document identified Terrence Hodson as a high-level police informer, who provided information on both allegedly corrupt police and senior underworld figures.

The ABC was told the document was circulating in the underworld a week before Hodson's murder.

On June 2, 2004, the Herald Sun said it had obtained a copy of the document which showed suspended detective David Miechel as the author.

Well before his death Hodson was helping an investigation into accused police.

But the secret report revealed he was doing much more.

Terrence Hodson was also providing detailed information on Victoria's biggest drug barons.

This secret intelligence was leaked to the underworld, presumably by corrupt police, before Hodson's murder.

The illegal circulation of the report marked Hodson as a "dead man walking".

Using his secret police code number, the documents revealed Hodson telling his police handlers he was offered a contract to kill accused drug trafficker Carl Williams.

FILE OF POLICE INFORMER: 4/390 met on Tuesday in garage with ****, who wanted 4/390 to knock Carl Williams for Lewis Moran for $50,000."

In another passage, Hodson told his police handlers about an underworld figure's alleged involvement in the notorious theft of files from the St Kilda Road police headquarters in 1997.

Confidential files on a protected witness known as E2/92 and evidence in a long-running investigation into amphetamines dealer, John Higgs, were stolen.

Underworld boss and close associate of Higgs, David McCulloch was named in the document as the perpetrator.

Hodson had told police McCulloch confessed that he was the leader in the St Kilda Rd break-in.

In the report, Hodson is recorded as having told police he discussed the drug squad burglary with McCulloch.

"It appears McCulloch still has files from St Kilda Rd,'' the Hodson police report says.

As well as the reference to Lewis Moran, the report discussed a number of underworld figures including people Hodson was allegedly informing on interstate.

Whether the leaked report was behind their deaths is unproven at this stage, but it did contain information critical to those who stood to gain by Hodson's murder.

The ABC's Four Corners program (March 14, 2005) revealed that Hodson was aware he was under threat and believed his security was at risk before he died.

Four Corners also uncovered new evidence linking a detective to a gangland crime syndicate which had been accused of several underworld killings.

Paul Dale was sacked from the Victorian Police Force in 2004.

He was a detective sergeant in charge of Terrence Hodson. 

Dale was charged with attempting to steal a large quantity of drugs with Hodson.

Terrence Hodson was to testify against Dale in court but the case fell over when he was murdered.

The Four Corners program revealed that Dale, Hodson's official police handler, also had links to a group of gangland criminals known as the Williams syndicate who Hodson was spying on.

The Williams syndicate included Carl Williams, who was on remand, charged with several underworld murders.

The allegation that Dale had links to Melbourne's underworld came shortly after Victoria's Director of Police Integrity found that Dale was the most likely suspect in the theft of the confidential police file on Hodson's informing duties.

It was also claimed Dale met with accused drug boss Tony Mokbel after Dale was sacked from the force.

Simon Overland, said police were investigating that allegation.

Dale denied any involvement in corrupt activity or Terrence Hodson's murder.

Investigator with the Office of Police Integrity, Graham Ashton, told Four Corners the file was probably leaked to hurt Hodson.

"I do think it was calculated. I mean, I think there was also an element of interest in certain quarters, once they heard these were out there, in trying to source them and examine them," Ashton told the ABC. "But I think there was certainly a calculated dissemination in my view, with the purpose of damaging Hodson."

Overland told Four Corners the decision to allow Paul Dale to handle informer Terrence Hodson was flawed.

After the concerns about Dale came to light mid 2003, why did he continue to manage Hodson?

"It's a difficult to answer the question , I mean. We had concerns about Hodson as an informant. We had reviewed that quite thoroughly. The review had come up clean and we let the current arrangements continue on," Overland told Four Corners.

"With the benefit of hindsight, we now understand that that was a bad decision on our part."

Carl Williams told the Age that the leaked report might have been seen by about 100 people in the underworld.

