All language subtitles for Ch5.Night.Stalker.Terror.in.a.Small.Town.1080p.HDTV.x265.AAC.MVGroup.org

A major breakthrough in the longest
running and most expensive murder

investigation in Australia's history. It
all started decades ago. Young innocent

women taken away from their families. A
case that has gripped the state for a

quarter of a century.

He's a killer, a sadistic rapist who
preyed on innocent women. He devastated

families. and tormented the Western
Australian community. He showed no

occasionally twitching his fingers.
Today marks the end of a dark chapter in

Perth's history, but many questions
remain unanswered.

How can he go 30 -odd years under the
radar committing the most

heinous crimes that this country's ever
seen and never get caught?

Everybody knew right from the very start
this was something completely

different. The 17 -year -old was hooded,
bound and gagged. Driving her to

Karakata Cemetery, where she was raped
twice before she was dumped in bushes.

These doors were plucked from the
quietest, most trusting area in

With your billionaires living just a
couple of streets away.

We had no idea what was going on.

The family case was the most...

Time -consuming, resource -hungry,
frustrating investigation.

The answer is out there.

Someone who is listening has the answer.

We knew the girls were probably
murdered. We hadn't found their bodies.

We still believe there is room for us to
make some further investigation.

There had to be a new way of looking at
this. So I thought, how do they manage

cases like this?

The Yorkshire Ripper, a gruesome game of
hide -and -seek with the police that

lasted for six terrifying years.

The UK was seen as a world leader in DNA
analysis and we sent samples there.

Reports of a possible breakthrough have
raised hope the Claremont case will be

solved. It was insignificant at the
time. Of course, in hindsight now, it

crucial. I remember looking at his
picture and thinking, oh my God, that is

Never thought it'd be solved.

Never ever thought it would come about
the way it did.

Perth in the 1990s was pleasant.

It had a very low major crime rate. It
was a beachy lifestyle.

Claremont was an emerging town and it
rapidly became a very, very popular

entertainment area, starting off with
the Claremont Hotel and then around the

corner, Club Bay View, which really did
become the sort of throbbing heart of

young people's lives in Claremont.

It's a place that we've always felt very
comfortable with because it's a very,

very trusting, conservative area.

Everybody knew everybody and you felt
safe there.

I'm sure at the time it would have been
just unfathomable that something like

this could happen there. It's the last
place you'd expect.

For most, Australia Day revolves around
food and family, be it an Aussie

breakfast, brunch at a cafe, or lunch at
Kings Park.

But the day's biggest catch was off
Rottnest.

A giant marlin making a memorable
Australia Day 1996.

A lot of people were on holidays.

The weather was hot.

And we're just past the Christmas silly
season where any story is a story for

the news, you know.

And there was a tiny little piece in the
West Australian about a missing person.

Just one paragraph, basically.

And I cut that out, thinking that's
going to become a big file. I just had a

feeling about it.

Everything told you that there was
something not right about this missing

18 -year -old Sarah Spears told friends
in Claremont's Club Bay View last Friday

she was going outside to catch a cab.

She came up.

She hasn't been seen since.

As media, right from the very start, we
knew that there was something very

sinister about this.

Here she is, disappearing from one of
the safest neighbourhoods in Australia.

It was not a missing girls story.

The only thing that we could think of,
any reason at all, is why she would

disappear.

I'd just like her to come home.

I don't think she would do that anyway.
I can't see any reason why she wouldn't

be with us if she could be with us.

There must be something in it.

It is a nightmare, definitely.

I just hope that anyone out there that
can help will step forward.

Show a little bit of compassion.

I would just like to appeal to anyone
that may have cited Sarah to come

and help us.

As reporters, we didn't have any
problems with the Spears family because

were wanting the publicity, because they
knew something bad had happened.

Friends have rallied around the spheres
and are helping police search for their

mate. Already 8 ,000 posters have been
distributed, thousands more are being

printed, a statewide campaign also
underway.

For those that don't know, it's Acting
Detective Superintendent Paul Ferguson

for you.

I was the officer in charge of the
investigation.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for coming in.

I have a small release I'll read to
begin with.

This is an appeal to the mothers and
fathers of the young people that might

been in the area at the time.

Claremont was a popular spot with young
people. It was an affluent area, so the

disappearance of Sarah caused a lot of
concern in the area. So the pressure on

the inquiry team was quite high at that
particular time.

Now nine days since Sarah Spears
disappeared after leaving Club Bayview

Claremont, but there are still no strong
leads.

She was a country girl. Her and her
sister lived in a house in Perth here,

if they went out, the sister either went
with her, drove her to the location,

and then came and picked her up
afterwards, or she got a taxi.

I must admit that as the hours go by, I
get more and more concerned.

As the days progressed, the indicators
were that she was...

more than probably the victim of a
crime.

That's why the homicide squad took the
investigation on.

No, I have to tell you, I haven't been
in Baby Territory for about 20 years.

It just brings back all the trauma.

I never expected to become the Mayor of
Claremont. The other chap that stood had

been there 30 years on the council.

I won by five votes, so here I was
thrust into this situation.

Club Bay View, they call it, I think,
Club Bay View, somewhere along here. Oh,

there it is.

I got the impression that everybody was
enjoying the nightlife and everybody was

happy and there were no problems.

Until Sarah disappeared.

Sarah's evening that night was to go out
with some friends.

And whatever time it was, she said that
she wanted to go home. So Sarah walked

about 100 metres down to the corner of
Sealing Highway.

There's a phone box on the corner.

She rang a taxi.

And it took the taxi driver just minutes
to get to the phone box.

So within minutes of making the phone
call, she was not there.

It left us with a quandary as to what
happened.

And if she was abducted, why wasn't
there a scream or that sort of thing?

We are not aware as to how she left that
area, whether she walked away, whether

she was left in a car or a cab.

Police want all cab drivers to volunteer
saliva samples and eliminate themselves

from the inquiry.

Those that don't will be tracked down.

Everybody honed in on it. Was it a rogue
taxi driver? The best way to do that,

the police said, well, let's DNA test
them all.

It was, I think, the first mass DNA
testing in Australia.

Each of the saliva samples will be
processed by the health department's

laboratories, but completing the DNA
profiles will take several months and

cost police hundreds of thousands of
dollars.

You've got to remember, in 1996, when
Sarah went missing...

It was another era.

DNA was in its infancy.

It took four days to get one result back
on a DNA swab.

We swabbed all taxi drivers, bus
drivers, police officers, ambulance

anyone that was in a position of
authority.

that could coax her into the car without
a commotion, we swabbed them for DNA.

So we found Sarah's body, then we could
link it up.

I got a call from my news editor, said,
you'll never guess what's happened.

Another girl's gone missing. They look
very similar.

Blonde, bubbly, roughly the same age.

First, the disappearance of another
young Perth woman on Saturday night,

alarmingly the second to vanish from
Claremont in five months.

23 -year -old childcare worker Jane
Louise Rimmer was last seen by friends

outside Claremont's Continental Hotel,
just a block away from the telephone box

where Sarah Spears disappeared in
January.

When Jane went, that brought it to
another level. Two similar girls from

same area.

The pattern was too strikingly the same
that you knew that something really bad

was going on here.

