Day 84 was the day the court heard directly from Bradley Edwards, through his police interview, recorded after his arrest in 2016. Today, we heard his response, as he was told he was accused as being the Claremont Serial Killer. “I just want to go to sleep and to wake up and for this to all be a bad dream.” Those were the words spoken by Bradley Edwards, his head in his hands as he as being questioned by police following his arrest in 2016. It was the first time anyone has heard from the...

In this episode, the podcast team look ahead into the evidence which has been anticipated for weeks - Bradley Edwards police interview - which Damien Cripps said gives ‘shivers down his spine’ in anticipation of the video to be played to the court, and is expected to be “the most significant piece of evidence the prosecution is going to bring”. That video is expected to be played tomorrow. While we’re still waiting for the police interview to be played, Day 83 saw a piece of evidence that...

As the court waited for a reasonable time in the UK to video call Dr Ray Palmer for his final day giving evidence, two witness statements were read into the court. One of them was from a former Perth taxi driver, who said he avoided Claremont, and preferred to drive in Northbridge because Claremont was 'too much trouble', that people were often very drunk and disorderly. He was one of the cab drivers who drove a cab number that WA Police specifically looked into. In this Podcast, The West's...

The state’s key fibre expert has detailed how the combination of fibres and the types of fibres found in Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s hair, as well as critical fibres no matched for their personal items, led him to believe it was more likely the two murdered women were in the Car Bradley Edwards drove, than not. In Ciara Glennon’s case, Dr Ray Palmer said he thought there was ‘very strong’ support to indicate Ciara was in that Holden VS Commodore, owned by Bradley Edwards in the mid-late...

Day 80 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial sat late to accomodate an expert witness from overseas. But before Dr Ray Palmer gave evidence, the defence asked the prosecution to call up a witness. This witness gave a terrifying account of her encounter with a man in a white van who she accepted a ride from while she was walking on Stirling Highway in the mid 90s. A man who tried to grab her leg while he was driving her before she yelled to stop, ran as fast as she could from the car and...

After spending nine days on the stand, Chem Centre scientist Rees Powell finally wrapped up his evidence on day 79 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial. It was during the end of his evidence-in-chief that it was revealed not only were fibres from the bodies of Ciara Glennon and Jane Rimmer analysed, the fibres from another WA cold case - which we have spoken about before on the podcast - the murder of Gerard Ross, was analysed along side the MACRO exhibits. The fibres were also compared...

**BREAKING: We’ve received a last-minute email from the WA court, there will be no Claremont Trial tomorrow (Friday April 24), court will resume on Tuesday, after the Anzac Day long weekend*** Fibres from anywhere and everywhere the victims went, alive and dead were tested by Chem Centre to try and find any matches to the critical fibres. There was a huge amount of detail put into the testing - Fibres from the carpet of the Continental Hotel, Jane Rimmer’s hairbrush, Ciara Glennon’s...

For the first time, the court was shown a picture of a pristine hair sample, which was never touched before RH17 was the hair sample taken from Ciara Glennon when her body was found in bushland off Pipidinny road in Eglington on April 3, 1997. This hair sample is so important because it was taken before anyone had a chance to inspect Ciara’s remains, and is seen as one of the most accurate pieces of evidence showing exactly what was on Ciara Glennon before any investigators, pathologists,...

Tiny strands of Ciara Glennon’s hair were sent to the FBI in 1999. Those hair strands in a Petri dish have become vital in the prosecution’s case - allegedly linking Ciara Glennon to the Karrakatta rape victim, and both of them to Telstra shorts, the like Bradley Edwards used to wear as a technician in the 1990s. The blue polyester fibres were two of 41 critical fibres found on Ciara Glennon. Other critical fibres found from who the prosecution says is the third victim of the Claremont...

One slide of two microscopic fibres compared to each other shown to the court on day 75. That’s the first piece of physical evidence in the trial - 5 months in - that forensically links Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon. The blue polyester fibres, found on Ciara’s shirt and in Jane Rimmer’s hair were compared on a slide and shown to the court. This is one of just a handful of evidence that the prosecution can present that shows Jane and Ciara are linked to the crime, outside of circumstantial...

During day 74’s evidence, the court heard that Ciara’s hair mass was split into 16 sections, and was meticulously examined for 17 days at Chem Centre. During his fourth day on the stand, Chem Centre scientist Rees Powell was again giving evidence, today focussed on the 41 critical fibres found on Ciara Glennon. We got through 8 today, and 32 of the full 98 fibres critical to the prosecution’s case. As Tim Clarke explains in this episode, the prosecution may have been optimistic with their...

The sheer lengths ChemCentre scientists went to, to test the MACRO exhibits were again showed during the day’s evidence. After Jane’s hair was separated, run under a polilight, tweezed, shoock and looked over many times to find fibres, another method was used to try and find more. Her hair mass was washed and filtered - and 1000 new fibres were found. As Forensic expert Brendan Chapman explains, it’s not a method commonly used. 22 of those fibres are critical to the prosecution’s...

