Cleo Smith update: Parents talk for the first time since kidnapper Terence Kelly jailed
The parents of Cleo Smith, the little girl held captive for 18 days, have spoken for the first time since her kidnapper was sentenced to more than a decade in jail.
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The parents of Cleo Smith, the little girl snatched from her family’s tent in 2021 and hidden for 18 days have revealed they no longer live in the town where they grew up and their daughter was held captive.
But Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon have nothing but love and praise for the people of Carnarvon who helped find their daughter. They have not revealed where they have moved to.
“It’s always going to be our town, we don’t live there anymore but it’s always our home,” said Ms Smith.
In the first detailed interview since Cleo’s kidnapper Terence Kelly was sentenced for the crime that shocked Australia, the couple have spoken on 60 Minutes about the nightmares that still plague the brave five-year-old.
“Nightmare nights are the worst nights, it’s just heartbreaking,” Ms Smith said.
“It is hard talking about (Kelly) and what happened.”
Ms Smith revealed how much Cleo knew of the court proceedings.
“She knows he’s a bad man. And he’s in jail now, so she’s safe,” said Ms Smith.
Kelly abducted then four-year-old Cleo in October 2021, in the early hours of the morning as the family slept.
It was the first night of the family’s beachside camping trip at the Quobba Blowholes Campground in remote Western Australia.
During his trial, it was revealed that Kelly was under the influence of methamphetamine and intended to steal things from the tent, when he decided to kidnap Cleo instead.
He confessed to the crime, saying he had always longed for a family of his own, and wanted a little girl he could dress up and play with, so snatched her in her sleeping bag, bundled her into his car and made the 75km trip back to his home in Carnarvon, just kilometres from Cleo’s own home.
Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon spoke of the pain of having to listen to details of the kidnapping during the court case.
“It’s disgusting, to hear that someone is capable of doing that to a child,” said Ms Smith.
“It hurts to know she was crying our for help and we weren’t there.”
Kelly held Cleo in his house, turning the radio up loud to drown out Cleo’s cries for her mum and dad, and tried unsuccessfully to tie her up with sticky tape. He would lock her in a room while he went out to visit family and buy food.
“He had his fantasies and he was trying to make them come to life, you know, he wanted a daughter, he wanted a wife and he had all this, these different Facebook pages set up to be his family, he already had that … he needed it in real life,” said Ms Smith.
“It just happened to be our tent that he got into.”
Cleo’s disappearance made national headlines and footage of the police raid that rescued her went around the world. Photographs of an eerie room in Kelly’s house filled with dolls also went viral.
“My name is Cleo,” were the little girl’s famous first words to detectives.
In April, Kelly, 37, was sentenced to 13 years, six months’ jail. His lawyers have lodged documents with WA’s Court of Appeals, to appeal the sentence.
60 Minutes footage showed Cleo’s parents in the car on the way to the sentencing. Ms Smith revealed her mixed emotions.
“We’ve been waiting for this day, we’ve been waiting for this sentence,” she said.
“I’m terrified …. seeing him. I think of Cleo and how scared she was, knowing that that’s who she was looking at, not her parents, not her family, not her sister. It was him, and that’s what terrifies me.”
The program also detailed the massive search operation in the days after Cleo’s disappearance, and the police investigation that followed.
Among the hundreds of people looking for Cleo were friends of her family. Drones and helicopters searched from the sky, while volunteers on foot, horseback, motorbikes, quad bikes and four wheel drives scoured the grounds around the campsite.
“Some of them are our closest friends they were out there doing everything they could day in day out and they’re still coming back with no outcome, no results. No matter how much they tried, she wasn’t there,” said Ms Smith.
She told of the devastation when the search was called off and the volunteers returned home, leaving the family to go home with an empty car seat.
“At that point that was one terrifying door shut, and a bigger terrifying door opened, and she was taken, someone came and took her and that door was the only door,” said Ms Smith.
Ms Smith spoke of her anger at Kelly’s cruel taunting of her over social media. He was one of many who responded to her appeals on social media for the person who had taken Cleo to set her free. He said he had even said whoever had Cleo should release her, she said.
“He knew that we were begging for our daughter back, he was responding to us begging and he did nothing,” she said.
Ms Smith said she and her partner had their hard days, but they were determined to put on a brave face for Cleo. And they are thankful their family is back together.
“We try not to dwell on him and the bad bits of what happened,” she said.
“Obviously we’re still sad hurt, scared, angry, terrified … it is hard talking about him, and what happened, because we don’t want that to be our sole purpose of our emotions.”
Cleo still struggles with nightmares on a weekly basis but her parents are hopeful for the future.
“She loves ballet. She’s just starting tap and she wants to do horse riding. She has so much to live for,” said Ms Smith.
“She’s five and she’s such a vibrant little soul, we’re grateful for having our little girl home.”
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