Read the breathtaking texts Janet Albrechtsen sent judge at centre of Bruce Lehrmann probe – including a surprising Pulp Fiction meme

A columnist at the center of a scandal over an investigation into the Bruce Lehrmann rape case sent the judge presiding over him a meme comparing him to a powerful character from Pulp Fiction. He then sent her a copy of his final report.

The chain of communications between Australian columnist Janet Albrechtsen and former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff KC was made public by the High Court of the Australian Capital Territory on Wednesday.

Mr Sofronoff last year chaired a commission of inquiry, the ACT’s equivalent of a royal commission, into the conduct of police officer and former Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold in the run-up to Lehrmann’s criminal trial in 2022.

The findings against Mr Drumgold were so damning that he successfully challenged them in court, producing numerous text messages and emails between Mr Sofronoff and Ms Albrechtsen.

The judge in Mr Drumgold’s case found that Mr Sofronoff’s 273 interactions with Ms Albrechtsen over a seven-month period gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias in the preparation of his 300-page investigation report.

Communications between the two show she texted him in May 2023, while the inquiry was hearing in Canberra, saying: “You may not realise there are memes being made about you. You may like them.”

On June 1, she sent him a meme of herself and Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction — a character who specializes in covering up violent murders.

Pictured: A meme Janet Albrechtsen sent to Waltrer Sofronoff during the ACT Board of Inquiry in 2023

Emails show the two were introduced in February last year by Hedley Thomas, a journalist at The Australian, about a month before the hearing began.

“Janet Albrechtsen is an attorney and longtime conservative columnist for The Oz,” he wrote in an email.

‘A number of my left-leaning friends find her very persuasive. In all my experiences with her, she has been scrupulously straightforward and professional.’

“I think it would be fair to speculate that Janet’s relationship with [Lehrmann’s] ‘The defense team in the Higgins case would be much rosier than the prosecution.’

In another text he said that Mrs. Albrechtsen “would like to collect her writings for you and your research.”

Ms Albrechtsen and Mr Sofronoff had lunch together in Brisbane in March. The following month they had an 18-minute phone conversation and she sent him Lehrmann’s contact details.

During the hearing a month later in May, texts show that Ms Albrechtsen asked the judge if she ‘could know what happened during the muted parts’.

Shane Drumgold (pictured) stepped down as ACT Director of Public Prosecutions following last year’s Soronoff investigation

Pictured: Texts between Janet Albrechtsen and Walter Sofornoff

Pictured: Texts between Janet Albrechtsen and Walter Sofronoff

The audio in the hearing room was frequently turned off when private health or suppressed issues were being discussed, meaning journalists could not hear or report on those details.

Mr Sofronoff replied: ‘I will send you a transcript tomorrow.’

He then suggested that Mr Drumgold’s lawyer, Mark Tedeschi KC, was ‘boring’.

Texts and emails also show that Mr Sofronoff sent Ms Albrechtsen a number of documents that he marked as ‘confidential’.

On July 12, Ms Albrechtsen asked Mr Sofronoff for “copies of any adverse findings” he might make against those who had given evidence during the inquiry, to support her reporting, not for publication.

He replied, ‘I will do that. Send me an email…I will reply with suggested findings.’

Two days later, she texted him saying she would like an embargoed copy of his report and asked him to deliver it to the Australian Capital Territory government ahead of the July 31 deadline.

He replied, “Not before 31. Embargoed copy is okay.”

Bruce Lehrmann is pictured outside the Federal Court in Sydney in March 2023

Mrs Albrechtsen said: ‘All draft chapters are welcome to read.’

He sent her the final version of the report on July 31, days before it was due to go to Australian Capital Territory Prime Minister Andrew Barr and a week before it was due to be made public.

When she finished it, she texted him: “I really liked the part at the end of your report about the presumption of innocence.”

She then gave him tips on how she, as a professional writer, would structure the report.

‘My editor is coming in now – I was going to put that at the front – when I read it I wished I had read it much sooner – it is an important and clear statement of legal principle and form.’

On August 3, The Australian published an article detailing Mr Sofronoff’s findings, in breach of the embargo agreement.