Following his execution, efforts were made to clear his name, but it was not until the 1990s that the key evidence was re-examined using modern forensic techniques, in which the results confirmed Ross's innocence.

In 1920, Elizabeth Ross became the manager of the Donnybrook Hotel, thirty kilometres north of Melbourne, with Colin as partner and another of her sons, Ronald, as licensee.

On the charge of using threatening words he was sentenced to fourteen days imprisonment, which was suspended on his entering into a twelve-month good behaviour bond, and was fined for carrying the firearm.

After the purchase of the shop, renamed "The Australian Wine Saloon", the Ross brothers continued the employment of its barmaid, Ivy Matthews.

Other tenants in the building resented the intrusion of the wine bar's customers, who reportedly drank to excess, vomited and urinated in the arcade, and made lewd comments to passing women.

An investigation revealed that his assailant was a young English traveller, Frank Walsh, who had spent most of his money and who had been approached by Colin Ross to rob the customer on the understanding that the proceeds would be shared between them.

[8] Investigations revealed that Alma had last been seen alive between 2:30pm and 3:00pm on the afternoon of her disappearance, at the corner of Alfred Place and Little Collins Streets, near the lane in which her body was subsequently discovered, and that she had been murdered at around 6:00pm.

Ross was obviously well known to the local police, having recently been acquitted on the charge relating to his alleged involvement in the shooting and robbing of one of his customers.

The public fascination with the case intensified as newspapers published news of Ross' arrest, but he told his lawyers, family and friends that he had nothing to fear.

Ivy Matthews; Olive Maddox, a prostitute; and Julia Gibson, who worked as a fortune-teller under the name "Madame Gurkha", also testified in court that Ross had confessed the crime to them.

[9] The prosecution also offered forensic evidence in the form of several strands of hair they had obtained from Alma shortly before her funeral.

A detective testified that on the day of Ross's arrest he had noticed several strands of "golden hair" on a blanket in his house, which were later removed and examined by the state government analyst, Charles Price, who was a trained chemist but had little previous experience in the new field of forensic science.

Ross's barrister, Thomas Brennan, protested, requesting that a further examination be carried out by a more qualified person, but the judge refused.

On the eve of his execution, Ross received a letter from a man who failed to give his name but admitted that he had killed Alma, and, although consumed by guilt, was not willing to come forward as it would cause grief to his family.

Morgan was moved by the simple notations in which Ross wrote of false witnesses, knowing that he had written these notes without expecting anyone else to read them.

Furthermore, a cab driver, Joseph Graham, had heard screams coming from a building in Collins Street at 3:00 p.m., during the time that Ross was verified as having been in the saloon.

Two years after he began researching the case, Morgan found a file in the Office of Public Prosecutions containing the original hair samples, which had been thought lost.

[13] On 23 October 2006 the Victorian Attorney General Rob Hulls, utilising his powers under section 584(b) of the Crimes Act 1958, forwarded the 31-page petition to the Chief Justice, Marilyn Warren, requesting her to consider the plea for Ross.

[17] In 1996, Morgan interviewed Viola, Alma's sister, and in his book revealed the probable killer to be a man mistrusted by the two girls, George Murphy, a returned soldier who had paedophilic tendencies who was married to their cousin.

The film portrays Taylor (David Atkins) assisting the authorities with the case by intimidating supposed witnesses into revealing what they know about Ross.