He said the confidential report was not secret in the days before the May 16 murders.

"About 100 people have probably seen it but I am one of the few who haven't," he said.

His father, George Williams said he had come across the report "on his travels" about three weeks ago and that it had been circulated "pretty widely".

He said he was astounded the allegations in it had not been used against Lewis Moran in bail applications. The document was shown to him by a friend.

"This document was two years old and the police knew about it. They done nothing about it," Mr Williams said.

"It's a police report, whether it's authentic or not... if I can get my hands on it and the media can get their hands on it, criminals can get their hands on it."

On October 4, 2004, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard David Miechel threatened Terence Hodson with a card that depicted actor Al Pacino as a gangster from the movie Scarface.

Miechel allegedly gave the card to Hodson's daughter Mandy about six months before Hodson's death, the court was told.

Prosecutor Damien Maguire said Miechel allegedly gave the card to Mandy Hodson in November 2003 to pass on to her father.

Mr Maguire described the card as a "thinly veiled threat" during his opening of a committal hearing for Miechel before Deputy Chief Magistrate Jelena Popovic.

, who was charged over his alleged involvement in the $1.3 million drug theft.

Pacino starred in the 1983 film Scarface as gangster and drug lord Tony Montana.

Other allegations heard during the first day of the committal hearing included:

· Terence Hodson allegedly told police that his daughter Nicola and her husband, Peter Reed - who was acquitted over the 1988 Russell Street police station bombing - had been involved in a number of burglaries.

· Miechel had been in a sexual relationship with Mandy Hodson.

· Terence Hodson told Mandy to co-operate with the police investigation of Miechel.

Mr Maguire said Miechel allegedly sprayed himself with dog repellent, believing dogs were at the East Oakleigh house, but was later mauled by a police dog.

The court heard that Hodson had become a police informer, reporting to Miechel, in 2001.

Mr Maguire said Miechel had regular contact with the Hodsons and their daughter Mandy, with whom he developed a sexual relationship.

When cross-examined by Miechel's lawyer, Nick Pappas, Mandy Hodson said she was "positive" she had a relationship with Miechel and told the court he had tattoos on his ankle and forearm as well as a tongue stud and belly button piercing.

Ms Hodson also said Miechel had a scar on his thigh from an accident with a chainsaw when he was younger.

She broke down in tears during the hearing. Ms Hodson said her father asked her to co-operate with the police investigation and told her details of the alleged burglary.

She said she knew that her father and her sister's husband, Peter Reed, had had a disagreement, but was unaware of the allegations that Hodson went to the police about the alleged involvement of his daughter Nicola and her husband in several burglaries.

Reed had been jailed on charges of burglary and attempted murder.

In May 2006 a jury found Sen-Det David Miechel guilty of seven charges.

These included burglary and trafficking in a large commercial quantity of drugs.

When sentencing Miechel in August 2006, Justice Betty King said he had been in a privileged position, receiving information about illegal activity which he then used to his own advantage.

Terrence Hodson's daughter Mandy (left) gave evidence about the close relationship Miechel had with her and her family.

She said the man she affectionately called 'Dimples' had confessed to her, saying: "I did it more for you than for your dad."

She said it was hard to reconcile the devoted, highly motivated officer Miechel had apparently been with the person who committed this crime.

Justice King sentenced him to 15 years with a non-parole term of 12.

Michael "Eyes" Pastras, 36, was shot once in the buttocks and once in the thigh at a house in Albion St, Brunswick on October 14, 2006.

Pastras was named in the confidential document that was blamed for prompting the executions of Terrence and Christine Hodson.

On January 13, 2007, it was reported that Tony Mokbel held the police documents identifying informants almost two years before Hodson was executed.

"Dad denied (being a police informant)," Andrew told The Weekend Australian. "Tony Mokbel told me, and he showed me the piece of paper with his police informer number.

