Neighbour of Cleo Smith accused claims Terence Kelly’s house ‘will be smashed’
The man who lives next door to Cleo Smith’s accused kidnapper Terence Kelly has revealed how the ordeal has changed Carnarvon forever.
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A man living next door to Cleo Smith’s accused kidnapper has revealed why he will be leaving the West Australian town as soon as police evacuate, saying the house “will be smashed”.
Cleo, 4, vanished from her family’s tent while camping at Quobba Blowholes on October 16 – and was rescued 18 days later from the Carnarvon house.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, from Carnarvon has been charged over the abduction, including one count of forcibly taking a child aged under 16. He is yet to enter a plea.
He will remain in a maximum-security prison in Perth until his next court appearance on December 6.
As police continue to guard Mr Kelly’s house so forensic officers can gather evidence, his neighbour says he is planning to leave the area.
Speaking to 7News, the man said he feared the house “will be smashed” in vigilante attacks.
“The house will be smashed,” the unnamed man told Seven.
“A lot of people are disappointed and angry about what has happened, so there’s a greater chance that once the police are gone, we expect something will happen.
“100 per cent sure they will come here and smash the house.”
The neighbour said he had been away for a week when little Cleo was found, before friends rang to tell him the news. “Everyone was shocked,” he said.
“I find it hard (to know) that it was right next door to me. It took me a while to absorb it.”
It comes as officers reveal they are still searching for the sleeping bag Cleo Smith was curled up in when she was allegedly snatched from a tent at the Blowholes camp site.
A police spokesperson said it was believed the red and grey sleeping bag was still unaccounted for more than three weeks after Cleo vanished and was still missing today – days after she was found in a locked house in Carnarvon.
Forensic teams are examining other items from the site and the Carnarvon home where the four-year-old was found after 18 days.
The sleeping bag was deemed a critical item during the search for Cleo, with police releasing an image that was splashed on missing person posters all over the country.
Motorists travelling on the North West Coastal Highway have even been urged to keep an eye out for the item as police conducted search through roadside bins.
Officers waded through 50 cubic metres of rubbish recovered from bins from Minilya to Geraldton, but the sleeping bag was not found.
The item also was not found at the home of Terence Kelly, who is behind bars accused of abducting Cleo from her tent.
‘MYSTERY WOMAN’ RULED OUT OF CLEO CASE
Detectives investigating the alleged abduction have also ruled out reports of a “mystery woman” being involved, but refused to say if they are looking for a second person of interest.
WA Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch remained tight-lipped on Wednesday saying he did not want to compromise the ongoing investigation.
Asked about reports that little Cleo claimed a woman had brushed her hair and helped care for her while she was allegedly held captive by Terence Darrell Kelly for 18 days, Mr Blanch said: “I can rule that out”.
Bur he could not comment on speculation a second person may have been involved.
“It’s before the courts – the less I say about it, the better it is to have a fair and transparent trial,” he said.
“I understand you have to keep asking questions, but at the end of the day, I’ve got to do the right thing by the court process. And I’ll make no further comment.”
On Wednesday, Mr Blanch said detectives had not ruled out charging Kelly – who already faces one charge of child stealing – with more offences.
Pressed about whether further charges could be expected, Mr Blanch said “I would never say never”.
“I suppose that’s part of the investigation,” he told 6PR on Wednesday.
“That’s not something that I’ve been briefed on at the moment, but I would never say never because there’s a long way to go about piecing together what had happened.”
Later he added: “It’s a matter for the DPP and the courts now – we are really there as investigators getting all the evidence together, so as far as what the story will be, that will be for the court and not for police to air (our theories) in public at this point.”
Kelly is being held in a Perth maximum security prison ahead of his next court appearance next month.
Cleo was reunited with her family almost three weeks after she vanished while on a camping trip at the Quobba Blowholes on October 16.
She was found by detectives attached for Task Force Rodia, who broke into Kelly’s home on Tonkin Crescent, Carnarvon early last Wednesday.
“Cleo is back with family, I think that’s the most important thing,” Mr Blanch said on Wednesday.
“They are happy to be back together and they are relishing in that time.
“They have certainly asked for their privacy, we can all understand why. Cleo is only four years old and it’s important she gets back to normal life, which is going to be very difficult.
“But certainly coming out of that 18 days of hell, the best thing is that they are together and they are a family.
“I know the community of Carnarvon have come out very strongly, provided gifts, not only to the police, and thanks. Lovely messages have come forward.
“Certainly they have a brilliant relationship with police but we respect their privacy, and I think they just want to spend time as a family, as they should.”
It comes after Cleo and her parents arrived at Carnarvon police station on Tuesday, to be met by one of the detectives who helped rescue her.
With her hair in pigtails and her arms wrapped tightly around her mother, the four-year-old greeted waiting media and police officers with her trademark smile, before she and mum Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon were led inside the station about 11am local time.
The trio emerged a short time later with Mr Gliddon and a police officer carrying boxes of presents.
At one stage, Cleo buried her head into her mother’s shoulders, before being given a lollipop after being strapped into her car seat.
While Cleo and her parents were at the police station, forensic officers a few short minutes away were continuing to scour the property of Kelly.
A Mazda SUV was examined as police continue to gather evidence from the Carnarvon house, in Western Australia’s north.
Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine, who was among the team who saved Cleo, also arrived at the house on Tuesday morning with a colleague.
He donned a blue coverall, as well as bootees and a mask, to preserve the scene.
After almost half an hour inside the house, he left the property but told the waiting media that he could not comment.
He previously revealed police were looking into whether Kelly had an accomplice.
Kelly, 36, has been charged with two offences, including one count of forcibly taking a child aged under 16. He is yet to enter a plea.
His house remains under police guard while forensic officers continue to work, and it is expected they will stay there for another week.
On Monday, a white mobile phone was among the items seized.
It follows the collection of a Bratz doll on Sunday and the examination of a bed frame on Saturday.
Numerous other items have also been collected over several days.
Detective Blaine returned to Carnarvon from Perth on Monday and said investigators were looking at whether Mr Kelly had an accomplice.
“Our focus this week is for us to ascertain whether there was anyone else involved — that’s why we are still here,” he told reporters.
“We just ask that if there was anyone that had any contact with Mr Kelly — whether you saw him, whether you met him, or you spoke to him on the phone during the relevant period — to please make yourself known to police.”
Police have dismissed reports from other media outlets that a woman may have been involved in the abduction, saying investigations were still ongoing.
Kelly will remain in a maximum-security prison in Perth until his next court appearance on December 6.
Penny Walker, who took Kelly in when he was aged two, provided some insight into his early life during a 2019 oral history interview, which resurfaced recently.
“His mum didn’t want him and she threw him away,” Ms Walker said.
“I looked down at him and this little boy — God was giving me something back into my life.”
Ms Walker raised Kelly alongside her two grandsons after the death of her daughter.
She died in 2020, leaving Kelly alone in their Carnarvon house.
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