Bogle–Chandler case

The Bogle–Chandler case refers to the mysterious deaths of Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Margaret Chandler on the banks of the Lane Cove River in Sydney, Australia on 1 January 1963.

In 2006, Peter Butt, a filmmaker, discovered evidence to suggest the cause of death was hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gas.

In the early hours of 1 January, an eruption of gas from the polluted river bed may have occurred, causing the noxious fumes to pool in deadly quantities in the grove.

[citation needed] Dr. Gilbert Stanley Bogle, born in 1924, was a physicist who worked at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) on the campus of the University of Sydney.

He invited the Chandlers to his New Year's Eve dinner party, to be held at his home in Waratah Street, Chatswood.

He returned to the Chatswood party at 2.30 a.m. but decided to depart alone with his wife's understood preference that she be driven home to Croydon by Bogle.

At the scene were signs of vomit and excreta from both victims along with items of clothing found on the exposed bed of the river.

The prime suspect was a greyhound trainer who slipped his dogs daily on a path that passed the site where the bodies were found.

[citation needed] The police investigated around 1,000 hypotheses of the cause of death including cone shell poison, funnel-web spiders, aphrodisiacs, and the drug LSD.

[8] Peter Butt's documentary Who Killed Dr Bogle and Mrs Chandler?, which was shown on the ABC in September 2006, suggests that the two deaths were caused by accidental hydrogen sulphide poisoning.

[citation needed] A veteran greyhound racing steward also came forward and said that he received a call from the suspect soon after the deaths, during which he admitted that he had come across the bodies.

[9][citation needed] In August 2016, author Butt also published details of an alleged 1965 conversation between a Canberra psychologist and a woman who had claimed to be an eyewitness of the deaths.

The parties were not identified but their claimed evidence appeared generally consistent with original "crime scene" data and a conclusion that the deaths were caused by hydrogen sulphide (H2S).

At a level above 100 ppm, H2S paralyses the olfactory nerve almost instantly and, as the gas is effectively invisible, it would not be noticed despite it leading to vomiting and breathlessness.

As H2S is heavier than air, the gas tends to pool in hollows on calm days and needs a breeze in order to dissipate.