Senior NSW Police officials will continue to be questioned over inadequate record-keeping, lost exhibits and investigative failures into unsolved deaths across the state.

Supreme Court Justice John Sackar will resume questioning of senior homicide squad detectives after an inquiry into unsolved suspected gay hate crimes revealed systemic issues within the force.

On Thursday, the inquiry heard that despite relying on a tracking file as a “live document” to keep recording unsolved homicides and suspicious deaths, the last matter added to the file was recorded in August 2016.

Unsolved homicide squad Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw said the official record management system used by his team since it was established in 2004 was “still a work in progress” when asked why no data had been recorded for the past seven years.

Homicide squad chief Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty was also earlier forced to admit the systemic and notoriously poor management of files for unsolved murder cases was an ongoing issue within the force.

Detective Superintendent Doherty said he was aware of ongoing issues with tracking down exhibits and records and conceded the longstanding issue was “notorious” in the force even when he was appointed commander in 2019.

Now in its 13th hearing block, the broad-ranging inquiry was established following an internal police probe known as Parabell, which examined 88 deaths between 1976 and 2000, determining 27 were gay hate crimes.

The inquiry has scrutinised the police response to the crimes, which were committed at a time when people in the police force and broader society often displayed an intense prejudice against the LGBTQI community.

Justice Sackar is due to deliver a final report in August.

– AAP