Police drop charges against Michael Edward Clarke, who was formerly accused of ‘stalking’ children at Robina Town Centre

A Gold Coast man formerly alleged to have stalked children in a popular shopping centre has had all charges against him dropped.

A man formerly accused of stalking children at a popular Gold Coast shopping centre has had all charges against him dropped, with a costs order being made against the arresting police officer.

Michael Edward Clarke was previously charged with several counts of unlawful stalking and observations or recordings in breach of privacy.

It was previously alleged that Mr Clarke followed children to toilets and behaved in a "predatory manner" at two separate incidents at Robina Town Centre in September and October, 2020, allegations that Mr Clarke vehemently denied.

Mr Clarke spent about four months in custody after his first application for bail was denied, and was released under strict conditions on his second attempt in February, 2021. 

Defence lawyer Lisa Searing said at the time that her client did not dispute being at the shopping centre, but could not see evidence from its CCTV footage that substantiated the charges.

Several of Mr Clarke's charges were to proceed to a committal hearing in April last year, where it was to be decided whether there was sufficient evidence to take the matter to a higher court.

Ms Searing told the Bulletin that all charges against Mr Clarke were dismissed following these proceedings.

"I can confirm that the first lot of charges were listed for trial and after the prosecution presented their case, the matter was dismissed by a magistrate, as there was no evidence to support the charges and so there was no case to answer," Ms Searing said.

"After that, the remaining charges - which were also listed for trial on a future date - were discontinued by the prosecution, as there was literally no evidence to support any of the charges." 

The Bulletin also understands that court costs were awarded against the arresting officer after the charges were dropped.