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Mr. Yeldham, a retired supreme court judge in New South Wales committed suicide when he was subpoenaed to appear before a Royal Commission inquiring into police corruption and the protection of paedophiles. The reason for this became apparent during evidence.

Evidence subsequently given to the commission revealed that Yeldham was bisexual. A married man with a family he led a clandestine double life indulging in public exhibitionism (Sydney Morning Herald 12 Dec 96). He was well known in the gay community. He frequented the homosexual beat where he purchased sexual favours from young men and schoolboys (Sydney Morning Herald 7 Dec 96). His conduct had been so public that at least 7 instances were described to the commission. He had been apprehended by police on several occasions over a period of 11 years. While many knew of his conduct his wife, children and the public did not. The problem is not that he was gay but that his conduct in public was such that he placed himself at risk of blackmail or improper influence.

Police apprehended Yeldham at least twice after complaints were made about his behaviour in lavatories at two railway stations. In December 1988 he was found in a cubicle with a young boy. In 1990, after he had retired, he allegedly masturbated on a lavatory stairway at another station. No charges were ever laid against him. His case was handled by the Special Branch, which appears to have let him off the hook.

According to NSW Legislative Council Hansard 17 September 1997:

In cases such as these there are massive cover-ups, both as far as judges and members of Parliament are concerned, and nothing, but absolutely nothing, will change my mind regarding this. It is enough to read the report carefully to understand what I mean. A lot has been written and said about Justice Yeldham. I did not want to revisit the whole issue, but I feel compelled to do so by the Wood report. Whether Yeldham was a poor homosexual looking for sex in public toilets, or whether he was a paedophile, or a pederast, I leave to the community to judge.

It is a matter of record, in the report, that he masturbated in front of a 15-year-old boy and he exposed himself to an 11-year-old boy. Last year a person came to see me regarding the judge’s activities with his younger brother. This person certainly convinced me that Yeldham had sex with many young boys. I have released my correspondence with the commission on this matter and, as it is available, I will not go into it here...

Yeldham had been protected by the police. The "special branch" had been particularly protective. The special branch were called in by the regular police when Yeldham was apprehended. They drove Yeldham home. Police records were lost or falsified to conceal what was happening. Police understood this was because Yeldham was "on side". He would make decisions favourable to the police. The special branch were a section of the police whose duties include the security of the state and the protection of politicians. They apparently kept files on large numbers of public figures and no one knows to whom they reported and to what use this information was put. They seemed to be a law unto themselves. Special branch members who gave evidence to the Royal Commission had remarkably poor memories about any of these matters. Police corruption in NSW has been a serious problem for many years.

The Sydney Morning Herald (7 December 1996, page 29) reports that special branch kept dossiers on eminent people in NSW and that this was outside their charter. The report indicates that soon after Neville Ireland became head of the special branch, he found five folders in a safe. "These contained dossiers on prominent and eminent people, in NSW including details of suspected and rumoured illegal behaviour". The possession or collection of such material was outside the special branch's charter. Ireland confirmed that Yeldham was well known around the inner-city railway station toilets in the 1980's and 90's. The Royal Commissioner Mr. Wood stated that Mr. Yeldham had by his conduct exposed himself to "blackmail or improper pressure". No attempt has yet been made to examine the decisions he took.

In his royal commission interviews, Mr Yeldham admitted that he always paid money to men to have sex with him at stations. On 4 November 1996 he said: "I am, of course, deeply ashamed." But he regarded his offences as "relatively minor". 

The commission's interviewer asked him: "In terms of your own performance on the bench judicially, did it worry you that these people might blackmail you?" "Yes," he said. "Well, how did you cope with that fear of blackmail?" "I think I just ... well I, I didn't think too much about it, quite frankly."

Hours after this interview, the former judge returned home and "died in his garage". The corrupt NSW police said it was a suicide.