Killer dad John Edwards lurked at daughter’s ice skating rink before murdering kids

Before he murdered his two children, John Edwards lurked at the ice rink where his daughter took lessons, his ‘weird’ behaviour noticed by her coach.

John Edwards turned up at the ice rink where his estranged daughter did skating lessons and watched from afar in the months before he shot Jennifer and her brother Jack dead, her coach told police.

The 68-year-old cut a lone figure at the Macquarie Park rink, standing out as he chose a seat in the very top corner of the seating area and wore inappropriate clothes for the cold.

But it wasn’t until Edwards’ face was emblazoned across the news the coach realised who he was.

On July 5, 2018, Edwards murdered his children with a legally acquired pistol before killing himself. Their mother, Olga, took her own life five months later.

John Edwards (right) used private investigators to tail Olga (left) in the months after she, Jack and Jennifer left him. Picture: Supplied

The murder-suicide and Olga’s subsequent death shocked the nation and sparked an overhaul of the NSW Firearms Registry.

An inquest held last year probed how Edwards got a gun despite his long history of family violence, and revealed his practice of stalking family members, including his adult daughter and Olga.

In a statement to police, released to NCA NewsWire in the wake of the inquest, Jennifer’s ice skating coach Vicki Ann Ayres said she had noticed a man at the rink in January 2018 during the 10.30am class that ran after Jennifer’s two-hour lesson at 8.30am.

“He was out of place as we don’t get weird looking people at the rink,” she said in a witness statement. “He was just sitting there, not interacting with anyone and statue-like.”

Edwards showed up at the ice rink where Jennifer took lessons in the months before murdering her and Jack. Picture: Supplied

He appeared again around April 2018 and stayed for the entire 10.30am lesson, she told police.

“I thought that it was weird he was again in the same spot and not moving around or interacting with anyone. It’s like four degrees in there and he was only dressed in a jumper.”

Ms Ayres described 13-year-old Jennifer as a “great kid, super smart, funny” and a talented skater.

In the course of family law proceedings that started in April 2016 and continued until Jack and Jennifer died, the teenagers disclosed to several professionals their dad physically abused them and they did not want to see him.

Olga wrote in an affidavit that Jack slept with a cricket bat in his bedroom and Jennifer with a knife under her pillow for self defence.

Edwards was not meant to know the Thornleigh address the trio moved to directly after leaving the family home, nor that of the West Pennant Hills house they rented next, where Jack and Jennifer were killed.

Edwards was not meant to know where his kids were living and stalked Jennifer home from the train station the day he killed her. Picture: 60 Minutes

Despite all this, state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan wrote in her findings, Edwards continued to show up unexpectedly following the separation.

He appeared at the children’s schools, at Olga’s yoga class, at Jennifer’s Year 6 graduation where he tried to give her a dog, and he “bumped into” Jack at the train station one day.

He also hired private investigators to tail Olga and “see if she meets up with a boyfriend”.

In February 2018, a judge granted sole custody to Olga, noting it was up to the children whether or not they continued to see their father.

He was spotted at the ice rink after this time.

Edwards showed up unexpectedly in Jack and Jennifer’s daily lives after they told professionals involved in the family court case they did not want to see him. Picture: Supplied.

On July 5, 2018, he stalked Jennifer home from Pennant Hills station and chased her inside before shooting her and Jack.

“Evidence at the inquest highlighted that Olga, Jack and Jennifer disclosed their experiences of violence and abuse perpetrated by Edwards to multiple agencies, entities, and professionals in the police and within the family law system,” the coroner wrote.

“Sadly, none were able to effectively mobilise to protect Jack, Jennifer, or Olga.

“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.”