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The Commonwealth Ombudsman has begun investigating police's handling of a sexual assault case in which a prison guard was locked up for four months on false allegations.
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The prison officer, who cannot be named, was accused of viciously bashing and raping his ex-partner, a NSW police worker, in 2013 and 2014.
He was locked up on remand for four months at the notorious Goulburn jail. His status as a prison guard put him at enormous risk behind bars, and he has previously spoken of having to hide his identity and invent back stories to stay safe.
But the woman's claims soon came under scrutiny.
It emerged the pair were locked in a bitter property dispute, and criminal investigations detectives became suspicious when she began making wild allegations against the guard's family.
She was placed under surveillance and police soon found her to be lying when she alleged trespass and theft against the guard's family.
It also later emerged that the prison guard had an alibi for the day of the alleged rape and assault.
He was released, the charges were later dropped, and instead a new prosecution launched against the woman for making false accusations.
She was convicted of a number of offences, but is appealing.
The guard's family have been actively pushing for a further investigation of the police and prosecutors who were involved in the initial decision to lay charges.
This week, the Commonwealth Ombudsman confirmed to the family that they had launched an investigation of their complaint against the Australian Federal Police.
The ombudsman was unable to comment on the nature of their investigation this week.
A spokeswoman said they were constrained by legal requirements and a requirement to maintain confidentiality.
But the guard's father welcomed the ombudsman's decision, saying the false allegations had ruined his son's life.
"[My son] has lost his freedom, job, career, reputation, home, and had to move interstate to protect himself from further spurious claims," he said.
"To date there has been no action taken to right a grave miscarriage of justice by the AFP, the DPP and the ACT judiciary."
One ACT police officer responsible for the initial investigation of the woman's claims quit the force while an internal investigation into the bungling of the case took place.
The woman's new partner, himself a NSW police officer, also faced extensive questioning in court about his knowledge of the allegations.
It is understood the NSW ombudsman is currently investigating the actions of NSW police.
The woman remains on bail awaiting the outcome of her appeal.