Jane Louise Rimmer spent most of
Saturday night drinking with friends at

Continental Hotel in Claremont. Police
say she declined her friend's offer to

share a taxi home when the pub closed at
midnight.

When she failed to turn up for a family
lunch on Sunday, her parents knew

something was wrong.

If she'd made an appointment, she'd
always be there type of thing. So that's

we're very anxious when she hadn't
turned up by Sunday evening.

She loves children.

She loves working with children. She was
quite happy with that lot.

I guess until she met Mr Wright and had
a family of her own.

This brave family now calling on the
people of Perth.

to help them in their hour of need.

We all went to Jane Remmer's family home
and that was a harrowing interview to

have to do.

It's very hard to listen to. It's very
hard to even ask questions sometimes

because you can feel what they're
feeling.

Jane, please come home.

Please come home, Jane. We love you very
much.

When Jane Rimmer went missing, it was
devastating for the investigative team.

The day after her disappearance, the
investigation was raised to a task

macro task force.

The case now upgraded to a major murder
investigation and linked to the baffling

disappearance of teenager Sarah Spears
five months ago. The Operation Macro

Force now concentrating on the
remarkable similarities between the

disappearance and that of Sarah Spears.

Both women were of similar appearance,
had been drinking at the same hotel

earlier in the day and vanished from the
same area.

With Sarah's disappearance, there was
minimal...

electronic surveillance around to be
able to support what took place.

When Jane went missing, there was
cameras out in the footpath, so at least

we had footage.

The footage was black and white, grainy.
It was pretty poor.

But it did capture her interacting with
a broad -shouldered man.

Clearly she was sharing a joke with him.

The security camera that captured Jane
was on a circuit, so it only went round

once every minute or so.

So while it got her at one stage...

The next time I did a roundabout one,
she'd gone.

In Claremont, you expected to know
everyone around you. If you had a circle

friends, I'd know your circle of
friends. I'd know the people that you

socialised with.

Hundreds and hundreds of people had been
in Claremont that night were contacted

by police and shown the footage.

But no one can identify this guy.

It's now nine days since 23 -year -old
childcare worker Jane Rimmer disappeared

after a night out with friends at
Claremont.

A quarter of a million posters asking
one simple question.

Have you seen Jane Rimmer? Are tonight
being distributed all over Australia.

Printing companies, transport firms and
distribution agencies donating all their

resources to help find the missing
woman. Her family is overwhelmed by the

massive show of public support.

Literally hundreds of people offering.

Helped from cooking us meals to handing
out the pamphlets.

It was a frustrating investigation
because we knew the girls were being

abducted. We knew that they were
probably murdered. We hadn't found their

bodies. So we were just working on an
area that was frequented by a lot of

people without any information as to how
the girls...

That's the area.

What's gone on with the two women that
have gone missing and all the coverage

the news and what you hear?

Yeah, it makes you pretty nervous, yeah,
especially if you're on your own.

Since the Operation Macro investigation
got underway six weeks ago, police have

received more than 3 ,600 calls from the
public, 2 ,500 of those developed into

strong leads.

We're leaving no stone unturned in
trying to get clues in this case. And

are clues.

The Operation Macro Task Force is wading
through hundreds of possible leads, but

they admit they still have no positive
information about what happened to both

missing women. The team led by Inspector
Ferguson is now getting down to the

grinding hard slog of a time -consuming
investigation.

Most inquiries you have something to
work on, and that something stems from a

crime scene.

This one, as I said, there is no crime
scene, and I will be honest, it is very,

very frustrating work.

They had no witnesses.

No one had seen it. They had no idea
who'd done it.

And then they got a breakthrough.

Disturbing report sparking a big bush
search in the Perth Hills.

Residents reported terrified screams for
help on the morning Jane disappeared.

I remember I was pulled off another
major storey and we were raced up to

very, very remote area.

I went in my own car and I just remember
damaging my car because it was so rough

and rural that it scraped the
undercarriage.

All the media descended on that area, 40
kilometres south of Perth. It's a

lonely little area and a lonely little
dirt road going down to the spot.

This was the first time that we had
realised that, OK, you've got a killer

Here's her body.

Police say the body lay face down under
a canopy of twigs and leaves, just

metres from Woolcoot Road in Weller.

The police were obviously there. They
were pushing us back.

They'd set up a bit of a block so we
couldn't get close.

Was it buried?

No, the body had not been buried.

There had been an attempt to conceal the
body.

The body being found was just
extraordinary because this family were

along a bush track.

A chicken had run across the road.

They'd stopped because the kids wanted
to play with the chicken. The mother in

the meantime goes into the bush, sees a
lily, a beautiful big white lily, and

then literally stumbles on Jane Rimmer's
body.

In the cold and dark, police commenced
their first night watch over the murder

scene, making sure it remained
untouched.

She had been there for a couple of
months. It was winter, so her body was

actually very well preserved.

Lilies had grown up between her limbs
and she was lying on her back.

She had a severe wound to her throat.
Her throat had been cut.

and she had an injury to her right hand
where she'd evidently tried to defend

herself and been stabbed.

Detectives carefully removing her naked
body from a waterlogged area of bush

about 15 metres off the road. Coronial
investigators taking the remains away

an autopsy.

I went and saw Jane's parents.

You know, you're looking someone in the
eye and they're hurting.

I can't take that pain away.

So, you know, you try and keep it as
professional as possible,

but internally you're hurting almost as
much as him because what you're asking

him is make him hurt more.

At least we know now and we can put...

Jane's body to rest.

Hopefully the higher place up there is a
little bit more bubbly for

her being there.

From an investigative point of view, it
gave the investigation team a sense of

opportunity to be able to now find some
evidence that would identify the

offender. This has given us an insight
into the person that we were looking

has put us in a stronger position to
progress with this investigation.

The fear of a serial killer has put
Claremont locals on alert, and last

police began a huge security crackdown.

Scores of officers were on the beat, on
patrol, and recording the movements of

young women in the area.

Police fear they're hunting a serial
killer and are taking no chances.

In central Claremont, 18 officers on
patrol interviewing and recording every

woman who went to the local Continental
Hotel.

It's really scary. It doesn't make you
feel very safe here at all. I would come

out here on my own, that's for sure.
Everyone feels the same. They won't come

into Claremont at all. Are you scared?

Definitely.

The Continental says security is taken
very seriously, with cameras installed

the footpath outside the pub and in the
car park behind the bottle shop.

But Claremont Mayor Peter Waggers says
the cameras are of uncertain value.

The presence of the video camera hasn't
stopped happening again.

It might, in fact, given people a chance
to pull things to security.

I think health and safety is the number
one issue for everyone worldwide.

People want to feel safe and secure.

They want to feel protected, their
liberty's protected, their rights to

that freedom.

As you can appreciate, we've got a lot
of information coming in and if we don't

know who the offender is, as we don't at
this stage, the next best thing is to

exclude people that are nominated.

The Macro Task Force had developed a
thing called a location register, which

like a great big street directory
photograph of Claremont.

And there were little dots everywhere.

Each dot representing a person
interviewed, seven red dots representing

still to be identified.

So they end up identifying, I think,
about 2 ,000 people in that little area.

And they came up with the idea that
there'll be one grey dot that no one can

name, and that's the bloke we're after.
That's our killer.

We will speak to a lot of people.

We will execute a lot of search
warrants.

