Australia’s most horrific cold cases now solved

THE conviction of Hayley Dodd’s killer has ended almost 20 years of torment. It comes after other high-profile cold case murders in Australia baffled police before they were solved.

THE conviction of Francis John Wark for the murder of West Australian teenager Hayley Dodd has ended almost 20 years of torment for the young woman’s family.

Hayley, 17, was last seen walking along a road near rural Badgingarra, where Wark had lived for 15 years, on July 29, 1999.

Wark, 61, was granted a judge-alone trial in the WA Supreme Court last year and Justice Lindy Jenkins handed down her judgment on Monday.

Hayley Dodd was murdered by Francis John Wark in 1999. But it took years to solve the case.

The breakthrough in the case came after a cold case review when a car seat cover from the ute Wark was driving on the day of Hayley’s disappearance was re-examined.

Fourteen years after Hayley vanished, a scientist discovered a small earring embedded in the fabric.

The earring matched those that Haley had been wearing at the time of her disappearance.

A single strand of hair, dirt and debris were also found in the cover.

Francis Wark was convicted of the teen’s murder after evidence was re-examined.

Wark was found not guilty of Hayley’s wilful murder, but guilty of the lesser offence of murder, which still carries a life term.

Under Western Australian law in 1999, when the offence was committed, wilful murder, murder and manslaughter were mainly distinguished on the basis of intent, or its absence.

Justice Jenkins was visibly shaken as she handed down her verdict. Wark showed no emotion but Hayley’s family wiped away tears.

Here are several other high-profile cold case murders in Australia that eventually led to convictions decades after the horrific crimes.

PRUE BIRD

The murder of Melbourne schoolgirl Prue Bird in 1992 has baffled Victoria Police detectives for years.

In 2013, convicted murderer Leslie Camilleri confessed to killing the 13-year-old and was sentenced to 28 years.

Prue Bird was abducted and murdered in 1992.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Curtain said she was satisfied Camilleri, 43, who was already serving two life sentences without parole for raping and murdering Bega schoolgirls Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins in 1997, and two other men had abducted and murdered Prue.

Bird was last seen alive preparing lunch in the kitchen of her mother’s house on February 2, 1992. A family friend who had been packing boxes in a garage returned to find the front door open and the television on.

Leslie Camilleri pleaded guilty to the teen’s murder.

One of the early theories after Prue disappeared was that her death was linked to the Russell St police bombings of 1986.

Her grandmother was a long-time partner of convicted armed robber Paul Hetzel, who turned Crown witness against four men accused of the bombing.

At one stage, police also examined whether a sexually twisted armed robber, who had spent time with the family, was responsible.

MICHELLE BUCKINGHAM

The murder of 16-year-old Michelle Buckingham was one of Victoria’s longest-running cold-case murder mysteries.

The popular teen was killed and her body dumped on the side of a road in Shepparton in 1983.

The murder of Michelle Buckingham in Shepparton was unsolved for more than 30 years.

Her case remained cold until a series of stories in the Shepparton News in 2012 led to a reinvestigation, led by Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles. A crucial new witness was brought forward, leading to the conviction of Stephen James Bradley, who was sentenced to 27 years with a non-parole period of 21 years.

Stephen Bradley after his arrest in Queensland for the teen’s murder.

Bradley was 22 when he fatally stabbed the 16-year-old after she refused to have sex with him.

The new witness was Bradley’s brother-in-law and closest confidante, who told police that Bradley had confessed to killing the teen shortly after the murder.

KYLIE MAYBURY

The conviction of Gregory Keith Davies for the rape and murder of Kylie Maybury in 1984 ended a three-decade mystery over the child’s death.

Kylie Maybury was murdered and dumped in a gutter.

The six-year-old walked 140 metres to shops in the Melbourne suburb of East Preston to buy sugar for her mother. She never returned home.

Kylie’s body was found face down in a gutter the following day, having been raped, drugged and suffocated by Davies, who pleaded guilty to her murder.

The killer wasn’t identified until 2016 when Davies’ DNA was matched to semen on Kylie’s clothing and genitalia.

Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry sentenced Davies to life behind bars, setting a minimum term of 28 years.

Gregory Keith Davies pleaded guilty to the six-year-old’s horrendous murder.

“This girl did nothing except walk to a shop and at six years old she lost her life,” the judge said during sentencing.

“You saw her and chose her at random. Your conduct was simply disgusting.

“Having committed these offences, you lied to police at the time and kept what you had done to yourself for 33 years. I wonder how you did it.”

DONNA HICKS

Murder victim Donna Hicks, a part-time sex worker, was last seen getting into a dark four-wheel-drive in western Sydney in April 1995.

Donna Hicks was murdered by evil police killer Bandali Debs.

In 2011, police killer Bandali Debs was found guilty of murdering the 34-year-old mother of three, who was shot dead and left near a quarry.

Debs is serving a life sentence for the shooting murders of police Sgt Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller at Moorabbin in 1998.

He was also convicted of murdering 18-year-old sex worker Kristy Harty, who was found with a gunshot wound to the head in bushland at upper Beaconsfield, southeast of Melbourne, in 1997.

Quadruple killer Bandali Debs was convicted of Donna Hicks’ murder years later.

Police had been trying for two years to question Debs over the murder, but the quadruple murderer refused to co-operate.

The NSW homicide squad had linked Debs’ DNA profile with that from DNA collected at the scene of Ms Hicks’ murder.