12 Facts About Frank Arkell

Francis Neville Arkell was an Australian politician.

In 1998, at the age of 62, Frank Arkell was violently murdered in his home by Mark Valera.

Frank Arkell was a Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, according to his biography on the Parliament of NSW site.

Frank Arkell was born on 13 September 1935 in Port Kembla, New South Wales.

Frank Arkell grew up in a modest house out on the swamplands south of Wollongong, within walking distance of the Port Kembla steelworks that was built in the 1920s and which employed his truck-driving father through the Depression and beyond.

Between 1974 and 1991, Frank Arkell served as Lord Mayor of Wollongong City Council.

Frank Arkell was elected as an independent to represent the seat of Wollongong in the New South Wales Parliament from 1984 until his defeat at the 1991 election.

In October 1996, Franca Arena asked in state parliament whether Frank Arkell was the person known to the Wood Royal Commission as W1 in allegations involving paedophilia.

In 1998, seven years after he had left politics, Frank Arkell was murdered at his home in Wollongong by Mark Valera.

Frank Arkell's head had been smashed in with a bedside lamp, an electric cord was wrapped tightly around his neck, and tie-pins protruded from his eyes and cheeks.

Valera told police that he had killed Frank Arkell because he was a "very, very horrible man".

Valera claimed to have lost control when Frank Arkell wanted him to be the active partner for the first time.