There were a lot of leads, but one name
popped up as the prime suspect.

Everyone knew him. He was a very, very
well -known figure.

He had a lot of authority, and there are
known serial killers in the world in

America who work in positions of
authority.

He got a lot of attention from everybody
because he was the Tremont

Mayor.

Do you remember one moment when the
media were under suspicion?

I can't recall one particular time or
moment when

that happened. I feel it was a gradual
thing that

crept up as more and more of the media
started...

writing these articles full of innuendo
and suspicion, particularly the West

articles. The West wrote up that I had
refused to cooperate with the police.

It was so outlandishly unbelievable and
stupid that I didn't think the public

would believe it. But if you tell a big
enough lie, people will think it must be

true because it's so big a lie that it
could not be true. I mean, who would

that up?

Interestingly, someone at the West
Australian changed the headline between

editions. They obviously realised that
the first edition was incredibly

to Peter Wagers, which it was, and
changed it to something slightly less

damaging.

Many, many people in Perth believed he
was the killer. He knew Claremont well.

He had access to it. He lived in
Claremont.

That doesn't make anyone a killer, but
people put two and two together and came

up with three.

However, Peter Wager's name had gone
onto the police file.

It's now 222 days since Sarah Spears
disappeared from Claremont. Jane Rimmer

disappeared from the same area 133 days
later.

If we do have a person out there that is
working to a pattern, it's building up

to that pattern.

As we head into warmer weather, the head
of the Operation Macro Task Force

called on young women to take more care
about their personal safety when going

out at night.

The media are an essential part of this
whole investigation.

Firstly, to keep raising the concerns
for young girls.

Don't hitchhike.

Don't go out on your own. The Western
Australian Police Service aren't trying

advocate that everyone stay home or that
they don't go out and have a good time,

just that we get the safety message
across.

Yet, despite the warning, some young
women were prepared to take the risk.

I don't want the job of having to go and
see their parents and tell the parents

the bad news.

They have a responsibility to themselves
and their parents.

You still see a lot of young ladies
walking around here by themselves and

into car parks and up alleyways by
themselves too. When you've had a couple

drinks and that, you don't think about
safety. I just don't think it.

There was always the fear there was
going to be victim number three or

number four.

The Sympathetic Day Parade, a
celebration of Ireland!

It's happened again.

First it was Sarah Spears.

Then Jane Rimmer, now 27 -year -old
Keira Glennon, has gone missing.

Of Irish ancestry, the young lawyer was
last seen leaving the Continental Hotel

in Claremont around midnight on Friday.

The Claremont Strip, magnet for the
young, a place for frivolity. But the

of a third disappearance sweeps the
precinct.

This afternoon I was at that party at
two o 'clock and someone was speaking to

someone on mobile phone and said, my
God, another girl's gone missing. And

whole atmosphere of the room was like,
oh my God.

Pretty scary.

Keira Elish Glennon was celebrating St
Patrick's Day with friends at the

Continental Hotel.

She left alone just after midnight,
telling friends she was heading straight

home.

Police presume by taxi.

Well, the fear, of course, is that she's
a 27 -year -old young lady, a career

woman, a solicitor. She was well aware
of personal safety issues, and it's

totally out of character for her to not
contact the family.

When Kira went missing, that kicked me
in the ass. We were

hoping that even if we couldn't identify
the offender, the amount of pressure,

media pressure, the person would stop.

But it didn't.

Una, my wife, didn't want to come this
morning.

She is numb with shock.

And she has asked me to appeal to the
mothers, the

wives, the girlfriends, the ladies in
the community, who may have a son, a

husband, a partner, that they notice is
doing something different now or did on

Saturday morning.

And Eunice says, please help her. We
were just distraught.

And, you know, we just need your help.

And your peers?

Kira's case was very personal to me
because she had gone through law school

my oldest son.

I knew her parents just vaguely from
around the area, so it became even more

personal and more traumatic.

We are a strong family, and I don't cry
easily, but Kira's

alive. We believe that, and we are
confident.

that the way she's been brought up, she
will fight on, and we're hopeful

that she will be found at this stage
even.

No parent who loves their child can even
begin to comprehend the devastating

thing that this is in any family.

Cara Glennon was a young woman with a
brilliant career ahead of her. She was

from...

Very good family, sophisticated,
vivacious, with an enormous social

Police are now wading through 11 ,500
pieces of information, including a

of unconfirmed sightings of the missing
lawyer on the corner of Stirling Highway

and Bayview Terrace about 15 minutes
after she left the Continental Hotel.

We have an unconfirmed sighting of
perhaps one of the women getting into a

vehicle. The last people who saw her
were the guys who were having a

sitting on a bus stop.

They actually saw her and shouted out to
her, hey, you know, don't hitchhike.

And she just sort of, yeah, yeah, type
of thing and kept walking.

They saw a slow -moving car keeping pace
with her and then pull up further down

the street.

And one of them saw Kira leaning into
the passenger side window with her hands

on her knees, evidently talking to
someone in the car.

And then he looked away.

And when he looked back, both the car
and Kira had gone.

Claremont is a suburb under siege,
targeted by the biggest murder

in the state's history.

The Operation Macro Task Force is
working round the clock, now

more than 10 ,000 pieces of information.

Police admit the success of the
investigation into the disappearances of

Glennon and Sarah Spears and the murder
of Jane Rimmer depends totally on

information from the public.

You'd expect that somebody would see
something and give you the lead that

drive the investigation in a particular
direction.

But that breakthrough,

wasn't fair.

Ernie Glennon says her family and the
police need just one vital lead.

It's now 12 days since Keira
disappeared.

I am now convinced that we will not be
able to find Keira without help from

somebody in the community.

I appeal from the bottom of my heart to
wives, girlfriends, partners, mothers,

co -workers.

who may notice something different.

Some change in behavior or unusual
activity in those around them that they

may be linked to Keira's disappearance.

Please tell the police, or if you're
afraid for some reason to contact the

police, telephone Dennis or myself.

This is the third time this terrible
thing has happened.

If the person or persons responsible are
not found by the police, It will

probably happen again.

I would not want any mother or any
family to go through the pain and

sheer heartbreak that Dennis, Denise and
I are experiencing.

It is as if a piece of us is dying every
day.

Please help us with any information and
keep praying that we will find Kiel.

Lastly,

Kira, if by any chance you're able to
watch this, please hold on.

Be strong.

Have faith.

We will find you.

Thank you.

The Yanchep National Park, 50 kilometres
north of Perth, is now the focus of

WA's biggest murder investigation.

At first light, dozens of police moved
into the thick acacia scrub beside Pippa

Dinny Road to begin a massive search of
the area. Detectives rushed to bushland

north of Perth after a 23 -year -old man
discovered a body late this morning.

A massive police operation immediately
swung into the area.

Later this afternoon, police revealing
the full extent of the tragedy.

A preliminary investigation has been
revealed the body to be that of a female

and it appears to be that of Kira
Glennon.

The moment word of the body came
through, police rushed to the Glennon

home, dealt the hard task of delivering
the news that a body had been found and

most likely Kira.

Family, friends and workmates are in
disbelief, shocked and devastated.

The body was discovered by, they said, a
bushwalker.

It was actually a boat they called a
bush pirate. He knew someone had planted

marijuana there and he was walking
around looking for it. I just thought at

time, no one would have found the body
otherwise.

