The soldier responded that he would tell the truth if he was subpoenaed. He also told Roberts-Smith that the Victoria Cross recipient had acted in a “loose” fashion during an operation in which Roberts-Smithmurdered an Afghan prisoner with a prosthetic leg.

Roberts-Smith told the witness that if he did not remember what happened during certain missions,he couldn’t be charged with perjury.

The SAS soldier responded by accusing Roberts-Smith of serious misconduct,including machine-gunning an Afghan prisoner at a compound in Southern Afghanistan called Whiskey 108. Justice Besanko found that the allegations about the executing of the detainee at Whiskey 108 was proven true in the trial.

More threats,more pressure

The federal police has evidence implicating Roberts-Smith in the intimidation of two other SAS soldiers who gave evidence in the defamation trial.

In the defamation case against this masthead,the soldiers were given the pseudonyms person 18 and person 6 and were revealed as potential witnesses to Roberts-Smith’s involvement in the execution of Afghan prisoners. Both are singled out on the tape recording.

Efforts to intimidate the two witnesses were first uncovered and reported by this masthead in June 2018,although Roberts-Smith was not identified as the likely culprit at the time because of an absence of corroborative evidence.

The 2018 reports were limited to detailing how Person 18had received two anonymous and threatening letters,while an anonymous and false complaint had been separately sent to police claiming person 6 had a stash of illegal guns.

This masthead recently confirmed the federal police have obtained witness statements from former members of Roberts-Smith’s inner circle implicating him in the plots to intimidate Person 6 and Person 18.

The police inquiry that identified the new witnesses has been running for two years in response to revelations in this masthead and on60 Minutes about Roberts-Smith’s efforts to scare SAS soldiers into silence and to hide evidence,including by burying USB sticks in a pink lunchbox in his backyard.

The disclosures by the new police witnesses form part of a criminal brief of evidence federal police submitted in November to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

It is the third brief of evidence about Roberts-Smith’s alleged criminality submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions by the federal police,with two briefs alleging war crimes having been submitted in May 2020.

A key part of the latest investigation is information provided to detectives by private investigator and ex-Queensland policeman John McLeod. He has told detectives he was directed by Roberts-Smith to post letters to Person 18 in June 2018 but that he had no idea of their content.

According to official sources whose identity cannot be disclosed,McLeod has also told detectives that Roberts-Smith directed him to send anonymous emails to police,accusing Person 6 of having a stash of illegal automatic weapons and posing a grave threat to public safety.

When McLeod’s initial anonymous emails failed to prompt police action,McLeod tasked a Queensland-based paparazzo to contactThe Australiannewspaper to pass on the anonymous allegations.

The newspaper subsequently reported the allegations about Person 6,who was also raided by state authorities. No weapons were found and the inquiry was abandoned.

In the latest brief of evidence submitted to prosecutors detailing this SAS witness intimidation,federal police reference a text message that Roberts-Smith sent after the police raid on Person 6. In the message,he says the raid would “scare the others”.

During the defamation trial,McLeod testified he was used and manipulated by a lying Roberts-Smith to engage in conduct he only later realised was aimed at silencing SAS witnesses.

In 2017,McLeod was also secretly commissioned by Roberts-Smith to investigate SAS whistleblower Evan Donaldson after,in social media posts in 2016,he questioned Roberts-Smith’s conduct.

A report written by McLeod and provided to Roberts-Smith describes how the private eye had aimed to “reconnoitre Evan Donaldson’s biography,habits,networks and public persona in order to inform a deeper understanding of his current and future disposition”.

The 325-page report,marked “commercial-in-confidence”,not only profiles Donaldson but his wife and other family members.

“Evan Donaldson appears to harbour latent resentment toward Ben Roberts-Smith,VC. Donaldson has posted a number of vilifying,late-night tweets attacking Roberts-Smith that have since each been deleted from his profile.

“In doing so,Donaldson demonstrates an understanding of the negative ramifications associated with disparaging the well-liked and greatly admired VC winner.”

• See more on this story on 60 Minutes tonight from 8.30pm
• Crossing the Line by Nick McKenzie will be published in July,to pre-order clickhere.