Belinda Peisley cold case: Person of interest Jeremy Douglas claims his innocence

A man named as a “person of interest” during the inquest into the suspected 1998 death of 19-year-old mum Belinda Peisley yesterday told The Daily Telegraph he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

• Belinda Peisley cold case: Police to dig up Katoomba home
• ‘Items of interest’ found during Belinda Peisley excavation

A man named as a “person of interest” during the inquest into the suspected 1998 death of 19-year-old mum Belinda Peisley yesterday told The Daily Telegraph he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

Jeremy Douglas spent most of yesterday holed up in his Katoomba unit as police dug underneath Ms Peisley’s home only a few kilometres away in the hopes of finding the missing woman’s remains.

Jeremy Douglas is a person of interest in the disappearance of Belinda Peisley 20 years ago.

When he eventually emerged late yesterday afternoon he refused to answer a series of questions put to him by The Daily Telegraph — including whether he had any involvement in Ms Peisley’s death or whether he knew anything at all.

When asked whether he was innocent, he yelled, “I am”.

At the time of the suspected murder in September 1998, Mr Douglas was the boyfriend of Heidi Wailes, a close friend of Ms Peisley’s.

Jeremy Douglas pictured in Katoomba on Monday.

NSW Police excavate under the house. Picture: NSW Police

Mr Douglas declined to give evidence at the inquest into Ms Peisley’s suspected death which ran for 15 days between 2012 and 2013.

“He had a reputation of being violent towards women (particularly those with whom he had a sexual relationship) and the evidence was that Belinda had expressed some fears of him,” Deputy Coroner Paul McMahon said in his published findings.

Mr McMahon said a lot of the inquest focused on whether Mr Douglas, Ms Wailes and another man named Saxon Holdforth — all part of the Katoomba drug scene — had any knowledge or involvement in Ms Peisley’s death.

“The evidence available was inconclusive. The evidence did, however, raise considerable suspicion as to the possibility of such knowledge and/or involvement,” he said.

Belinda Peisley was last seen at Katoomba in 1998.

During the inquest Ms Peisley’s aunt Sharon Versace told the inquest her niece feared for her life: “She believed that Jeremy Douglas was going to kill her. She said he had a gun.”

The court also heard in the week before her disappearance Mr Douglas and Ms Wailes broke into her home and stole a TV, microwave and a camera.