Roads were closed off for five
kilometres around the scene.

Police and media helicopters hovered
overhead.

Forensic experts were brought in to
examine the body.

Keira Glennon's partly clothed body was
found just here in a small clearing

surrounded by acacia trees. The killer
made no attempt to hide his victim.

She put up a hell of a fight. I mean,
she's a diminutive girl, but she was

feisty and she was determined and she
fought back and

she was stabbed in the arm.

At some point, her throat was cut
horribly.

Scientific experts have spent the day at
the killer's dumping ground, sifting

through sand looking for the smallest of
clues. Even the most innocent looking

clue could lead police to the killer. A
discarded soft drink can or even a

cigarette butt. Several neighbours also
came forward, some with information.

One woman told officers she'd seen a man
coming out of the bush acting

suspiciously on Tuesday. She will be
interviewed later.

Pippa Dinny Road is used extensively by
local beachgoers and fishermen.

Police are setting up what they call a
location register in a bid to identify

everyone who may have been using this
road in the last three weeks.

The reason we want to hear from those
people is that they may have seen

something that may mean absolutely
nothing to them, but it could help us to

in the jigsaw puzzle.

After we shot all our vision, everything
we knew, we all did our pieces to

camera. All the media congregated at the
Wanneroo corner of Pippadini Road.

But as they drove out, I noticed that
Paul Ferguson looked really distressed

me. He had a distressed look on his face
and he kept driving.

The investigative team were, like me,
shocked.

I felt as though we'd let Keira Glennon
down because we hadn't identified who

the offender was.

As much as you try and you do everything
you can, we let her down.

That's just a personal thing, you know,
you've got to live with that.

He's going to be sitting there thinking,
you know, are these people looking at

what are they thinking? As a result, he
will perspire probably more than normal.

there will be some paranoia there.

The answer is out there.

Someone who is listening has the answer.

Keira Glennon's funeral was like a state
funeral. I've never seen anything like

it.

Among the 1 ,500 mourners, Premier
Richard Court, cabinet ministers, senior

police, the legal fraternity and members
of Perth's Irish community.

Outside broadcast units there filming
both inside and outside.

The whole choir, all her old school
friends there.

God.

came into our garden and picked the most
beautiful rose.

There are no mortal answers for my
family's question, why Kira?

We all want to stop this killing of our
children.

It was one of the most emotional
memorial speeches I've ever heard from

Glennon.

Translated from Gaelic, that means
goodbye for now, my friend, and God

you.

Thank you.

I mean, everybody was in tears.

And he was distraught.

Have you lost faith that this person
might be caught?

No.

No, no, not at all.

Justice will prevail.

Dennis Glenn was a very quiet -spoken,
elderly, grey -haired man who had an air

of authority about him and he had an air
of strength and humanity about him.

He impressed the police hugely. They
took him into their confidence.

He basically became part of the
investigation.

And he was focused on one thing, and
that was getting justice for his

I have still a lot of confidence in the
efforts of the MACRA Task Force, and I'm

confident that whoever did it will be
found.

So the police, the way they handled the
media with him was spot on and very

clever because they knew he would get
the media attention.

He never hid from anything, he never
refused, and he was just a delight for a

journo to work with him.

really harrowing circumstances.

I would like to see this chapter brought
to a close, as I'm sure with the other

families, as I'm sure would just the
people and the community of Western

Australia.

More than a year since the first woman
went missing, the pressure is on police

for answers to the three Claremont
abductions.

The pressure on Paul Ferguson and the
police force was palpable.

The people wanted answers.

The press wanted answers. Make the
streets safe again. Make Claremont safe

again. Solve this thing.

I don't solve any crimes.

Police officers don't solve crimes.

The evidence solves the crime.

We have an enormous amount of
information that we're working on.

You just keep putting the picture
together.

Despite spending more than $2 million
and questioning thousands of people,

police seem no closer to catching the
killer.

It wasn't like any other murder
investigation.

Claremont had everything thrown at it as
far as resources, the number of police

involved in the Claremont investigation,
everything focused on.

The macro task force searched swamps and
lakes.

Security stepped up in Claremont.

Taxi drivers checked. Most were DNA
tested.

The investigative team fluctuated up to
300.

When you did the DNA swabs, there was an
enormous amount of people.

When you did the door knocks on all of
the houses in the proximity of the

nightclub, you brought people in.

With the new case comes a reward.

$250 ,000 to bring a serial killer to
justice.

This is the largest amount that has ever
been offered for a reward.

Had the Premier offer a massive reward,
the whole direction and scope

of the place had been amplified,
accelerated, driven.

Rewards are rarely posted so early in
major investigations. The hunt for the

Claremont serial killer is a special
case.

The investigators have swooped on a key
suspect after a major undercover

operation. Targeting a man who'd been
under constant surveillance for months,

was finally intercepted by police in a
Claremont area early on Sunday morning.

The task force of Perth's top detectives
has had one man as the prime suspect in

WA's most intensive serial murder
inquiry.

Sorry to worry you. Judy Allen, I've
spoken to you a few times today on the

phone. I just really wanted to ask you a
few questions. Are you the serial

killer? No.

Are you innocent?

Yes. The thing that I think people, I
guess, don't understand is why were you

following women around Claremont in your
car?

I just went coming home from Claremont,
you know, as I do quite often.

And when I saw a lady approaching the
car saying,

I wear the buses and that.

I thought, well, that's, you know, I
said, by that time of night, there's no

buses.

I never had any intention at all on any
other occasions when I saw women walking

in that area.

All I had was concern, you know, that
there's women walking around Claremont

their own late at night, especially from
what had happened all the years before,

you know.

Since April, police have followed his
every move.

from his work to the home he shares with
his parents.

41 -year -old Lance Williams has been
under day and night surveillance.

He lives in a beachfront unit in
Cottesloe.

That unit was searched on the weekend.

Forensic police, including a blood
spatter expert, spent most of the night

searching the beachside flat owned by
the prime suspect.

They raided his flat. They raided his
parents' house. They raided his

They even took the carpets out of his
car and out of the boot, and replaced

with new ones, so he wouldn't know.

Lance, I'll ask you again, because it's
what everyone will want to know. Are you

the serial killer? No, I'm not.

No. I mean, I went in voluntary to do a
test at the police station.

I just wanted to, because the police
were...

Parked over across from my parents'
house on weekends and, you know, sort of

waiting for me at work and that.

I just thought, well, I'll just go in
there, do the test, because I had

to hide, you know.

The claim on serial killings has become
Australia's longest unsolved murder

inquiry.

For a number of years, police have
closely monitored one suspect.

The Cottesloe man was put under around
-the -clock surveillance, which

for several years.

We have not resolved this issue, and we
all are fully aware of the fact that if

we don't resolve this issue, that there
will be more people that will lose their

lives. Dave Caporn, he threw everything
he could at investigating this person.

He's got no evidence.

Officers from the macro task force and
forensic investigators arrived

unannounced this morning at the main
suspect's Cottesloe home.

The police still suspected him because
they said since Lance Williams was being

observed 24 -7, there have been no more
killings. And that was their main

premise. The investigation's been
running for quite a while. The forensic

reviewers identified specific areas of
inquiry that really need to be

Speaking from behind a closed door, the
man's mother says she hopes this new

flurry of police activity will put an
end to years of torment.

