Bradley Robert Edwards has been found guilty of murdering Ciara Glennon and Jane Rimmer in a verdict handed down this morning in Perth, nearly 25 years since their disappearance in Claremont, WA, and four years since his arrest and charge.
As per the ABC, Edwards – who has now been identified as the Claremont Killer – was not found guilty of the murder of 18-year-old Sarah Spiers as it cannot be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
However, Supreme Justice Stephen Hall noted in his judgement that it was likely that Edwards was behind her disappearance in Claremont in January 1996.
“The propensity evidence makes it more likely that the accused was the killer of Sarah Spiers,” he said.
“But it cannot be proved beyond reasonable doubt in the absence of any other evidence as to the identity of her killer.”
Edwards’ guilty verdict comes nearly four years since his arrest and charge of the infamous Claremont serial killings, which shocked Australia in the mid-1990s.
The disappearance of Spiers in early 1996, followed by similar abductions and murders of Glennon and Rimmer in the following year. It sparked the longest-running, and most expensive investigation in Western Australia. Spiers body has never been recovered.
After his arrest and charge of two of the Claremont murders in 2016, Edwards pled guilty in late 2019 to two other attacks in 1988 and 1995. He pled guilty to five charges, including those of sexual assault and unlawful detention. At the time, he still pled not guilty to the Claremont murders.
Today’s verdict and conviction has brought a 25-year serial killer case to a near close, with sentencing still to be handed down.
More to come.
