Glen Harold Murdoch, 59, charged with murder of Christine Barrett, 70, at unit block in South West Rocks

An idyllic Mid-North Coast town popular with holiday-makers and retirees has been rocked by the alleged murder of a woman in a block of flats. Here’s the latest.

Kempsey Police Station. Picture: Janine Watson.

The idyllic coastal town of South West Rocks, popular with holiday-makers and retirees, has been rocked by the alleged murder of a woman, 70, in a block of flats near the beach.

Officers were called to a unit on Memorial Ave in South West Rocks, about 40km north of Kempsey, where they found the body of the woman about 8am on Friday.

Glen Harold Murdoch, 59, was arrested at the scene and later charged with the murder of Christine Barrett. Police allege the pair knew each other.

Police state in court documents Ms Barrett was murdered at unit 2 of 22 Memorial Ave sometime between 8.30pm on Thursday, November 7 and 10.20am the next morning.

The murder allegedly took place at 2/22 Memorial Ave in South West Rocks.

Murdoch was denied bail at Port Macquarie Local Court on Saturday and the case returned to the same court on Monday.

There was some delay in the case being called and a duty solicitor told the court he believed Murdoch was being represented by an “out of town” lawyer and there may be an application for bail.

Horseshoe Bay Beach at South West Rocks.

By noon it was revealed local lawyer Tony Cox would be defending Murdoch and there would be no application for his client’s release on bail.

The court heard Murdoch did not wish to appear before the magistrate to witness proceedings.

The case was adjourned to Kempsey Local Court on January 22.

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