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Sydney Morning Herald
July 10, 2012
Christine Flatley
A doctor who treated a missing Queensland police officer has told an inquest it seemed unlikely he would have taken his own life.
Giving evidence in the Brisbane Coroners Court today, Dr Liam Barry said he had treated Senior Sergeant Mick Isles for the year leading up to his disappearance in September 2009.
Sen Sgt Isles was on his way from Ayr to a training seminar in Townsville when he mysteriously vanished. His car and uniform were found five days later in a dry creek bed, 80km southwest of Ayr.
He had returned to work following prolonged stress and sick leave just days earlier. Dr Barry told the court Sen Sgt Isles had struggled with anxiety during that period, but that there had been ‘‘a marked improvement in his condition’’ when he decided to go back to work shortly before he vanished.
Dr Barry said he believed this was because Sen Sgt Isles had started regularly taking his antidepressant medication, and was no longer dealing with the stress of being investigated by the Crime and Misconduct Commission over unsubstantiated allegations of drug trafficking and money laundering.
He said he never considered him at risk of self-harm, and said minor confrontations with other police officers when he returned to work were unlikely to have tipped him over the edge.
“I think he was a stronger person than that,’’ he said.
“He’d certainly been through tougher times than this in the previous 12 months.”
The inquest continues.
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Missing Queensland police officer Mick Isles ‘seen’ after five years
news.com.au
by: LIZ BURKE
January 13, 2015 7:47PM
UPDATE: A family’s hope that their missing father was still alive has been dashed.
In 2009, Senior Sergeant Mick Isles disappeared into the bush without a trace. A Queensland coroner reluctantly ruled in 2012 that Sen-Sgt Isles had died from suicide, but because no body had ever been found, there was speculation that he may still be alive.
There was fresh hope that he may not have died this week when a “weather-beaten” man matching Sen-Sgt Isles’ description and some footprints were seen at a remote grazier property.
But police have tonight released a statement that has ruled out this possibility.
“Police would like to advise that the investigation into a possible sighting of Mick Isles has concluded,” Queensland police said in a statement.
“A property owner in Millaroo via Ayr spoke to a man who he believed resembled Mick Isles on January 11.
“A 58-year-old man was located by police camping on the banks of the Burdekin River. He is the man the property owner spoke to, and police were able to confirm that he is not Mick Isles.”