"I said 'Get fucked, Tony. Don't say that about my father'. He goes 'Mate, I'm telling you. I'll produce the paperwork'.

"I come back the next day and he showed me the piece of paper and it had the big police sign up the top and so on."

Mr Hodson said he believed the document was the front page of his father's police informant file.

Mr Mokbel told him the name of the Victorian detective who gave him the file.

Mr Mokbel also showed him six similar documents that revealed informants' identities, according to Mr Hodson's first public comments on what he believed were extensive connections between the underworld and police.

Mr Hodson and his family believe police killed his parents, and want a royal commission.

Andrew Hodson's version of events - that police leaks to Mr Mokbel were happening as early as mid-2002 - indicates the possible extent of the fugitive drug baron's links with corrupt officers.

Mr Mokbel skipped bail in 2006 and fled overseas, and was convicted in his absence of trafficking 2kg of pure cocaine.

On March 6, 2007, the Herald Sun reported that police and prosecutors hoped the fallen gang boss Carl Williams would help solve the Hodson murders.

Director of Public Prosecutions Paul Coghlan, QC, said it was important the Hodson murders were solved.

"Any unsolved murders, particularly any that might involve corruption in the police force, we're very anxious to solve."

Mr Coghlan said Williams' degree of co-operation could help reduce his sentence.

"We're happy to receive as much co-operation as we possibly can, " he said.

"But as the thing stands, we don't actually have anything. He's got to decide. The ball's in his court. He knows the areas we're interested in.

"From our point of view, the rules are the more he co-operates the better he'll do on sentence."

Mr Coghlan said the judge who will sentence Williams -- Justice Betty King -- had made it clear in previous gangland cases that degree of co-operation was a major sentencing feature.

On March 24, 2007, the Age reported that disgraced former drug squad detective Paul Dale is suspected of involvement in the shootings of Terence Hodson and his wife, Christine. 

Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland said that Dale  was a "person of interest" in double murder.

Dale had a firm alibi for the night of the killings. He was in country Victoria, and while there made calls to police colleagues. But investigators are examining whether his activities before the murders may have encouraged criminals to kill the Hodsons.

In another development, The Age revealed that police have asked the Australian Crime Commission to join the murder investigation.

It was the first time the commission has used its coercive powers, under which suspects must answer questions or be sent to jail, to find a link between police corruption and the killing of the Hodsons.

At least one former policeman has been questioned.

Asked if Dale's suspected links with the Hodson murders left a stain on police, Mr Overland said: "Whether it is a stain or not remains to be seen. But it certainly leaves a question … and that is why it is important for us to get to the bottom of this."

He said that investigations into Melbourne's gangland murders and organised crime were not over. "There is a heck of a lot for us yet to do," he said. "So the Hodson investigation is just part of that continuing fight."

An Age investigation into Paul Dale and the Hodson murders has uncovered that:

■ Before Hodson was murdered in early 2003, Dale asked him to find out where gangland drug boss Jason Moran was hiding, and about his plans to murder his rival Carl Williams. Hodson told corruption investigators he believed Dale was working for Williams, who later murdered Moran.

■ Investigators have examined Dale's links with Tony Mokbel.

■ Criminals suspected of direct involvement in the Hodson killings were leaked secret files detailing what Hodson was telling police.

Dale has denied any involvement in the Hodson murders, and declined to speak to The Age.

On May 18, 2007, the Age reported that senior homicide detectives had expressed anger that a taskforce had been set up to solve the Hodson murders, claiming such resources could help them solve the deaths of several law-abiding citizens.

Sources had told The Age that while they hoped the Hodsons' murderer was eventually caught, requests for extra staff to help with several homicide investigations had been denied, leaving many cases unsolved.

"It's amazing how they have thrown all these resources into a taskforce because it's a high-profile case, yet when we ask for a few extra officers to help us gather more information, they tell us there's no one available," one detective said.

