Killer daughter Isabela Camelo-Gomez nearly escaped justice because of infamous bomber: court
A bizarre twist of fate reveals a Sydney woman, who killed her mother, evaded justice for two decades in part because of an infamous serial bomber who terrorised the city.
Police & Courts
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A killer daughter evaded justice for two decades partly because of the Family Court Bomber, in a bizarre twist of fate that can only be revealed after the woman was convicted of murdering her mother.
A blood-stained Megan Jones, 22, had run from her Lansvale home claiming a blonde man wearing gloves had broken in and attacked her as she got out of the shower in November 2001.
The young Ms Jones, now known as Isabela Carolina Camelo-Gomez, made frantic calls to police saying she didn’t know what had happened to her mother who was still inside.
Police found the 56-year-old Irene Jones lying face down in a pool of blood in her Lansvale kitchen, strangled and stabbed.
“I’m sorry Mum it wasn’t meant to go this far,” Camelo-Gomez cried out at Ms Jones’ funeral.
Last week a NSW Supreme Court jury found Camelo-Gomez, now 47, guilty of her mother’s murder.
Court documents, released this week, reveal Camelo-Gomez’ lawyers had made urgent final attempts to stop the trial from going ahead just days before it began.
The killer’s lawyers argued the 18 years between Ms Jones’ death and the arrest of Ms Camelo-Gomez, in 2019, was an “extreme” delay and an “abuse” of the court process.
The NSW Court of Appeal, on Wednesday, explained why the state’s top judges refused to stop the trial of Camelo-Gomez.
Justice David Davies, in his decision, found NSW Police considered Camelo-Gomez a suspect just three days after her mother was killed.
Six years later, in 2007, a coronial inquest also identified Camelo-Gomez and her lover, Carlos Camelo, as persons of interest.
The case then ended up on the desk of the Unsolved Homicide Team (UHT) where it was shuffled in with up to 700 other cold cases being reviewed and re-checked.
Ms Jones’ death remained with the UHT until 2013 when police turned their attention to an infamous spate of bombings in the 1980s.
Leonard John Warwick carried out a calculated killing campaign against judges who had dealt with him through the Family Court - he killed three people.
The investigation sucked up so much of the unsolved homicide team’s time that cases like Ms Jones’ death sat idle for years, Justice Davis found.
“It was in the period 2013 to 2017 when the most unfortunate delays occurred, because of the need to give priority to the Family Court bombings and related homicides,” Justice Davis wrote.
Camelo-Gomez’ attempt to halt the trial failed.
The Crown Prosecutor, in the trial, went on to tell the jury that Camelo-Gomez carried out the gruesome killing because her mother was an obstacle to her relationship.
Camelo-Gomez, upon hearing the guilty verdict, called out that the justice system had got it “wrong”.
She will be sentenced at a later date.
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