Claremont serial killer Bradley Robert Edwards jailed for life in WA

Court erupts as Bradley Edwards, convicted of two serial killings, is jailed after harrowing victim impact read out.

Bradley Robert Edwards was found guilty of murdering Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon, but acquitted of killing Sarah Spiers (top right).

Bradley Edwards, the man convicted of two of the infamous Claremont serial killings, is almost certain to die behind bars despite a judge deciding against making an order for him to never be released.

Justice Stephen Hall on Wednesday afternoon officially sentenced Edwards to life in jail with a minimum non-parole period of 40 years. After time already served, it means Edwards – who turned 52 this month – will be 88 before he is eligible to be considered for release.

There was applause in the courtroom as the sentence was announced.

Edwards – who as he had throughout the years since his arrest – remained stoic and emotionless as he was swiftly led away, while the families of the murdered women and the survivors of Edwards’ earlier attacks exchanged warm embraces in the courtroom.

Justice Hall described Edwards as “a dangerous predator who sought out vulnerable young women and attacked them for your own gratification” and who attacked his victims with “pitiless determination”.

While Justice Hall opted against imposing the most severe sentence – an order that he never be released – Edwards’ age means it is unlikely he will ever walk free.

The 40-year minimum sentence is the second-longest ever handed down in WA history.

Lead prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo had earlier said the extent of Edwards’ crimes and their impact on the broader community meant he should never be released.

“This case is so serious, so rare, so exceptional, that only the maximum possible sentence is appropriate,” she said.

Ms Barbagallo also highlighted the massive cache of extreme pornography, including depictions of rape and torture, recovered from Edwards’ home at the time of his arrest as proof that he remained a threat to women

Edwards’ lawyer Paul Yovich said he accepted the seriousness of the convictions and their “terrible impact” on the victims, the family and his community. But he suggested Edwards should be sentenced to a lengthy non-parole period, noting that the never-to-be-released provisions were only introduced for the most “drastic and exceptional” matters.

Mr Yovich said Edwards had not been convicted of any crimes between the 1997 murder of Glennon and his arrest in 2016, although Justice Hall said that meant he’d enjoyed years of freedom.

“Because his identity as the perpetrator of these crimes was not discovered for many years, he had the undeserved benefit of living his best years of his life in the community,” Justice Hall said.

The only person sentenced to life without parole in WA is Anthony Robert Harvey, who murdered his three daughters, his wife and her mother in 2018. He too was sentenced by Justice Hall, who said at the time that “there is no other case that is truly comparable”.

As they have been since Edwards’ arrest, the families of Ciara Glennon, Jane Rimmer and Sarah Spiers were in the packed public gallery to hear the sentence handed down. Edwards’ parents were also in the courtroom.

Lee Rimmer, the sister of Jane, talks to the media after Roberts was found guilty of her murder. Picture: Colin Murty

Jane Rimmer was murdered in 1996. Picture: Supplied

The Huntingdale and Karrakatta survivors – who cannot be named for legal reasons – each read powerful victim impact statements describing the toll Edwards’ attacks had taken on them.

The Huntingdale survivor described how she suffered ongoing nightmares in the decades since the attack and struggled to tolerate hugs from even her husband and children.

“I just cannot stand the sensation of feeling trapped,” she said.

Whenever she wakes, she said, she looks to the doorway to see if Edwards is standing there.

The Karrakatta survivor described the decades-long physical and mental toll on her since her abduction and rape in 1995.

“You do not ever recover from sexual assault. It’s a lifelong sentence,” she said.

She said how her and her family had never mentioned Edwards by name.

“We used to refer to him as the monster, but he’s not a monster at all. He’s the definition of a coward,” she said.

“He preyed on young vulnerable women who did not stand a chance, how pathetic.”

He was not an “evil genius”, she said, but had slipped through the cracks because he was so “unremarkable”.

“I will never offer forgiveness and I am completely at peace with that,” she said.

Denis Glennon, the father of Ciara Glennon. Picture: Colin Murty

Ciara Glennon was murdered in 1997. Picture: AAP

Ms Barbagallo read out a prepared statement from Jane Rimmer’s mother Jennifer, in which she described how the lives of her family had changed.

“I believe Jane would have married and had children, she would have been a wonderful mother,” Mrs Rimmer said in her statement.

“Jane having children is something I think about and miss.

The parents of Ciara Glennon opted not to prepare a statement.

“The impact on that family is beyond words,” Ms Barbagallo said.

Justice Hall also revealed that Edwards had declined to participate in a psychological report as part of his sentencing.

Wilful murder in WA carries a presumptive sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years before parole can be considered.

Justice Stephen Hall. Picture: Supplied

Edwards enjoyed 20 years of freedom after committing the murders, building a typical suburban life as a Telstra technician, Little Athletics administrator and stepfather before he was arrested in December 2016.

The rape and murders occurred over a period in which Edwards’ first marriage was falling apart and ended just weeks before he met the woman who would become his second wife.

Thursday’s sentencing marks a major milestone in the case that haunted Perth for decades and scarred a generation of women.

The hunt for the Claremont killer was the state’s longest and most expensive criminal investigation and up until 2016 looked increasingly likely to never be solved.

In December that year, however, investigators finally matched DNA recovered from a minute piece of genetic material from under Glennon’s left thumbnail to evidence collected from a string of crime scenes committed by the so-called Huntingdale prowler in the late 1980s.

That evidence included fingerprints that were found to match those collected from Edwards when he attacked a social worker while repairing the telephone system at Hollywood Hospital in 1990.

Police finally raided Edwards’ modest home in the Perth suburb of Kewdale in the early hours of 22 December 2016.

A bewildered Edwards would later deny any involvement in any of the crimes in his subsequent police interview.

WA police have vowed to continue searching for Spiers in the hope of one day finding her remains and bringing her killer to justice.