Daniel’s web: the sting to trap an evil paedophile and killer

DANIEL Morcombe’s disappearance haunted a nation, but snaring the monster who killed him took an elaborate interstate sting, writes MATTHEW BENNS

Daniel Morcombe’s disappearance haunted a nation for more than a decade. Picture: Supplied

IT was an entree to a criminal world beyond his wildest dreams: prostitutes, drugs, gun-running and blood diamonds.

“I’ve found my calling,” Brett Cowan enthused as the prospect of earning $100,000 from a shipment of the illegal drug ecstasy was dangled in front of him.

The lonely loser from the fringes of society was ­suddenly hanging out in flash restaurants with a group of brothers who had wads of cash and lived by the code “honesty, trust, respect”.

Except none of it was real.

Cowan was being reeled in by a controversial police sting, pioneered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, known as “Mr Big”.

News_Image_File: Brett Peter Cowan has been sentenced for the murder of Daniel Morcombe. The sting, banned in America and Britain, lures a criminal into making a confession to wired-up “gang members” who are really undercover police officers.

In 2007 the High Court ruled such confessions were legal in Australia.

And Cowan had a big ­confession to make.

Daniel Morcombe, 13, had been abducted and murdered while waiting for a bus in 2003. The Queensland police investigation into finding his body and his killer stalled but his family tirelessly campaigned for justice.

Cowan was among the 33 persons of interest.

News_Image_File: Daniel Morcombe loved animals and wanted to be a vet.He had convictions for violent sexual assaults on boys in 1997 and 1993, lived nearby, and had admitted to driving past the bus stop around the time Daniel was abducted.

But DNA and forensic ­testing had drawn a blank.

In 2010, Michael Barnes, now the NSW Coroner, forensically went through the police case and found failures to properly testing Cowan’s alibi or his long and deviant history. He ordered a coronial inquest and called six persons of interest to give evidence — including Cowan.

Cowan’s time on the stand began with some soft questions. And then the coroner’s team, advised by psychologists, let fly. Cowan was ­peppered with tough questions and his hands were damp with sweat. Although his alibi was full of holes, the police had checked the boot of his car and come up with nothing, not even a hair.

News_Image_File: Bruce and Denise Morcombe with their sons Bradley (left) and Dean (right) exit the Brisbane Supreme Courts after the jury found Brett Peter Cowan guilty of abducting and murdering Daniel Morcombe. Picture: Liam Kidston.There was no proof that he had abducted and killed ­Daniel Morcombe.

By the time Cowan sat down in seat 42B for the Qantas flight back to his new home in Perth, he thought he had survived the ordeal.

Sitting next to him in seat 42A was a friendly guy who introduced himself as Joe Emery and said he was thinking of moving to Perth. They exchanged mobile numbers.

Joe was an undercover police officer.

Cowan’s performance at the inquest had convinced police that it was time to ­introduce him to “Mr Big” — a high-risk strategy aimed at winning Cowan’s trust and a confession with no guarantee of success.

In Perth, Joe Emery had dropped in regularly to see Cowan at the caravan park where he was staying. When Cowan lost his job, Joe offered to have a word with his own boss and see if he could throw anything his way.

The first job was easy. They had to stand at either end of Perth airport and watch for a man to arrive. Nothing was explained. The call was made and Cowan trousered $150.

News_Image_File: A video still of Brett Peter Cowan speaking to an undercover police officer where he admits to abducting and killing Daniel Morcombe.Then he was introduced to “Fitzy” another undercover cop who took him along to collect a cut of a brothel madam’s takings. It was just the beginning of Cowan’s ­introduction to a criminal’s fantasy playground.

The only problem for Cowan was that it was just that — a fantasy created to win his trust.

As the time went on the crimes he was involved in ­became more elaborate.

He was slowly introduced to a criminal network that dealt in “cleaned” guns, blank passports, black-market crayfish and smuggled blood diamonds. He was there when they bribed a Perth District Court officer with $30,000 cash. “I haven’t been happy like this before,” Cowan told his new friends.

News_Image_File: A video still showing Brett Peter Cowan speaking to an undercover police officer. The video was shown as evidence during the trial. The paedophile who was even despised by his own family finally belonged. “It’s not just the money, it’s what I’m getting from yas. The mateship sort of thing.”

He was on the hook.

Now to reel him in with the big job — a $1 million ecstasy deal that would earn him a previously unimaginable $100,000 payday. Cowan was excited but there was a problem. A dirty cop had told the gang there was a subpoena out for Cowan in relation to the Morcombe disappearance.

News_Image_File: Undercover police with Brett Cowan at the scene of where he disposed of Daniel Morcombe’s body.They lived by the rules — honesty, trust, respect — and Fitzy was furious that Cowan had broken the code.

Cowan was desperate to make the problem go away.

He was told “Mr Big” could fix it, providing he was honest. He was on a way to a job with Fitzy when the call came that Mr Big wanted to see him.

The Swan River room of the Hyatt Hotel was wired for sound and vision when Cowan walked in to meet “Arnold”, the undercover police officer playing “Mr Big”.

Arnold told Cowan that the word was that he was good for the Morcombe murder and if it was not sorted he should drop him “like a hot potato”.

“Like I said, honesty, trust, respect. So what do I need to fix?” Arnold asked Cowan.

“Yeah, OK yeah, I did it,” said Cowan.

Bingo.

Arnold quizzed him so thoroughly that only an idiot or a small-time crook desperate to stay in the big time would not have realised ­Arnold was a police officer.

News_Image_File: Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Blanchfield. News_Image_File: Assistant Commissioner Mike Condon.Cowan told how he saw Daniel by chance, lured him into his car, pulled down his pants and choked him when he struggled.

“I didn’t go out that day to molest a kid either or anything like that. I’m an opportunistic offender,” he said.

But Queensland police still needed proof.

On Arnold’s orders, Cowan and Fitzy flew to Brisbane to clean up the scene where he had told them he had dumped Daniel’s body.

The unsuspecting Cowan told jokes as he walked the undercover police officer through the crime scene.

Three days later they returned for a last-minute clean-up and Queensland police, lying in wait behind timber and machinery, leapt out and arrested Cowan.

Mr Big had done his job — but there are questions now if the trick will ever work again.

Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said that revealing the details of the covert police operation to the Supreme Court jury that convicted Cowan could compromise the ruse.

“The more widely it’s known, the less effective it becomes,” he said.