Letter bomber loses case against tax men

Convicted letter bomber Colin Dunstan has failed in a bid to sue tax officials he believes plotted to get him booted from the public service.

Dunstan created a sensation in 1998 when he posted a number of explosive devices inside computer disc packets during a bitter dispute involving the Australian Tax Office (ATO), the Child Support Agency and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC).

He claimed they were never intended to explode, although one did in the Canberra Mail Exchange on December 2, 1998, slightly injuring a postal worker. All the others were intercepted and Dunstan was sentenced to 11 years jail.

Dunstan's employment in the Commonwealth public service was terminated in 2001, although he's never accepted that.

Since then, he's launched repeated litigation.

ACT Supreme Court Justice John Burns handed down a judgment on Wednesday after Dunstan sought redress for perceived wrongs done to him in the process of his suspension from work.

He sued five tax office officials plus the Commonwealth of Australia, alleging they engaged in a disgraceful and unlawful campaign to have him removed from his office as a public servant.

In mid-1997 he was suspended from his job as a tax office database administrator and escorted from his workplace for alleged improper access to the computer system.

He subsequently faced internal charges, although those had not been finalised when he embarked on his letter bombing campaign in December 1998.

Justice Burns found no conspiracy.

He said he was satisfied there were legitimate concerns within the tax office that Dunstan may have sought unauthorised access to the ATO's mainframe and those concerns were supported by an independent investigation by computer firm IBM.

Dunstan was ordered to pay costs.