Claremont serial killer: David Caporn defends police actions

THE former head of the Macro task force into the Claremont serial killer is hoping and praying for more information about missing woman Sarah Spiers.

Breaking his long-running silence on the cold case, David Caporn said he had not stopped thinking about Ms Spiers and the other two women who went missing from Claremont in 1996 and 1997, even after he left the police service in 2009.

Bradley Robert Edwards was last week charged with the murder of Ciara Glennon and Jane Rimmer. No charges have ever been laid over Ms Spiers’ death and her body has not been found.

Mr Caporn, who headed the taskforce between April 1997 and February 1999, also defended the Macro Taskforce’s handling of the investigation which has been criticised for focusing on the wrong prime suspect for two years.

“Hardly a day goes by without me thinking about the families of Sarah, Jane and Ciara. I hope and pray that more will come to light about Sarah,” he said.

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A 2007 book called The Devil’s Garden suggested detectives had botched the inquiry, singling out Mr Caporn for “tunnel vision” by focusing on another man as a prime suspect.

Labor MP John Quigley told Parliament in November 2008 that it was a “dud” investigation.

But Mr Caporn was unapologetic on Sunday, saying the investigation did not focus on another man in the early days or have him as its sole focus.

“The taskforce commenced investigation in June 1996, five months after the disappearance of Sarah (Spiers),” he said.

Caportn said the man “did not come to the attention of the task force until several months after the disappearance and then discovery of Ciara’s body.

“The taskforce had already been investigating for over 18 months on a massive scale before we even started any inquiries about him.

“The allocation of resources to pursue any particular line of inquiry was always based on ‘what was known at the time.’

“And at that time, the only way we could eliminate persons of interest was by alibi.

“Alibis become harder to lock down the more time that passed, so the legwork by detectives on each and every reasonable person of interest was enormous.”

Mr Caporn left his fulltime role as head of the taskforce in February 1999 when he became substantive superintendent at Major Crime. He maintained some involvement in the taskforce until 2001 when he was appointed to head up Operation Zircon into the Lathlain bombing.

In August 2002 he led the West Metropolitan command and in 2004 was appointed assistant police commissioner. He was temporarily stood down on full pay in 2008 over his role in the wrongful conviction of Andrew Mallard in 1994. He left the police service in 2009 and is now semi-retired.

There was no evidence of police searches at the home owned by accused Claremont serial killer Bradley Robert Edwards in Kewdale on Sunday, or at a Madora Bay home once owned by his parents.

Flowers and a homemade card were left at the Wellard bushland area where murder victim Jane Rimmer’s body was found in August 1996.

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