A secret recording that helped catch the five men responsible for the one of Sydney's most notorious and horrific murders 30 years ago has been played publicly for the first time.
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The chilling audio captures John Travers confessing that he and four other men brutally raped and murdered Anita Cobby on February 2, 1986.
The jailhouse recording made in the days after Ms Cobby was killed was aired on Channel 7 on Monday night. In it Travers can also be heard laughing after confessing how he cut the 26-year-old nurse after she was abducted after getting off a train at Blacktown in Sydney's west.
Travers also names his co-offenders Michael Murdoch and the three brothers Michael, Gary and Les Murphy.
The recording was captured by a woman, known only as Miss X, wearing a recording device from police on a visit to Travers in jail. Miss X, who remains in witness protection three decades later, was married to Travers' uncle.
Asked why he killed Ms Cobby, Travers is heard saying: "We were all drunk and she'd f------ seen all of us."
He goes on to say; "I said she's got to be done ... And they said go on Johnny do your bit, so I just cut her."
Travers is then heard laughing before Miss X says: "Don't laugh, it's not funny".
The recording was played on Channel Seven on Monday night as part of a documentary marking 30 years since Ms Cobby's murder.
The documentary also reveals Miss X made a second recording where Murdoch confesses his involvement.
The recordings led police to arrest and charge all five men 26 days after Ms Cobby was raped and murdered.
The five were sentenced to life in jail in June 1987.
