John Edwards inquest: Coroner’s findings into shooting deaths of Jack, Jennifer

The usually stoic coroner Teresa O’Sullivan almost broke down as she spoke of the moment Olga Edwards returned home from work to find her children shot dead by their father.

The murders of Jack and Jennifer Edwards by their father John were preventable but people and serious systemic failures let them down, NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan said today in an emotional address.

As members of the Edwards family, some of his ex-partners and children listened, the usually stoic coroner had to pause and almost broke down as she spoke of the moment their mother Olga returned home from work in July 2018 and found her children had been shot dead as they hid in a bedroom from their controlling and abusive father.

Jack, 15, had been vainly using his body to protect his sister, 13, as they hid beneath his desk at their home in West Pennant Hills.

Jack Edwards.

Jennifer Edwards.

“This moment was the crystallisation of the fears she had harboured as a victim of domestic abuse,” the coroner said.

“The deaths of Jack and Jennifer serve as a stark reminder of the broader systemic problems that face too many women and children every day.”

Former commando Edwards, 67, had emptied his Glock pistol into his children before reloading it and firing at them again. Then he returned to his Normanhurst home and killed himself.

Olga killed herself five months later.

The couple had been going through acrimonious family court proceedings and there was evidence Olga and her two children had told multiple agencies and professionals in police and the family law process about the physical and mental abuse meted out by Edwards.

“Sadly none were able to mobilise to protect them,” Ms O’Sullivan said in a 250-page damning report.

“Similarly, the regulatory framework did not prevent John from obtaining firearms licences, lawfully purchasing firearms, or from meticulously planning, and carrying out, the killing of his children.”

John Edwards.

Olga Edwards.

She was critical of police, staff at the NSW Firearms Registry and solicitor Debbie Morton who had been appointed as the independent children’s lawyer during the court proceedings but had recommended the children live with their father.

She found that Ms Morton had failed to advise the court of Jack and Jennifer’s views of their father and recommended that the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner investigate whether any disciplinary action ought to be taken against Ms Morton.

The coroner made 24 recommendations and praised the “grace and dignity” of Edwards’ six previous partners and those of his eight other children that had helped police and the inquest because they wanted to prevent this happening again.

He had physically and mentally abused all of his ex-partners and most of the children.

“It is common within this jurisdiction to describe such deaths as a tragedy,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

“It is unquestionable that their deaths and the subsequent death of Olga have caused unbearable suffering for many.

“However to describe this as a tragedy is to import a sense of inevitability, that nothing could have been done to change the outcome.

“Instead, the evidence before this court plainly reveals that the deaths of Jack and Jennifer Edwards were preventable.”

She recommended police prioritise mandatory training for officers in the way they respond to domestic violence after finding officers not only failed to investigate Olga’s reports of her husband assaulting their children and stalking her but filed the details wrongly so they did not appear when the Firearms Registry was considering his application for a gun licence in 2017.

The coroner also recommended that firearms registry staff must independently verify claims made by people who apply for gun licences and not just take their word for it when they fill out the required P650 form.

NSW Police stand outside the Normanhurst home where John Edwards killed himself after shooting dead his children Jack and Jennifer. Picture: AAP Image/David Moir

Flowers were left outside the home where Jennifer and Jack Edwards were shot dead. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

She said Edwards should never have been given a gun licence but there had been no written policies for staff to follow.

Staff failed to apply the correct test which was to make sure that he was a fit and proper person to be given a gun licence.

While the registry has been overhauled as a result of the deaths, she said more work needed to be done.

Another key recommendation was that NSW Police and the Firearms Registry continue to work on a way to share information and that domestic violence as disclosed during family law proceedings should lead to the suspension of a gun licence and the consideration of whether that person was suitable for a licence.

The coroner found no blame rested on the gun clubs Edwards had been involved with but recommended that the government change the rules to make it mandatory for the clubs to report to the Firearms Registry when they refused a person membership and the reasons for that.