Australia’s youngest murderer SLD to be released from custody

He was just 13 when he stabbed a three-year-old girl to death, now a judge has refused to keep him behind bars.

Australia’s youngest convicted murderer – who once told a court it would be “easier to kill again” — will be released from custody this weekend after a judge refused a bid from the state to detain him for another year.

The man, who can be known only as SLD, was 13 when he killed young Courtney Morley-Clarke on the NSW Central Coast by stabbing her through the heart in 2001.

Tomorrow, aged 38, he will be released for the second time, despite previously breaching his supervision, after Justice Mark Ierace refused the state of NSW’s application for another 12 months of detention.

Justice Ierace found that although he SLD “poses a risk to the community” he was “not satisfied to a high degree of probability that the defendant poses an unacceptable risk of committing another serious offence if not kept in detention”.

Courtney Morley-Clarke, three, who was found dead in her street.

SLD being arrested by police. Picture: Ron Hutchings

The NSW Supreme Court heard this week that SLD could be released under an extended supervision order (ESO) as soon as Saturday, when an interim detention order was due to expire.

Justice Ierace also ordered the state foot the bill of SLD’s legal costs in defending the application.

Killer’s chilling warning

SLD’s risk of committing further serious crimes were noted by the judge who sentenced him in 2002, in a reference to his police interview.

“Somewhat disturbingly (SLD) gave one answer … which suggested that, once he had killed one person, he expected that it would become easier killing the next one and the one after that.”

Several expert psychologists recently gave evidence to the court and while they expressed concern SLD could commit another serious offence, they believed further incarceration would not aid in his rehabilitation – “or at worst, set it back”.

One of them, Dr Patrick Sheehan wrote that SLD’s “social-sexual incompetence” could intimidate females and noted the child killer held “an interest in rape fantasy”.

“He may plan to sexually offend against a female who is connected to a person with whom he holds a vendetta. Indeed, he has recently expressed such a plan in February 2024, when he made threats to sexually offend against the family of a witness who gave evidence against him.”

The ESO will remain in place for a period of about four years from SLD’s release.

Flowers left at the site where Courtney Morley-Clarke's body was found. Picture: Ron Hutchings

In January 2001, SLD snatched three-year-old Courtney from her bed late at night, stabbed her and left her body in long grass near her own home.

SLD was caught after he went missing from his own home and initially claimed he went for a walk and was playing with his pet duck in the middle of the night.

He led police on a wild goosechase before admitting he killed Courtney and leading them to a pool of blood and a steak knife. Courtney’s body was discovered nearby.

SLD was jailed for 20 years in 2002 and has spent just four months in the community since his initial arrest weeks before his 14th birthday.

During his time in prison, in June 2011, SLD gave a lengthy letter to his then-psychologist in which he threatened to torture and kill him.

“He claimed to investigating police that it was written by an alter-ego named ‘Thorn’,” Justice Ierace’s judgment states.

Seven weeks later, he slashed a prison officer’s hand with a razor blade, with the wound requiring 22 stitches.

Forensic officers enter a home during the investigation. Picture: Ron Hutchings

Just months after being freed in 2023, he was charged with breaching the terms of an extended supervision order when he approached women and children at a Wollongong beach.

SLD also approached a mother and child at a Bulli cafe, the court heard, and attempted to access dating apps.

The court has heard SLD had also become fixated on finding a girlfriend and losing his virginity having spent his formative years behind bars.

He was found guilty of failing to comply with the terms of his order, which banned him from associating with children, and was sentenced to 13 months in jail.

The state government then applied for SLD to remain in custody for another 12 months when his sentence expired in December, claiming he posed a significant risk to public safety.

He had been detained while the state’s application proceeded through the courts.

Justice Ierace said in his judgment it was “troubling that the defendant, who turned 38 during the hearing, has a sexual focus on young women – so young that he is able to mistake their age as being 18 or over, when they are not”.

However, he ruled legislation bound him to be satisfied to “a high degree of probability” that the defendant poses an unacceptable risk of committing another serious offence.