Louise Catherine Carruthers: Identity of ex-CCC officer accused of corrupt relationship with prisoner revealed

The identity of a former senior Corruption and Crime Commission officer accused of having an intimate relationship with an informant can be revealed for the first time, after a suppression bid failed. Louise Catherine Carruthers was at the centre of a bombshell report entitled “Going Rogue” that was tabled in State Parliament in March last year. The Parliamentary Inspector of the CCC, Matthew Zilko, formed an opinion of serious misconduct against the 42-year-old, saying she had an extensive and intimate relationship with a “human source”. Mr Zilko wrote that she was a long-term CCC employee and was acting as a “human source handler” when she engaged in the conduct, describing it as “extremely serious”, “potentially dangerous” and involving “a gross breach of trust”. “The officer deceived the commission, exposed others to potential harm by revealing official information obtained through her work, and neglected to responsibly perform her job,” Mr Zilko wrote in his report. “The public has the right to expect the highest standards from officers in powerful positions.” Then last month, WA Police said the woman — who no longer works for the CCC — had been charged with one count of acting corruptly as a public officer. Police said the “registered human source” who she had an “inappropriate” relationship with was a prisoner at the time. They went on to say she had “engaged in deceitful conduct” to hide the relationship from her employer so the pair could continue “clandestine meetings”. That allegedly included creating a pseudonym to register herself with the prison as a legal contact for the inmate so they could “secure extended unmonitored and unrecorded” relations. Ms Carruthers, who was referred to only as “LC” in the parliamentary report, unsuccessfully sought to have her identity suppressed when she fronted Perth Magistrates Court on Friday. She was not required to enter a plea and declined to speak with media outside court. Her matter is next due in court on June 20. While the parliamentary report stated that the relationship ran from early 2020 and early 2023, Friday’s court list suggests the alleged offending spanned a longer period, from late November 2018 to late January 2023.