A statement describing two police killers "on its face tells a lie", argues a lawyer whose client is serving 35 years in prison for murder.
Victorian Senior Constable Rodney Miller's deathbed description of his killers did not appear on initial witness statements but was subsequently inserted to backdated documents used to convict Jason Roberts.
Lawyers representing Roberts over the August 1998 murders of Sergeant Gary Silk and Sen Const Miller were given second witness statements - passed off as originals.
Ian Hill QC only recalls seeing one statement during the trial from Glenn Pullin, an officer who comforted Sen Const Miller after he was shot, he told the anti-corruption watchdog on Thursday.
An Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission inquiry into police misconduct around witness statements has been renewed after an earlier copy of Mr Pullin's statement - bearing identical times and dates - was discovered.
Changing anything on a sworn statement "on its face tells a lie", Mr Hill says.
"In the second statement there is critical information to the central issue that the trial was concerned with which isn't in the first statement," Mr Hill said on Thursday, viewing the statements side by side.
"(That) would make one have some doubt as to the voracity of what's being said."
Mr Hill added it would be "entirely inappropriate and improper" for the original statement to be discarded, leaving no ability to check it against the first.
The omission of offender identification details from witness statements and backdating secondary statements may have been a matter of practice for some police, IBAC has been told.
Officers this week admitted leaving out details at the request of superiors, with one saying he was asked by a detective so he believed there must be a reason.
Mr Hill said he had seen cases of pressure from senior police on junior officers.
He also said such practices could prejudice a trial.
Knowing when statements ire made is vital to the defence and prosecution cases, and without proper disclosure by police - paramount to a fair criminal trial - there is no way to know that what's provided is not legitimate, he says.
"(Further detail) may, by its very nature, cast or have the potential to cast some doubt on the prosecution case or the reliability of the witness or witnesses, and it may tend to assist the accused's case," he said.
Still-serving officers have told the commission that police command has never directed them against such practices.
Counsel assisting, Jack Rush QC, said in his opening address that it was unclear to what extent the alleged practices were ongoing.
Roberts' accomplice Bandali Debs is serving a life sentence for the murders. Roberts maintains his innocence and is halfway through a minimum 35-year sentence.
While he has exhausted all usual avenues of appeal, alibi evidence is due to be tested in the Supreme Court later this year, which could result in a retrial.
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