Beaumont children abductor likely would have struck again, criminologist Xanthe Mallett says

WHOEVER took the Beaumont children from Glenelg Beach in 1966 is unlikely to have stopped, a leading criminologist says.

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WHOEVER took the Beaumont children from Glenelg Beach in 1966 is unlikely to have stopped abducting children, a leading criminologist says.

University of Newcastle senior lecturer Dr Xanthe Mallett has been researching the details of disappearance of the three children on Australia Day, 1966, as part of an in-depth investigation funded by Channel Seven.

Dr Mallett told The Advertiser that theprincipal person of interest in the disappearance of the children, businessman Harry Phipps who died in 2004, fit many aspects of a sexual predator’s profile and characteristics.

“At first I kind of expected it wasn’t him, so many people have been put forward over the years that I expected something not to fit,” Dr Mallett said.

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“But the more we went through it the more I felt that this was someone who could have taken the children. He is the most viable suspect put forward to date.

Harry Phipps

“The person has to be somebody who is charismatic, who can win people over, we are not looking for someone who stands out and gets people on edge.

“It is someone who would have won their trust, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone with him.”

Phipps fit the characteristics of a psychopath or sociopath but Dr Mallett said without more information on his background they would never know which of the two he was.

“Either way the main characteristic is not feeling anything,” Dr Mallett said.

The disappearance of Jane, 9, Arnna, 7, and Grant, 4, captivated the nation and is a unique disappearance in world history.

“I haven’t been able to find another case where three children never to be seen again in the westernised world,” Dr Mallett said.

“Having the Adelaide Oval disappearances fairly shortly afterwards and in similar circumstances does seem quite strongly linked.”

Joanne Ratcliffe, 11, and Kirste Gordon, 4, disappeared from Adelaide Oval on August 25, 1973, with the no trace of the two ever found.

Dr Mallett said the normal trajectory for sexual predators takes years to develop and the first time the urges are acted upon is just the beginning.

“I do think that whoever took these kids is unlikely to have stopped,” Dr Mallett said.

“We do know that most people who are sex predators think about it for a long time.

“We know with paedophiles that they start thinking about and fantasising in their youth and think about their crime for years and years.

Jane, Grant and Arnna Beaumont went missing from Glenelg Beach on January 26, 1966.

“So if this is something they have been thinking about for a long time, the likelihood of them acting and then stopping is quite small. I don’t think it was a one off and I would be very surprised if the person stopped.”

Police will once again excavate areas of the North Plympton factory that Phipps managed at the time of the disappearance after an unsuccessful dig in 2014.

The dig is expected to begin later this week and will centre on the spot where two men are believed to have dug a hole at Phipps’ behest only days after the abduction.