Ex-partner of accused killer Ashley Gaddie’s claims he hasn’t seen his only son for years

Accused murderer Ashley Gaddie is a father, The Daily Telegraph can reveal, as the child’s mother desperately tries to shield their boy from discovering what his father allegedly did to a woman he met online.

Posing beside Santa Claus with his baby son and girlfriend, accused killer Ashley Gaddie appeared to be a doting father.

But the mother of his little boy says Gaddie lost interest in his only child when he was barely a toddler, and has had little to do with him since.

The distressed woman told The Daily Telegraph she was trying to shield her son from the news, so he doesn’t discover his dad allegedly bashed a woman he met on a dating app and left her for dead at a friend’s Cranebrook home on Sunday.

“I’m shaken up and devastated for that poor girl and her family. And trying to ensure my son doesn’t see what his dad has (allegedly) done,” the mother said.

She said the boy knew who his father was, but hadn’t seen him for years.

Accused killer Ashley Gaddie with his son and former partner (dated 2015). Picture: Facebook

The revelation Gaddie had a child came as Ms Finlay-Jones’ family and friends reeled from her senseless death.

Laura-Jane Paltridge has known Ms Finlay-Jones since they were teenagers, and said the reality of losing her best friend hadn’t set in yet.

“I’m still in far too much shock to know how to word anything correctly to justify how amazing Dani truly was and how much she meant to us all,” Ms Paltridge said.

Dannielle Finlay-Jones with her brother Blake Finlay-Jones. Picture: Facebook

At Gaddie’s Five Dock unit, where he lived with his mother Glenys, neighbours said he was a polite man who didn’t seem to work because he was “always around”.

“He was a friendly fellow … I assumed he lived there and took care of his mum,” a neighbour said.

“I got the shock of my life when the ninja police, you know, with guns, turned up here on Monday looking for him.”

A maintenance worker at the unit complex said police were seen coming from Gaddie’s apartment carrying computer equipment, while a Mazda hatch Gaddie was regularly seen driving was towed from the street near the unit.

Ms Finlay-Jones’ friends at Ramsgate RSL Football Club, where she was described as being the “heart and soul of the place”, were still trying to process the tragedy allegedly at the hands of someone she had never mentioned.

One committee member said Ms Finlay-Jones was like family, and would often entertain them with her dating stories, but she made no mention of Gaddie.

“That’s the part troubling me the most. I saw her on Thursday night at drinks and she didn’t say anything about there being a new bloke in her life,” the committee member said.

“If she was planning to introduce him to her friends two nights later, you think it would have been on her mind.”

Gaddie chose not to appear in Penrith Local Court on Wednesday, where he was formally refused bail and told he will stay in custody until at least March 3 next year.

The court heard he will oppose a police application to have a forensic DNA swab taken from him.

Magistrate Geoff Hiatt approved the taking of the swab under an interim forensic procedure order, however it is understood legal argument will take place in March regarding the admissibility of the procedure.

Gaddie was expected to be transferred to the Metropolitan Reception and Remand Centre at Silverwater on Wednesday evening, where he will be processed and held on remand.