Murder charge dropped again Wangoom man Steven Johnson

Steve Johnson, 71, and co-accused Glenn Fenwick were last year charged with the alleged murder of Wangoom man Chris Jarvis, who went missing in 2006.

The 38-year-old man was last seen when he left his family home in Warrne Road on June 13 that year, about 6am.

He never arrived at work and his car - a silver 1991 Ford station wagon - was found two hours later on fire at Warrnambool's Thunder Point.

Mr Johnson appeared in Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Tuesday, August 8, where prosecutor Mark Gibson withdrew a single charge of murder.

The man spent 190 days in custody until he was released on Supreme Court bail two months ago.

During that bail application, Justice John Champion said the strength of the case against Mr Johnson would be more difficult to make if statements of Mr Fenwick were excluded.

He said what would remain was circumstantial evidence, but it was not the role of the court at that stage to evaluate that evidence.

The justice said the case would rely on a series of inferences but was not doomed to fail even though the prosecution admitted it was not a strong case.

He said it was appropriate in the case, especially considering the co-accused's criminal prior convictions, to treat his evidence with caution.

Justice Champion had said the case revolved around evidence that Mr Jarvis owed Mr Johnson money for rent, which was listed for hearing in a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal which was to be held on June 14, 2006.

Mr Jarvis went missing the day before that hearing.

The Supreme Court heard police were told by Mr Fenwick that the body of Mr Jarvis was buried in the Framlingham Forest.

The court was told Mr Fenwick took police to the forest in an effort to locate the body in the 1100 hectare forest, but it has not been located.

A police spokeswoman last year said the matter was initially investigated by the local police as a missing persons case and inquiries made at the time suggested Mr Jarvis' disappearance was not suspicious.

"However in 2018 new information was received by the missing persons squad which led police to believe there had been other people involved in Christopher's disappearance, and he had likely met with foul play," she told The Standard.

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