"If we had a taskforce set up to investigate these murders, many which have involved people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or were killed for reasons we don't yet know, I'm sure they, too, could be solved a lot sooner."

Deputy Commissioner Simon Overland had confirmed during the week that a taskforce of senior homicide and corruption investigators were retracing the steps of the original homicide investigation in the hope of finding the couple's killer.

He described the case as a "priority investigation" and said the taskforce was set up after police received new leads.

But another homicide investigator said: "Regardless of whether we get any new information or not on the cases we're working on, we have to work with what we've got rather than have a taskforce set up to help us get the job done.

"It surprises me that just because something new has come up that relates to this case, they've pulled out all the shots."

Mr Overland said the Hodsons' murder remained a concern for Victoria Police "given the connection it has, and we believe it is appropriate to form a taskforce to focus our investigation".

On May 10, 2008, Age reporter John Silvester wrote that with Tony Mokbel's "Big Fat Greek Adventure coming to a close the alleged organised crime boss faced a clear choice — freedom or family".

He will have to give information on the murders of the Hodsons for authorities to even consider plea discussions. Detectives believe the double murder was set up by a corrupt former member of the drug squad.

Mokbel would have to give up the former police behind the Hodson murders to have a chance of receiving a sentence of less than 30 years. The deal will be simple — rat or rot.

A special taskforce, code-named Petra, is investigating the double murder. Convicted gangland killer Carl Williams has claimed a former policeman told him that Hodson was "a problem" and had to go. Williams claimed the former detective later said the matter had been "sorted". It was just before the double murder.

Taskforce investigators have secretly visited David Miechel in jail but he refused to co-operate with any investigation.

While Mokbel might have no issue in sinking bent cops to save himself there is a sticking point. He would have to name the actual killer and the star suspect is a man who is virtually related to him through marriage.

The suspect is a cold-blooded killer implicated in the murders of Mike Schievella, 44, and his partner, Heather McDonald, 36, at their St Andrews home in 1990.

Police said they were bound and tied and their throats slashed. One theory was they were killed because they were suspected of talking to police.

The suspect has been listed as a person of interest in three murders in the 1980s including standover man Brian Kane, who was shot in the Quarry Hotel in Brunswick in 1982.

The man has also been named as a suspect in the murder of lawyer-turned-gangland-figure Mario Condello, who was shot in the garage of his Brighton home in February 2006.

The former armed robber and gunman once formed a hatred against a policeman who had arrested him. His cell was covered with hanged stick-figures with the detective's name scrawled under each one.

On May 23, 2008, the Herald Sun reported that the son of Terrence and Christine Hodson was being re-investigated and had been recently called in by members of the Petra Taskforce to undergo a lie-detector test over the double slaying.

Mr Hodson was interviewed by homicide squad investigators in 2004 but until recently had had little contact with investigators.

"They believe that I know of, or I was a part in, what happened," he told the newspaper.

Mr Hodson said he was asked during the polygraph test whether he gave information to a third party about the layout of his parents' East Kew home, or their movements on the night they were executed.

He said he agreed to the test because he had nothing to hide.

"I said I'm happy to do it," Mr Hodson said.

"Do I know something? No I don't. If I did, the person would be dead."

Mr Hodson admits to a criminal history including convictions for armed robbery, but says he has not committed an offence in nearly a decade.

He said he loved his father but believed he was fair game after informing on other criminals.

But he argued his mother was innocent and didn't deserve to die.

"My father played that game and lost," Mr Hodson said.

"He crossed that criminal line when he became an informer.

"That's the risk you take for being an informer.

"My mother didn't deserve to die at all. I just want to know why -- why she had to go."

The Hodsons' deaths followed the leaking of a secret police file on Terrence Hodson, detailing his role as a registered police informer. On June 6, 2008, Rod Collins, then 63 and of Holmes Street, Northcote, was arrested and questioned by police over the execution-style  killing of a husband and wife more than 20 years before.