Police Commissioner Karen Webb declines to comment on gun storage protocols of NSW police
The police commissioner faced a grilling about shocking new claims surrounding the alleged killer’s use of a police-issued gun.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has refused to answer questions over gun storage as shocking new claims come to light over the alleged actions of accused killer Senior Constable Beau Lamarre.
The serving police officer is currently behind bars while he awaits his next court appearance over the alleged murder of Channel 10 presenter Jesse Baird and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies.
The Commissioner is currently facing questions over the gun handling protocols that may have allowed Mr Lamarre-Condon’s police-issued weapon to disappear for days in the days leading up to and after the alleged murders.
Speaking to ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday night, Webb was asked if she could currently account for the whereabouts of all of the police-issued guns.
“There are more than 18,000 police officers in this state. Do you know where all their guns are?” Ferguson asked of the Commissioner.
Webb refused to answer, instead saying an “audit” into the storage of guns is currently underway at every NSW police command.
It is expected to take six weeks to complete.
She explained that officers can store a weapon overnight at a police station or inside an approved safe at home; however, they need to gain permission from their superiors.
When asked by host Sarah Ferguson whether she knew if he had an approved gun safe at his home, she answered: “I’m actually not aware.”
“Clearly, something’s gone wrong,” she added.
She did not comment on claims surrounding why Constable Lamarre-Condon was able to keep a gun outside of work hours for so long, instead saying it would form part of the court proceedings.
Shocking new police claims about the senior constable who is accused of murder were revealed by Ben Fordham on 2GB radio on Thursday.
Fordham revealed police allege Constable Lamarre-Condon fired three shots at Mr Baird and Mr Davies from his police-issued gun.
Police will allege in court the number of shots appears to have been captured by a neighbour of Baird’s, with his CCTV security cameras recording the sound of three shots being fired just after 9.30am on Monday, February 19 on the quiet Paddington street.
The neighbour reviewed their security cameras a few days after the alleged murder when news of the couple’s disappearance hit the media.
Fordham said police will further allege Constable Lamarre-Condon used bullets stolen from a firing range a fortnight before the killing to refill his gun so as not to raise suspicions from his police force superiors when the gun was returned.
Police have alleged the gun was taken from Miranda police station on Friday night and was stored at Balmain police station on the Monday night after the alleged murders.
It was then allegedly returned to Miranda police station on Tuesday, with a full magazine.
Police discovered the bodies of Mr Baird and Mr Davies at a property, 160km south-west of Sydney on Tuesday afternoon.
Family of the victims made the two-hour journey to the crime scene on Wednesday where police were still collecting evidence.
The couples bodies were found dumped in surf bags along a fence line near the entrance of Bungonia property in NSW’s Southern Tablelands.
Detectives are currently probing a crucial avenue of inquiry that alleged killer may have returned to the property at an earlier time, retrieved the bodies and disposed of them “somewhere else”.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said a “gap” in the timeline of Lamarre-Condon’s whereabouts, specifically from 11.30am on Thursday until 8.30pm that day, when he appeared at an acquaintance’s property in Newcastle, was being investigated.
“We are still working through that theory and we are obviously commencing and have undertaken significant inquiries in relation to that,” NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told reporters earlier.
NSW Police also said there was no information to indicate Mr Lamarre-Condon had used his MobiPol work computer at some point over the timeline of the alleged murder.
“This and all the man’s actions will be looked at as part of the ongoing homicide investigation,” a NSW Police spokesperson told NCA NewsWire.
Constable Lamarre-Condon has been charged with two counts of murder and will appear again in court on April 23.