Shorty: Mistaken Identity or Stitch Up? is the story of Stephen ‘Shorty’ Jamieson, a man who has spent 37 years in prison for brutal crimes he has always said he didn’t commit. Born with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and made a ward of the state as an infant, he was arrested with four juveniles for the abduction and murder of Janine Balding despite the juveniles telling police, “You’ve got the wrong Shorty.”
Stephen was convicted after signing a contested confession in Australia’s first criminal trial using DNA evidence, yet critical DNA linking another suspect to the crimes was never tested, leaving questions about the wrong Shorty.
Now with modern DNA technology, the fresh and compelling evidence could finally prove that police arrested the wrong Shorty.
Shorty is a gripping true story of injustice, disputed evidence and a man’s neverending fight to clear his name.
Peter Breen is a former NSW parliamentarian, solicitor and author with a long-standing focus on law reform. He served as a legal adviser at the 1998 Australian Constitutional Convention and was elected to the NSW Legislative Council in 1999. Earlier, he worked on electoral reform in Queensland following the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Breen is a strong advocate for a statutory Bill of Rights and supports the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom. He offers pro bono support to prisoners claiming wrongful conviction. He has written widely on politics, religion including Letters to the Pope (2025, Wilkinson Publishing) and the law. Peter lives with his wife Diane Thomas on the NSW north coast between Byron Bay and Bellingen.
* Shorty features a landmark legal case: the first Australian criminal trial to use DNA evidence to convict the accused, now revisited in the age of advanced forensic science.
* Highlights systemic failures in the Australian criminal justice and foster care systems.
* A timely release amidst ongoing public conversation about wrongful convictions, police accountability and disability rights and wrongs.
* The book raises critical awareness about miscarriages of justice similar to the cases of wrongfully convicted Australian women Lindy Chamberlain and Kathleen Folbigg.
* Written by author Peter Breen, a former NSW MP, solicitor, and law reform advocate with decades of legal and political experience. Breen combines legal knowledge with a passion for justice, offering a compelling case for why Stephen “Shorty” Jamieson deserves his freedom.
Publicity:
* National awareness about Shorty’s story through newspapers and high-impact national media (ABS, The Australian, The Guardian Australia, The Age, etc.).
* Interest in media, reviews and endorsements from legal experts, true crime and justice advocates.