We've had no involvement and I think
that's what keeps us going because we

he's had nothing to do with it.

Every Australia Day, which became very
significant because it was the day that

Sarah Spears disappeared, I'd go and
knock on...

his door and sometimes he'd be there and
sometimes he wasn't. This time he was

there and he invited me in. We sat down
and we talked for hours and I came away

from the interview convinced that Lance
Williams was not the guy, so much so

that I rang the Glennons and said I have
great doubts about this Lance Williams

because they were putting all of their
hopes into Lance Williams.

This person remains to be a significant
person of interest. However, he is not

the only person being investigated by
the Macro Task Force.

When police initially closed in on Lance
Williams, Peter Wagers spoke out in

defence of his rights. Now he himself is
under the spotlight.

The Macro Task Force and forensics
officers descended on his Richardson

property at around 11 o 'clock this
morning, raiding the home in a bid to

any clue to the disappearances of Sarah
Spears, Jane Rimmer and Keira Glennon.

Police say their search is a significant
development in the eight -year -old

murder investigation.

Mr Wagers is...

a person who is of interest to this
investigation.

Shortly before following repeated
refusals, Mr Wagers was forced to give a

sample. Visibly shaken, he collapses on
his front porch, close to being

physically ill.

I remember seeing 11 forensic officers
scouring the place, pulling out

pulling out carpets, taking off the
towels off the roof, digging in the

with probes.

Just thinking about it now, yeah.

I just don't want to think about it.

Now that the van called out, is he under
arrest?

Crane said, no.

All right, Peter, come out. You can talk
to us.

He confronted him and saying, are you a
suspect? Did you do it? Why are you

being questioned?

Why are they raiding your house?

There were no charges. They just said I
was under arrest. But they then told the

press I wasn't under arrest.

I firmly believe that someone who had
encountered him earlier in his life had

grudge against him. And this person sent
a large number of emails to the police

about him.

I'm convinced that that's what led the
police to him.

If at the end of the day there's no
evidence there that links an individual

the case, then we've really got to move
on.

After several years of investigation,
the macro task force, Australia's

and most expensive manhunt, was almost
disbanded.

Paul Ferguson had been taken off the
case and then as far as the media went,

thought it had gone cold.

I think it was August 2003 I was
assigned to this story.

I knew about the Claremont murders, I
knew there was a serial killer at large.

But the thing that was worrying me is,
like, what can I do for this story?

it wasn't like anyone had come to us
with a hot tip or a lead or something

specific to investigate. It was like a
story about the Claremont murders that

had been unsolved for almost eight years
at that point. It was abundantly clear

they believed Lance Williams was their
man.

But they didn't have the evidence to
arrest him. They couldn't find anything.

They'd sprayed his home with luminol.
They'd raked over his car and his

and things so many times and he just
could not... They had nothing.

There had to be a new way of looking at
this.

We didn't very often have serial killers
on the loose in Australia.

So I thought, how do they manage cases
like this overseas?

The Yorkshire Ripper, a story of 13
killings, seven ferocious attacks and a

gruesome game of hide -and -seek with
the police.

that lasted for six long and terrifying
years.

The National Crime and Operations
Faculty in the UK was formed after the

Yorkshire Ripper case.

A quarter of a million names were
individually filed on cards.

More than 30 ,000 statements were taken.

In the end, Sutcliffe was caught quite
by chance.

Once they had apprehended the Yorkshire
Ripper, they looked back over the case

because he'd gone on killing and they'd
had all the evidence there all along.

They should have been able to apprehend
him.

For Australian Story, I interviewed
David Barclay from the National Crime

Operations Faculty in the UK.

He was a very highly respected forensic
investigator.

From what we've seen of what's been
done, it's been pretty good and pretty

offensive.

The thing that hasn't been done, I
think, is this giant workshop where we

get together.

He told me about the whole case review
system in the UK where you bring in a

whole range of experts of whatever type
of expert you need and put them all

together in a room where they brainstorm
the whole thing together and new fresh

eyes find things that have been
overlooked on occasion.

Like, it just made so much sense to me
that this whole case review system that

they use in the UK...

was such an obvious way forward the
parameters are that it is a search for

every single time sometimes you get so
ingrained you can't see the wood for the

trees you get so close you may have
tunnel vision as well so you need

come in and say step back within a few
weeks of our program going to air

WA Police announced that there would be
a whole case review of Claremont and

that Professor Barclay would be among
the people coming to be part of that

review team.

Today, senior police confirmed the
formation of the international team of

homicide experts.

The team of two British forensic experts
and a serial murder specialist from New

South Wales will be led by
Superintendent Paul Schramm, who solved

Australia's notorious Snowtown murders.

Police hope the independent review
bringing together some of the world's

experts will lead to a breakthrough.

After this length of time and the amount
of work that's already gone into it, we

know that the usual suspects have
already been rounded up.

What we're looking for is extra
opportunities.

The Claremont Killer Review Panel of
five national and international experts

have spent 26 days reviewing every
aspect of the Claremont serial murder

investigation. After studying almost 40
,000 pieces of evidence, they raised the

possibility of solving the disappearance
of Sarah Spears and murders of Jane

Rimmer and Keira Glennon.

FBI -trained serial crime profiler
Joelle Kohout has given WA police a

insight. In this case, this is an
organised offender.

This is somebody who's put some planning
into these crimes. He's methodical.

Probably looks very normal on the
surface. Might have a, you know, a

No problems with employment.

The macro review team claim they've
identified several new lines of inquiry

be investigated.

And bore the recommendations from the
review team.

Look at it with a fresh eye.

And please give it your best shot to try
and solve it. So when I got appointed

as a deputy commissioner in 2004,

One of the views I took very early on is
about cold case.

Now, that didn't sit well with me and
never has, because in cases such as

they're never cold.

Mr Dawson said the review had identified
several avenues of inquiry that needed

further scrutiny.

We strongly believe that it's proper
that we follow these things down, so we

still believe there is room for us to
make some further investigation, and of

course we're hopeful.

I received the outcomes of the SRAM
review, and one of the key elements that

emerge from that was a focus on the
forensic side of the investigation.

So whenever I saw the evidence from the
90s, I guess my first impression would

be that the size and the scale of the
operation was overwhelming.

And it was evident from what I could see
that the forensic officers had done a

terrific job

the evidence that they could from the
scenes.

But there was opportunities that still
existed, which the forensic officers of

the day wouldn't have dreamt possible
back in the 90s.

The location of Keira Glennon in
Eglinton indicated that there may have

been some sort of struggle.

Keira Glennon's partly clothed body was
found just here in a small clearing

surrounded by acacia trees.

The killer made no attempt to hide his
victim.

Fingernail scrapings in this case became
vitally important as if you can imagine

someone fighting for their life
essentially they may have scratched the

offender. Back in 1997 DNA

Being in its infancy, the fingernail
scrapings would have been too small for

meaningful DNA analysis, and they were
just stored.

And when they explained to me that these
were scrapings from Keira's

fingernails, I was very quickly
satisfied that this was a really

development that we needed to optimise,
and cost was never...

In 2009, the UK was seen as a world
leader in DNA analysis,

and we sent samples there to be looked
at using LCN method.

LCN is low copy number. It basically
only needs a very minute portion of

DNA material to produce results.

