Until mid-2008, residents of the quiet farming community in the Pipers River region had no idea that an infamous murderer was living among them.
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Graham Gene Potter's arrest over the world's largest single ecstasy haul in August that year had already created major shockwaves.
The then-50-year-old was one of 20 Australians arrested in a series of nationwide raids after 15,000 ecstasy tablets were discovered in an Italian shipping container that arrived in Melbourne.
A further 150 kilograms of cocaine was seized in a second shipping container two weeks before the raids, and the sting also uncovered a money- laundering operation worth $9 million.
It was the largest investigation undertaken by the AFP, involving 400 officers, 10,000 hours of surveillance and 185,000 telephone intercepts.
The AFP alleged that Potter was involved in the transportation, storage and trafficking of MDMA (ecstasy).
He appeared before the Launceston Magistrates Court charged with drug trafficking and was extradited to Victoria.
But the resulting media coverage then caught the attention of the newspaper in Potter's former home town.
The Illawarra Mercury contacted The Examiner after seeing a photograph of Potter leaving court on www.examiner.com.au.
It revealed Potter was considered one of NSW's most heinous criminals, responsible for a horrific 1981 murder that saw him jailed for 15 years.
He had moved to Tasmania in the years after his release to escape the widespread notoriety he had created for himself in NSW.
The discovery of 19-year-old Kim Barry's headless torso in bushland at Jamberoo in 1981 shocked the Illawarra community.
Potter had met his victim while celebrating his bucks night at a Wollongong nightclub.
He lured her back to his Corrimal flat and killed her, striking her with such force that the blow shattered her skull.
He then cut her head off and sawed through her fingers, snapping them from the bone.
Her right arm and legs had been tied.
The shop assistant's mutilated torso was found in bushland at Jamberoo.
A garbage bag was later discovered containing her head and fingers - along with Potter's dressing gown and bedsheets.
Potter maintained his innocence, claiming two men had broken into his home and killed Ms Barry, then returned the next day to make him watch them cut off her head and hands.
Unfortunately for Potter the jury dismissed his tale, taking little more than an hour to find him guilty of the murder.
However, his fiancee, Sheree, stood by him and the pair married behind bars in 1982.
Potter made a short- lived break for freedom eight years later but was captured in the Blue Mountains and three months were added to his sentence.
He lived in Bermagui on the NSW coast for several years after his release before moving to Tasmania.