Scott Alan Murdoch to face trial over murder of Kylie Blackwood
IT could have been an open-and-shut case, but a series of blunders will see Scott Alan Murdoch go to trial over the murder of Pakenham mum Kylie Blackwood.
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IT could have been an open-and-shut case, but a series of blunders will see Scott Alan Murdoch go to trial over the murder of Pakenham mum Kylie Blackwood.
Mr Murdoch was today committed to the Supreme Court to stand trial over the horrific murder.
Mrs Blackwood was found dead in her McCaffery Rise home in Pakenham by her twin daughters, 11, at 3.40pm on August 1, 2013.
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The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today heard police didn’t think to check Mrs Blackwood’s purse to see if any of her bank cards were missing until three months after she was killed.
Detectives had been told by banks that there were no suspicious transactions made on Ms Blackwood’s cards following her estimated time of murder.
Days after her murder, Mrs Blackwood’s husband Peter confirmed to police via bank statements that nothing had been withdrawn following his wife’s death.
But her Suncorp card was indeed accessed unsuccessfully three times from a NAB ATM just six minutes away from her home.
A camera caught who police allege was Mr Murdoch attempting to steal the cash.
On August 29 bank records provided to police backed-up what they already knew.
On November 2 police checked Mrs Blackwood’s purse and found her Suncorp card was missing.
Until then, the purse had been bagged and sent off to forensics for DNA tests.
Ten days later, detectives spoke to Peter Blackwood again and asked if he had the missing card.
He didn’t.
Police had taken comfort the information they had received from Suncorp on August 6 was accurate.
They assumed the card must have been packaged-up with other items taken from the scene.
On November 21 detectives asked Suncorp to put out a watch on the card, in case someone attempted to use it.
Only then was it revealed that the card had been accessed after Mrs Blackwood was presumed dead.
“We were unaware until then,” Homicide Det Leading Sen-Constable Kyle Simpson said.
Police rocked-up at the NAB that day, but the CCTV video was gone.
The bank had hung onto it for anywhere up to 60 days before deleting it.
The four-day preliminary hearing was told Mr Murdoch had been free in the community on parole at the time Mrs Blackwood was murdered.
His name was among a whopping 337 offered up to police in the days and years since the murder.
Ld Sen-Counstable Simpson said Mr Murdoch’s name had popped-up 18 times.
Among those spoken to about the murder were neighbours of Mrs Blackwood and known burglars in the area.
Mr Murdoch will appear in the Supreme Court on Monday.