They look like a loving power couple in black tie – but behind this photo of a top gang detective and his wife is a dark secret that has exploded publicly in their face.
Victorian Police Chief Stuart Bateson, 54, was secretly in the middle of a four-year affair with a junior officer when this photo was taken in 2017.
And when his police forensic expert wife Milka learned the truth, the mother of two tracked down her love rival and angrily confronted her after a “brain snap,” the Fair Work Commission has heard.
But the doomed affair would shake the careers of both husband and wife.
Victorian Police Chief Stuart Bateson, 54, was secretly in the midst of a four-year affair with a junior officer when this photo was taken with his wife Milka in 2017
After finally ending the affair, Bateson was charged with telling secret details to his lover about an Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) investigation.
And his wife was fired for posing as a journalist for The Age when she confronted his mistress – who cannot be named for legal reasons – during working hours.
The love triangle was revealed when Milka Bateson successfully appealed her dismissal from Victoria Police during a Fair Work Commission hearing.
Love rat Bateson was a former top detective who rose through the ranks and was instrumental in investigating the Melbourne gangland wars in the early 2000s.
He was played by actor Roger Corser in the Channel Nine Underbelly series which dramatized the gang war murders starring Carl Williams and Jason Moran.
Stuart Bateson told his wife Milka the full story, including the identity of his mistress and that she also worked for Victoria Police – and admitted she knew he was married and had children.
When Stuart Bateson’s forensic expert, Milka, discovered the truth, the mother of two tracked down her love rival and confronted her after a ‘brain snap’
But in 2015, Bateson began an illegal affair with a junior police officer who was five ranks below him, the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court was told in 2021.
He ended the affair in 2018 – leaving his mistress ‘demonstrably upset and angry’, the hearing heard – but shortly afterwards was charged with telling her about his role in the IBAC probe and suspended.
His wife learned of the affair, her husband’s suspension and charges levied on him in June 2019, leaving her “absolutely devastated,” the hearing was told.
She demanded to know who the mistress was and the “where, when, what and why” details of the affair, the hearing was told.
Mrs. Bateson immediately said she wanted to see the mistress, but her husband “begged her not to.”
Love rat Stuart Bateson was a former lead detective who rose through the ranks and was instrumental in investigating Melbourne’s gangland wars in the early 2000s.
Stuart Bateson was played by actor Roger Corser (above) in the Channel Nine Underbelly series which dramatized the gang war murders involving Carl Williams and Jason Moran.
But after a ‘stressed’ phone call from her husband following a lawsuit in December 2019, Ms Bateson decided to confront the woman.
“It made me even angrier at him because again, I said why should I? [she] do this?’ she told the hearing.
“This affair was supposedly meaningless, there were no feelings involved.
“It went over a period of four years, he breaks off the affair and suddenly… [the mistress] makes these false accusations against him and that’s what i wanted to talk to [her] about.’
She added: ‘What I wanted to discuss was that my belief was that my husband had been laced [her] four years with the promise that he would leave me for [her].
‘He refused [that] so I said to him, ‘Well, why should I? [she]? You break this affair then [she] makes these accusations?’
Milka Bateson slipped into a police station conference room with her work pass and got the ex-mistress’s direct number before making a brief 46-second phone call, the hearing was told.
“That doesn’t seem like a… [person] who didn’t care about the affair.
‘So I wanted to ask’ [her]: ‘Did my husband tell you he loved you? Did my husband tell you he would leave me for you?
‘That’s what I wanted to ask’ [her].’
She slipped into a police station conference room with her work pass and got the ex-mistress’ direct number before making a brief 46-second phone call, the hearing was told.
The ex-mistress answered the call before Mrs. Bateson told her, ‘Hello, I’m from The Age – I’m calling regarding a charge that has your name on it as a witness…’
The love rival wanted to know who was calling or what it was about before Mrs. Bateson hung up.
She later admitted she hadn’t planned the call and “just spat out the deception.”
A two-year investigation into the appeal began in its wake, and in April 2020, Ms Bateson was warned that she was facing criminal charges, including attempting to distort the course of justice and obstruct a witness.
Milka and Stuart Bateson are believed to have since reunited and live in western Melbourne
The following month, Mrs. Bateson had a complete nervous breakdown and was on medication.
All threats of criminal charges were withdrawn in November 2020, but then internal disciplinary proceedings began leading to her resignation in January 2022.
It turned out that Ms Bateson was not “honest, open and transparent” in her work and response to the investigation.
But she told the Fair Work when she learned her actions were “all too human, all too understandable.”
The Fair Work thought her dismissal was unfair and ordered her to be reinstated, despite opposition from the Victoria Police.
Bateson has since left the police force for health reasons, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and is training to be a volunteer counselor.
He was initially fine of $6,000 for the alleged IBAC disclosures to his lover, but the charges were later dropped on appeal and he was acquitted of the charges.
The couple is said to have now reunited and live in western Melbourne.