Likewise, during Darryl Beamish's trial for the wilful murder of 22-year-old heiress Jillian Brewer (who was attacked while she slept), the offence was not placed in the context of the series of assaults that Cooke had committed against other women asleep in their homes.

The location and interviewing of the other, surviving, victims of Cooke and the creation of a detailed analysis of his life and criminal career produced the narrative history, "Broken Lives".

This work had a powerful impact on the public discourse about jurisprudence in Western Australia and the process of completing it created relationships between justice advocates in the fields of journalism and the legal profession which provided the impetus for a renewed campaign to clear Button and Beamish.

Renewed public interest in the cases led to several appearances in the electronic media, including on ABC Television's high-profile programme, Australian Story.

In 2002, this epic story of Western Australian jurisprudence, which began with the events of the late 1950s and early 1960s, approached its conclusion: the conviction of John Button for manslaughter was quashed.