Australian Federal Police detective jailed after admitting to lying under oath about evidence

A senior Australian Federal Police (AFP) detective who admitted to lying under oath about evidence seized during a criminal investigation will spend four months behind bars.

Trent Madders, 52, had pleaded guilty to a count of perjury, in that he knowingly made false statements in legal proceedings in August 2020.

In handing down his sentence in the ACT Supreme Court, Justice David Mossop said Madders’s conduct reflected a “tragic misjudgement”.

He said Madders undermined the “proper administration of justice” and had an impact on the perception of police being honest and reliable.

Case centres around evidence seized

Madders was the officer in charge of the 2019 investigation into identical twin brothers Joshua, who was also an AFP officer, and Kenan Tiffen, who were accused of secretly filming female tenants at a Canberra property they owned.

During the investigation, police seized a mobile phone and laptop which were required to be examined within 30 days unless an extension was granted.

Madders did not seek an extension and was later told by AFP digital forensics staff that the devices had not been examined within the required time-frame.

But when the admissibility of the evidence was challenged in the ACT Magistrates Court in 2020, Madders gave sworn evidence that he had been assured the devices had been examined in time.

He maintained that account under cross-examination despite being confronted with emails showing otherwise, and has since admitted those statements were knowingly false.

The Tiffen brothers were initially found guilty in 2022, but successfully appealed their convictions after evidence obtained from the laptop was ruled unlawful.

The case was sent back to the ACT Magistrates Court and the brothers were found guilty again in September 2025 of attempting to capture indecent visual data.

Lies were ‘deliberately told’: prosecution

Prosecutor Keegan Lee argued Madders’s lies were “deliberately told, repeated and maintained”.

“This is an offence that strikes at the heart of the administration of justice,” he told the court.

Defence barrister Beth Morrisroe said Madders admitted his offending was the “dumbest thing he has ever done”.

“He is remorseful, he has demonstrated insight … he has taken accountability,” she said.

She described Madders as an “overworked” officer who was experiencing significant stress, pressure and fatigue.

Due to his time in the police force in the ACT, the court heard it was likely he would need to be transferred to a “far away” New South Wales correctional facility if a jail sentence was imposed.

But Ms Morrisroe argued he would be exposed to a “heightened level of risk” in any prison due to the national media attention he received through his involvement in investigating Brittany Higgins’s rape allegation.

Justice Mossop sentenced him to almost a year in prison, to be suspended after four months, after which he will be subject to a good behaviour order.

Madders has been suspended from duty with the AFP since he was charged in 2024.

In a statement, the AFP said Madders was still subject to an internal investigation into his conduct.