Although the MACRO taskforce had investigated Jane, Ciara and Sarah’s disappearances together since the moment Jane went missing, but before 2012, there was no physical evidence linking the murders. On Day 72 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial, a ChemCentre scientist recounted the moment the first alleged forensic links were made, connecting Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s murders. In 2012, blue polyester fibres found in Jane’s hair and on Ciara’s shirt were compared to each other, and...

Today in court we found out a world-first fibre database was created specifically for the Claremont Serial Killings trial, which led to a ground breaking new way of investigating fibres now used as the standard method of fibre matching. The scientists who were testing the fibres found in Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s hair saw that they looked similar to those found in cars. So, they took off their lab coats and went out into the field, specifically wrecking yards, the police compound and...

That crucial Telstra Blue fibre was again under the spotlight on day 70 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial, this time by the defence. Joined by prominent Perth criminal defence lawyer Tom Percy QC, the podcast team discuss what the defence will try to argue to place enough reasonable doubt in the fibre evidence. The argument - that the ‘Telstra Blue’ colour wasn’t always exclusive to Telstra, the colour was supplied to other, smaller businesses throughout the 90s. But the prosecution...

Telstra Blue. The fibre that delayed the trial of the century for more than four months. And it’s the fibre which the prosecution say was found in Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s hair. A piece of material, from a pair of Telstra pants which were used in 1996 and 1997 was tested as late as May 2019. The trial was originally due to start, but the prosecution - and the judge found this evidence important enough to delay the trial until November. On day 69 two witnesses told the court in...

The police officer who went digging for the fingerprints that would blow the Claremont Serial Killings investigation wide open give his evidence today. Sgt Colin Stuart Beck took the stand to tell his massive involvement in one of WA’s most infamous cold cases, how his good old fashioned police work finding fingerprints from a series of break-ins, which led to fingerprints linking the Claremont cases to Huntingdale cases, and the database match with threw up the name Bradley Robert...

With a video link to China, technical difficulties plagued the morning’s proceedings. When the technical issues were sorted, day 67 took a deep dive into fibres, VIN numbers and cars. Tim Clarke says in this episode, you would have had to be a car buff for the day’s evidence to keep you interested and focussed the whole day. Luckily, Tim Clarke was in court all day and takes us through the most important aspects of the day. A former Holden manufacturer, who told the court the particular...

Could the inside of the Holden Commodore VS series be the last thing Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon ever saw before they were killed? It was revealed CSI took three days to dismantle and examine the Holden Commodore that Bradley Edwards drove in 1996 and 1997. Hundreds of exhibits were taken from the car - ChemCentre looking for fibres, PathWest looking for biological material, police looking for investigative clues, polilight exams, swabs, mats, seat covers and door panels taken away....

The police officer who seized the car Bradley Edwards drove in the 90s told the court of the breakthrough police had when they realised the car still existed. That car was the Holden Commodore seized in December 2016 - the same day Bradley Edwards was arrested. It’s been revealed it was the car Bradley Edwards drove in 1996 and 1997 - and the prosecution say it was the car he drove to abduct Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon. It’s become vitally important in the case, because the...

On Day 64 of the Claremont Serial Killings trial, two forensic police officers detailed how they painstakingly sifted through Jane Rimmer’s hair mass 13 years after her post-mortem. It was a sensitive operation for two reasons. After being in frozen storage for more than a decade, Jane’s hair mass was extremely brittle, and still had icicles on it. But these officers were very aware they were sifting through the hair of a murdered woman. As forensic expert Brendan Chapman explains in this...

Despite the coronavirus outbreak, the judge presiding over the Claremont Serial Killings trial, Justice Hall effectively told the court on day 63 that the trial must go on. At the end of the shortened day for the cross examination of former forensic police officer Victor Webb, Justice Hall told the court he is prepared to make changes to the process to allow witnesses to give evidence from home. But for day 63, former forensic police officer Victor Webb was grilled by the defence about...

Just as day 62 of the Claremont serial killings trial was ending, drama erupted in the courtroom. Coronavirus-related drama. Justice Hall hauled a security staff member into the courtroom after it emerged some pensioners and students were banned from entering the court. He told the security their actions, which were approved by the court’s general manager could amount to contempt of court, saying, “I take this extremely seriously. The public has been discouraged from attending but not...

WA’s trial of the century will likely take a couple of days off each week in an effort to try and limit the amount of time the lawyers, witnesses and police are in the room. It’s been a fast changing process of how this important trial can continue through the COVID-19 crisis, all the players are working together to try and get a result, as well as stay safe. Justice Hall told the court “We will pull together” That means streamlining the witnesses. Today, three forensic scientists took the...

After a 10-day break, WA’s trial of the century resumed - with strict and widespread cleaning and social distancing measures to ensure this mammoth trial can continue. Compared to previously in the trial - when the public gallery was packed to the point  a separate room was set aside for overflow - one person from the public was in court. And what they heard was the beginning of the fibre evidence, which focussed on Jane Rimmer’s hair mass. Fibres are critical to the prosecution to link...