Ebony Simpson’s abduction and murder by Andrew Peter Garforth placed in ‘worst category’ by judge

IT was a case that captivated the nation because it struck a chord for all parents with a busy schedule and young children. Now, sadly, Ebony Simpson is in the news again.

IT was a case that captivated the nation because it struck a chord for all parents with a busy schedule and young children.

A little girl disappeared on her way home from school.

Ebony Simpson was just nine and living in the town of Bargo with her mother, father and two brothers.

When Ebony got off a school bus in Bargo on the afternoon of August 19, 1992, and discovered nobody there she began walking home.

She was never seen alive again and this week, 23 years after her death, the case has returned to the spotlight following news Ebony’s killer was to get new freedoms in jail.

Andrew Peter Garforth, the man convicted of brutally abusing and murdering the little girl, was granted permission to have his prisoner classification downgraded.

That news was met with public outrage before Corrective Services Minister David Elliott stepped in this morning to reverse the decision.

Sadly, the reversal has done little to quell the grief felt by Ebony’s family.

MUM’S PAIN AS VILE KILLER OF EBONY SIMPSON WINS NEW FREEDOMS

PARENTS LYING TO GET INTO TOP SCHOOL

ARRESTS MADE OVER CHILD’S PARTY BRAWL

While her mother usually met her at the stop each day after school she had become caught up and had asked Ebony’s older brother to meet her after getting off his own bus.

As fate would have it his bus was late and Ebony had started the kilometre walk home.

On her walk home and within sight of her house she came across what appeared to be a broken-down car.

Ebony Simpson’s murder was described as being in the “worst category,”.

As Ebony passed the Mazda, Garforth abducted her and put her in the boot.

Garforth then drove to a remote dam near Wirrimbirra Sanctuary where he bound her with wire before sexually abusing her repeatedly.

He then weighted her schoolbag down with rocks and threw her into the dam where she drowned.

Over the next few days more than 200 volunteers and another 100 police searched for the missing girl following her disappearance. Garforth was among them.

Soon police turned their attention to Garforth and he quickly admitted his guilt and the startling and graphic manner in which he described the attack shocked police

He showed no signs of remorse in his confession or later on during his time in court.

The case was described by Supreme Court Judge, Justice Newman, as being in the “worst category,” joining only four other cases in NSW’s entire history.

Ebony Simpson at a neighbour’s birthday party.

This is because Garforth could produce no defence or explanation for his actions.

Justice Newman described him as “heartless” and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

His case was marked “never to be released” as he posed too much risk to the community.

There was no possibility of parole.

But the case returned to prominence after Garforth won new freedoms in jail.

Theose freedoms would have allowed him access to work and rehabilitation courses.

Mrs Simpson was devastated.

“He needs a plate of beans kicked under that door of his cell and a glass of water, that’s all he needs,” she told A Current Affair last night.

The reclassification was made on the advice of the Serious Offenders Review Council, which manages ­serious offenders including the killers of nurse Anita Cobby and Janine Balding.

There were fears among victims groups that Garforth’s decision had set a precedent for them to also apply for their A2 classifications to be reduced.

Convicted murderer Andrew Garforth’s papers were marked never to be released.

Mr Elliott was also furious at the Serious Offenders Review Council’s decision, which was rubberstamped by Corrective Services boss Peter Severin.

He announced this morning that he would reverse the council’s decision and look to strip away any existing privileges that Garforth enjoyed at Goulburn jail.

“This guys gets nothing. He will die in jail,” Mr Elliott said.

Such a move is in keeping with what was intended by Justice Newman when he sentenced Garforth all those years ago.

“Again, as I noted earlier, his callous and casual comment as to what he would have expected to happen to his victim as she struggled in the water is chilling to the extreme,” Justice Newman told the Southern Highland News in 2002.

The case provoked outrage.

Andrew Garforth is led into Bowral Court.

Garforth and his family had been relocated from Western Australia to Picton and St Vincent de Paul moved them from Picton to Bargo.

He had lived just 3km from Ebony’s home for just five weeks and had stalked her.

On December 7, 1994, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions wrote to Christine Simpson to formally advise her the High Court had refused Garforth special leave to appeal against his sentence of life imprisonment.

“There is no other avenue of appeal available to the prisoner,” the DPP said.

“The sentence requires that he be imprisoned for the term of his natural life.”

With Mr Elliott’s declaration today, it seems that will now be the case. Again.

Christine Simpson at her home in Captains Flat, NSW. Picture: A Current Affair

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