In both cases, the state had strong evidence against Edwards: DNA retrieved from intimate swabs of the 17-year-old survivor in hospital shortly after her rape was matched to Edwards and the state recovered Edwards’ DNA from a silk kimono left at the Huntingdale crime scene.ĭuring the trial, the prosecution played part of Edwards’ 12-hour police interview following his 2016 arrest, where he denied any involvement in either crime.īarbagallo argued the fact he lied to police and later confessed to the crimes cast “serious doubt” over his denied involvement in the Claremont killings. He bound and drove her to Karrakatta cemetery, where he raped her twice before dumping her naked in bushland.Įdwards also confessed to breaking into the home of the 18-year-old woman – who he said he knew – and assaulting her in 1988.
Edwards pleaded guilty to abducting and raping the 17-year-old girl while she was walking alone through Rowe Park after a night out in Claremont in 1995.
#Claremont killer victims trial
The first was a surprise confession from Edwards before the trial began last October. The case against Edwards rested on “four key planks of evidence”, the prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo SC told the court. The lengthy judge-alone trial ran from November 2019 to June 2020 in the Western Australia supreme court. Justice Stephen Hall delivered his long-anticipated verdicts on Thursday.Įdwards was arrested in 2016 and charged with wilfully murdering Spiers, Rimmer and Glennon, as well as for indecently assaulting an 18-year-old woman during a break-in at her Huntingdale home in February 1988, and abducting and raping a 17-year-old girl in February 1995 in Claremont. Spiers was never found and is presumed dead. The bodies of Rimmer and Glennon were found dumped in bushland at opposite ends of Perth.
All three women went missing after a night out at the Claremont entertainment district in Perth’s eponymous western suburb.
#Claremont killer victims serial
The Claremont serial killings refer to the deaths of Rimmer, 23, Glennon, 27, and Spiers, 18, between 19. He will be 88 by the time he is eligible for parole.Bradley Robert Edwards, a 51-year-old former Telstra technician from Western Australia, has been found guilty of the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon but acquitted of the murder of Sarah Spiers in the Claremont serial killings case, Australia’s longest-running and most expensive criminal investigation. SENTENCING Justice Hall on Wednesday sentenced Edwards to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 40 years.
JUDGMENT Justice Hall in September found Edwards guilty of murdering Ms Glennon and Ms Rimmer, but not guilty of Ms Spiers' murder. * No defence witnesses were called and Edwards elected not to testify. * Edwards' defence argument was largely that the DNA evidence had been contaminated in the laboratory by samples taken from Edwards' rape victim. * Ms Spiers' body has never been found, so there is no physical evidence linking him to her death. * Prosecutors said his DNA matched swabs from the cemetery rape victim and material found under Ms Glennon's fingernails, and fibres from his work car and clothes were found on Ms Glennon, Ms Rimmer and the rape victim. * The prosecution said Edwards either abducted or lured all his known victims - except his first at Huntingdale - into his work vehicle when they were intoxicated, alone and vulnerable after nights out in Perth's Claremont entertainment district.
TRIAL * The WA Supreme Court trial began before Justice Stephen Hall without a jury on Novemand ended on Jafter hearing evidence from more than 200 prosecution witnesses. He repeated the expletive when told he was also suspected of the cemetery rapes, and asked "who?" when accused of the Huntingdale attack. * Sitting cuffed on the floor he exclaimed "what the f***?" after detectives told him he was suspected of the three murders. * Police stormed his Kewdale house in December 2016. * His DNA was covertly taken from a Sprite bottle he discarded at a cinema. ARREST * In late-2016, detectives examined other Huntingdale crimes and matched Edwards' fingerprints in the national database to those taken from an attempted 1988 break-in. * Guilty to abducting and twice raping a 17-year-old girl in a cemetery in February 1995, and to breaking into a Huntingdale home and indecently assaulting an 18-year-old woman in February 1988. CHARGES AND PLEAS * Not guilty to murders of secretary Sarah Spiers, 18, in January 1996, child care worker Jane Rimmer, 23, in June 1996, and lawyer Ciara Glennon, 27, in March 1997. SNAPSHOT OF THE CLAREMONT SERIAL KILLINGS CASE THE ACCUSED * Former Telstra technician and Little Athletics coach Bradley Robert Edwards, 52.
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