When we got the DNA results back, that
dramatically shifted.

the pitch and the direction of the
investigation.

That's the story that changed everything
in the Claremont case.

It was a big decision to print this
information that was very, very

The story revealed for the first time
that the person who had murdered Keira

Glennon was the same man who had
attacked a young woman, abducted her.

taken her to Karakata Cemetery and
sexually assaulted her a year before

went missing and that was connected by
DNA evidence.

And that changed everything because now
they had a living, walking, talking

witness who had seen the Claremont
serial killer.

So find the person who committed the
Karakata abduction and you had the

Claremont serial killer.

The report in a suburban newspaper says
police were conducting a cold case

review of LinkedIn was Glennon's death
in 1997 with the unsolved abduction and

rape of a 17 year old girl. That crime
happened in 1995 before any of the three

women disappeared. She was pulled
ambushed from the street in Claremont,

hood pulled over her head, hog tied and
thrown into the back of a van and taken

to a cemetery.

It was a terrifically violent, really
brutal attack.

For some reason, he went away and she
escaped and ran to the Hollywood

area where she hid it. But she reported
seeing a white van with some sort of

logo on the side, trawling up backwards
and forwards looking for her.

When we got the DNA results back, it
confirmed that we had a definitive link.

between a crime where we had a living
witness, a young, very brave woman who

reported a sexual assault and an
abduction from the Claremont area at

She had accurately described to us how
she had been abducted.

We knew the type of vehicle in some
form.

We also knew the means by which the
offender had abducted her.

We just needed to identify who this
person was.

In June 2015, I received a phone call
from the then superintendent in charge

Special Crime Division, which look at
cold case homicides.

And he said, I want you to work on the
Claremont serial killer case.

I've got a job for you.

And it wasn't until I actually started
to unpack and look at the investigation

and what had been done over the
preceding, you know, nearly 20 -odd

that stage, started to get a sense of
the enormity of it and how much had been

done over those years. You know, you're
looking at nearly 20 to 50 times the

standard homicide investigation.

In 2015, we knew the DNA profile for the
offender, but we didn't know the

person. So it was about looking at what
does WA Police hold that can help us put

a name to that profile.

We were looking for unsolved crimes or
even solved crimes where there

was a forensic opportunity.

So while we concentrated on Claremont
first, we gradually moved it out further

and further.

In early 2016, an item of clothing...

that had been held in our storage, was
sent off to the labs for DNA testing.

I received a phone call to inform me
that a DNA profile had been generated.

And he rang me at home and he said, I
said, you see you sitting down type

And I went, yeah, what's going on? He
said, I just received a phone call from

the lab and they've got another hit.

And it was like, what do you mean
another hit?

He goes, we've got a DNA match.

It goes back to a 1988 attack on a woman
in Huntingdale.

It was a bit of an oh shit moment.

I said, are you sure? And he goes, I'm
100 % sure.

So this item of material clothing was a
kimono.

We have another DNA profile.

We don't have a name.

A huge amount of work went into locating
the owner of that DNA profile.

In late 2016, there was a breakthrough.

The kimono was from a burglary and a sex
offence in Huntingdale in 1988.

The result has come back, and that
result showed that the stains on the

matched the DNA.

from the Claremont and the Karrakatta
incidents.

So now we've got another link, but we
still don't have a name.

Once that DNA match came through, it was
about sitting down and looking at,

right, what do we know?

So let's have a look at 1988
Huntingdale. What do we know about 1988

Huntingdale?

We discovered that there was this...

A person breaking into houses, stealing
underwear, stealing items of clothing

from lines.

There was some 24 to 26 offences in a
short period of time, which had similar

descriptions for the offender.

It was 1988.

I was 24 or 25 and I was divorced with
two children.

Being a single mother wasn't that
common, I suppose, in those days.

I'd just bought a house in Huntingdale,
which I was very proud.

It was a lovely, lovely little place and
as young as I was, I thought the kids

could grow up there and it was a nice
area with nice people and that's where

we were going to stay.

I'd just had the phone put in.

I wasn't comfortable with the guy that
did it. I couldn't wait for him to go.

And I didn't like him being there, so
that's why I've decided to myself that

was probably him.

That's how he found me, if you like.

I'd just got home from work in the
evening because I worked in a bottle

I'd let the cat out because it had
kittens and...

That's why the door was open. That's how
he got in.

I was just coming out of the shower and
he was in my toilet.

He had a woman's nightie on and what I
think were undies on

his head.

At first I thought it was a joke when I
saw him.

I couldn't see his full face, but you
could see his eyes.

They were dark, clearly to match his
soul.

And then he pushed me against the wall
and had a

fractured skull.

And I fell onto the floor and he was
beating me.

Oddly, I thought he wanted the kids, so
I did think he'd have to kill me

before he would get to the children. So
that's what probably...

Protected me with that maternal instinct
to protect your children.

I kneed him in the groin and he got off
and ran out the back door. And

it wasn't until I saw myself that I
realised how bad it was because my face

wasn't recognisable because it was so
swollen and the bruises and the

two black eyes were not, you know.

So he was very brutal, he was very
strong.

I think if I lived somewhere, a better
suburb, there would have perhaps been

more resources put into looking for him.

But certainly being from Huntingdale,
single mum, I don't think there was any

importance placed on it that there
should have been.

And the police didn't tell me at the
time that I was one of many.

I didn't know that till recently.

So the hunting down Prowler was
something that was new to us.

And most people that worked on macro,
you know, it's a bit too early for their

time.

There were a number of offences and some
of them, the same house was targeted

multiple times.

So one particular house, the woman who
lived in this house, she was subject to

four different incidents over a couple
of months period.

We now had another series of offences to
look at and possibly identify the

offender through another means.

And what we were able to do is we were
able to actually find fingerprints

by the police from that era and then we
took those fingerprints and we did a

manual search against the fingerprint
database.

That's one of those moments in time that
you don't forget when the fingerprints

came back and there was a match.

We realised that he had a prior
conviction for a 1990 offence that

Hollywood Hospital where a social worker
was assaulted.

I worked as a senior social worker at
Hollywood Hospital, working in the

palliative care unit.

working with people who were coming to
the end of their lives and I loved my

work. The day that it happened, it was
just a normal working day for me and I

was working alone in the office and I
had my back to the door of the ward.

I heard this voice say, can I use the
toilet?

And I half turned around and I glanced
and it was a, I saw it was a telecom

worker.

And I just sort of said, yes, sure.

And I heard him go behind me.

And as he went behind me, I thought,
that's strange.

That just really doesn't feel right.

I can't even describe the force and the
power with which he

attacked me.

A hand came over my face.

My head snapped back. He started to pull
me up on my chair.

He was pulling me back towards the
toilet and then all of a sudden

stopped.

And he was just standing there.

I looked directly at him and he was
saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

It was almost like a, I better fix this,
I better fix this somehow.

It was, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
It's like a panicky realisation.

somebody who I understood to be a
telecom manager. I'm pretty sure it was

police station. Of course, Telstra was
once telecom

and it was telecom when he actually
attacked me and

telecom apologised for what they called
an incident

and I tried to explain to them that I...

had bruising on my neck, that I was
traumatised, that I thought

I was going to die.

But nobody was listening to what I was
saying. They were more

interested in explaining to me that this

person that had attacked me had...

was having relationship problems, that
he had snapped, somehow snapped.

And that was why he'd attacked me.

And it was when I found out that he had
only been charged with

commoner thought that I really lost it.
I became quite hysterical.

I left my job and I just moved in
completely different directions.

I just buried it and got on with my
life.

So you can imagine the absolute shock
and horror that

resurfaced when the WA police rang me
and told me

that this person that had attacked me
had been arrested.

for the Claremont serial killings.

Today, a major breakthrough in the
longest -running and most expensive

investigation in Australia's history. A
major breakthrough WA police have been

waiting 20 years for.

So the arrest happened really quickly,
and I mean very quickly, within 24 hours

of getting the name.

It was a high risk in that entry.

So we brought the tactical response
group in to do that and it had to be

dynamic and quick.

Neighbours say his daughter, now in her
20s, remained by his side, still living

at home. It was her screams residents
heard yesterday morning when he was

arrested. His whole demeanour was like
this shock and surprise, what do you

mean? And his response was... You know,
this is not possible. You've got the

wrong guy type thing.

Residents who've lived across the street
for almost 20 years say they had no

idea their quiet and placid neighbours
could be accused of such horrific crime.

When we found the name out, it was not a
name that had been anywhere on anyone's

radar. It was not a well -known
convicted criminal. It was not Peter

was not Lance Windham.

But it was a completely unknown suburban
family man who was...

Just as the profiles had said, he was
quietly living with his family.

It's understood the 48 -year -old is an
electrical engineer and volunteers at

little athletics clubs across Perth. It
was Bradley Robert Edwards, a Telstra

technician, who by now had risen to the
senior ranks.

The last person you'd expect to be a
serial killer.

His head in his hands, Bradley Robert
Edwards faces a marathon police

telling detectives, I just want to go to
sleep and wake up and this will all be

a bad dream.

For six hours, Edwards repeatedly denies
killing Sarah Spears, Jane Rimmer and

Keira Glennon, telling detectives he
isn't familiar with the Claremont area

has never been to Club Bayview or the
Continental Hotel.

So we needed to take an evidentiary DNA
sample from him. So during the early

part of the interview, We took a proper
DNA sample from him under the

legislative requirements.

Towards the end of the interview, those
results came back in and it confirmed

what we already knew.

I said, brace yourself, Bradley, and we
got the results in. And the look on his

face was, this can't be.

Asomba State Premier welcomed the arrest
and the chance for closure.

I hope for the families that they will
also, while in a very, again,

time for them, also find at the end of
the process that there will be justice

for their daughters.

Dealing with family or the relatives is
a very complicated matter.

There was that apprehension.

They've coped with this tragedy in their
life for 20 years and I realise that

their world is about to be turned upside
down.

We've been pre -warned on what was going
to happen.

And the task force are in contact with
us on a regular basis, giving us updates

as to what's happening.

The surviving victims were informed at
the same time as the family of the girls

that were deceased.

Finding out the man who had assaulted me
was Bradley

Edwards, had a profound effect on me.

emotionally, psychologically.

You go through a lot of things where you
think, you know, what if they'd have

caught him back then?

But we'll never know.

So post -Edwards arrest, the
investigation didn't stop there. We need

brief of evidence.

When we got that moment where we
identified Bradley Edwards, you know, we

at his past.

and we looked at the Huntdale Prowler,
and when we looked at that 1990

attack on Wendy Davis, you know, we
looked at the facts of that matter.

Telstra technician, then you start to
put it together and go, interesting.

We had to try to identify and locate the
vehicle that Bradley Edwards was

assigned by Telstra in 96 and 97.

We identified where it was through our
system and then seized that vehicle.

and we could see that it once had
Telstra markings on it.

It was subject to a pretty detailed
forensic examination where the fibre

evidence was critical.

The fibres that we're talking about here
are sub -millimetre in size, so they're

minute and can only be seen under a
microscope.

The Telstra clothing that was worn at
the time was a particular navy blue. The

fibre evidence showed a linkage between
the vehicle, Telstra clothing and fibres

from the hair masses of Keira Glennon
and Jane Rimmer.

Who knew that that car would still be
around 20 years later?

A white Commodore that could have been
in a trash heap, could be anywhere, and

let alone the fibres from what he wore,
still in a tucked away area,

matched up with the fibres from the
girl's hair.

That was mind -boggling.

It's a walk into court Dennis Glennon
will make time and time again, seeking

answers about what happened to his
daughter Keira.

Bradley Robert Edwards is accused of
murdering Sarah Spears, Jane Rimmer and

Keira Glennon, who all disappeared from
the streets of Claremont in the 1990s.

The bodies of Jane Rimmer and Kira
Glennon were discovered by chance,

bushland in opposite directions in the
weeks after they were killed.

The remains of 18 -year -old Sarah
Spears have never been found. The six

judge -only trial will feature hundreds
of witnesses and thousands of pages of

evidence.

Well, every person has a right to be
assumed to be innocent.

Every person has a right to be
represented and every person has a right

fair trial. In my view, the media had
made it impossible for anyone to be

objective about his guilt or otherwise
and that if Mr Edwards had faced a trial

by a jury, there was a perception with a
sound basis in my view that many or

most of the jurors would have already
decided his guilt long before they

into the courtroom and heard any
evidence.

The pressure to ensure a successful
prosecution was immense.

Our biggest fear is the fear of letting
people down, letting myself down

personally, letting the agency down,
most importantly, letting families down.

The defence dropped a bombshell when
they started the case, saying there's

cross -contamination of the DNA samples
and that you've got the wrong guy.

And that was in everybody's mind. And he
sat down.

He didn't say anything more. He said,
you've got the wrong guy. So right

throughout the trial, every journalist
had this in the back of their mind, as

did the public.

Have they got the right guy?

He says he's not the Claremont serial
killer, but Bradley Edwards has a

past, a conviction for a 1990 attack on
a female worker at Hollywood Hospital.

Today, she testified in his murder
trial.

I didn't focus on him at all.

I was just determined to give the best
evidence that I could. Everything just

came flooding back and I...

I just told what had happened.

I thought I've done the right thing. It
was very important to me to do that.

And then all I wanted to do was get out
of the building.

The front row of Court 7 -2, which is
normally packed with the victims' loved

ones, was empty today as the families
attempted to avoid hearing the grim

details. Senior prosecutors sent to buy
projector screens to shield the public

gallery from disturbing evidence.

Chilling details of the women's injuries
revealed and how it's alleged they

fought for their lives.

It became too much for one woman in the
public gallery who left the court

sobbing. Today, a string of emails has
provided an insight into some of the

rabbit holes police went down before the
major DNA breakthrough that led to the

arrest of Bradley Edwards.

The court was played intimate home
videos from the late 90s which show

as a family man joking and playing with
his future stepdaughter. Sitting in the

dark, Edwards' emotionless facade
cracked for a second and he smiled at

video.

It was a fleeting glance of what could
have been the other side of him.

Otherwise, it was just this robot
sitting there, cardboard cutout, just

there every day, no emotion.

Court resumed around 2 .15 this
afternoon.

The second part of the trial will focus
on expert evidence, including critical

forensic material and testimony from
police.

The actions of police officers at the
crime scenes is a crucial part of the

trial. As lawyers for Edwards argue,
some forensic evidence may be

So during the trial, the defence did
raise the prospect that there could have

been contamination of the DNA evidence.

This afternoon, another witness gave
evidence about the day Keira Glennon's

was discovered in Eglinton.

Former WA detective Charles Carver was
adamant he and his partner followed

protocol, staying away from the body so
they didn't disturb the forensic scene.

There was definitely a huge, huge gap
between what police were doing now and

what police were doing then.

People were walking through without any
suit covers on. People were just walking

in and out of crime scenes. There was a
lot of evidence which people, you know,

unintentionally maybe touched with their
bare hands.

We're talking about a time when DNA was
in its infancy.

There were no forensics. Wearing gloves
was an option.

I mean, people were trampling all over
everything and, of course, this all came

to light and they were criticised for
it, but back then nobody knew any

different. The court has heard of a
total of 11 contamination events

the macro investigation.

Bradley Edwards denies murdering the
women, with his lawyers arguing DNA on a

sample taken from his Caracatta rape
victim could have found its way onto

fingernail samples from Keira Glennon by
means of contamination, while exhibits

from both crimes were being stored at
the lab.

It seems that was his argument. They've
got the DNA on me. I am a rapist, but I

haven't graduated to being a serial
killer.

We will never know because he never gave
evidence.

People had lined up outside the court
before sunrise to witness one of the

significant moments in the state's legal
history.

The state's case has come down to three
main elements.

The trace of Edwards' DNA detected under
Keira Glennon's fingernails, the

textile fibres found on the bodies of Ms
Glennon and Jane Rimmer, and the fact

that Edwards had the know -how and the
drive to abduct, restrain and assault

vulnerable women.

The morning of the verdict I'll never
forget.

Right up to the end, there was always
that thought in the back of our mind,

happens if he's acquitted on all
charges?

How are we going to feel about it? How's
the team going to feel?

And how's the family going to feel?

They had waited for this time for 20

years to have somebody that could be
held accountable for life -changing

moments, for the brutal murders of their
daughters.

And it was the fear of letting them down
was huge.

In the Supreme Court of Western
Australia, calling Supreme Court

number 164, State of Western Australia
against Bradley Robert Edwards.

Custody, please put up Mr Edwards.

This is a trial like no other.

This is a trial like every other.

Those apparently irreconcilable
statements are both true.

It's a trial like no other because of
the combination of its length, its size,

and the high degree of public interest.

The events in question occurred more
than 20 years ago, but have haunted the

memory of many people and troubled the
public conscience.

Few trials have been so consistently
reported or reported on in such detail.

But this is a case like every other,
because despite the unusual features

referred to, the fundamental principles
that apply to every criminal trial apply

to this one.

The courts do not deliver different
standards of justice.

justice is dispensed without fear or
favour, affection or ill will.

The promise of equal justice before the
law required that this trial, like all

criminal trials, be conducted with care
to ensure fairness to both the defence

and the prosecution.

The accused is presumed innocent, the
state bears the onus of proof, and the

standard of proof is beyond reasonable
doubt.

I have not been distracted by the public
interest or the publicity from the

proper application of those principles.

I've prepared detailed reasons for the
conclusions I've reached.

This summary forms part of those
conclusions.

Having regard to the DNA evidence, the
fibre evidence and the propensity

evidence, I am satisfied beyond
reasonable doubt that the accused was

of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon.

The propensity evidence makes it more
likely that the accused was the killer

Miss Spears, but it cannot prove it
beyond reasonable doubt in the absence

any other evidence as to the identity of
her killer.

Based on those findings, the verdict
will be as follows. Stand up, please, Mr

Edwards.

On count six.

That on or about the 27th of January
1996 at Claremont and elsewhere, you

willfully murdered Sarah Ellen Spears.

My verdict is that you are not guilty.

On count seven.

That on or about the 9th of June 1996 at
Claremont and elsewhere, you willfully

murdered Jane Louise Rimmer. My verdict
is that you are guilty.

On count eight, that on or about the
15th of March 1997 at Claremont and

elsewhere, you willfully murdered Keira
Eilish Glennon, my verdict is that you

are guilty.

You can sit down.

I enter judgments of conviction on
counts seven and eight and a judgment of

acquittal on count six.

Would you like to make any comments? Is
there anything you would like to say?

A bittersweet result for two families,
there's justice. For the third, more

heartbreak.

For me, the verdict, mixed emotions.

Elated about the last two counts on the
indictment, which was

Jane and Kira.

But, yeah, disappointment at Sarah
Spears' acquittal.

And I didn't disagree with the decision.

It was more that feeling of failure, I
guess.

We did what we could. We put it up. We
just didn't get that over the line.

Justice Hall said propensity evidence
makes Edwards a likely suspect in

case or even her probable killer. But
the allegations couldn't be proven

a reasonable doubt.

We were in the back of the court at the
time following the verdict and Don

Spears...

wanted to address everyone, so we sort
of remained in the court, and Don

addressed the prosecutors and the team,
the investigation team, and the other

families as well that were all part of
it, and he addressed everyone and

everyone for their time.

And he said, you know, at the end of the
day, we gave it our best crack, and I

know who's responsible for the killing
of our daughter. The way he came across

was something you'll never forget.

The poignancy and the manner in which
Don and his wife Carol and their

their surviving daughter, carried
themselves was profound and will always

remembered.

We got the result we wanted.

Everyone just gave each other a hug.

It's very sad.

It's always going to be the same.

No -one's ever going to bring you back.

This is a momentous day, a day we've now
witnessed the jailing of an evil man.

It is my sincere hope for the sake of
victims, for the sake of the family and

friends, and indeed for the safety of
our community, that Edwards will never

released from prison. The investigation
into the murder of Sarah Spears remains

open.

We will never give up trying to locate
Sarah.

And I've conveyed that to Don and Carol
Spears today.

It all started here in Claremont decades
ago. Young, innocent women enjoying a

night out, taken away from their
families.

flowers at the Claremont Hotel thanking
police for not giving up on this

investigation. But many questions remain
unanswered.

I've thought it a thousand times. How
can he go 30 odd years committing the

heinous crime that this country's ever
seen and never get caught?

So looking back on the investigation, in
my position as a senior investigating

officer, what I can say is that the
initial investigation was conducted

professionally and the investigative
techniques used in the era were sound.

Was Telstra a line of inquiry at the
time? It definitely was.

And they did look at Telstra employees,
they looked at people who took home

motor vehicles from Telstra, had access
to vehicles at night time.

but it didn't give you a result at that
stage.

Any homicide, what you want to do is to
find the person responsible.

That one, I left, and it hadn't been
resolved.

But in 1996, Sarah Spears was abducted
and murdered. In

2017, a person was charged.

with the abduction and murder of three
girls.

The evidence that convicted that person
was collected back in 1996, 97,

98. I can sit back now and be very, very
comfortable in myself and my team that

we did what we were asked to do.

I feel personally that I've learnt
through this because you don't always

things exactly right. You learn on the
way.

I feel that if there's any legacy out of
this series of crimes is that we will

be a much better police force.

But what is important to any member of
our community, of any persuasion, any

walk of life, is that you've got to have
trust in the police force.

The public gain confidence if the police
are able to bring to justice.

the most horrific of criminals, and in
this instance they did.