Claremont trial: Accused killer Bradley Edwards offers little defence

Lawyers for Bradley Edwards began and ended their defence in a matter of minutes, bringing the main proceedings of the marathon murder trial to a swift close.

A court sketch of a police video shows the moment on December 22, 2016 that Bradley Robert Edwards – sitting on the floor of his house and propped against a wall with his hands restrained behind his back – hears that police have accused him of being the Claremont serial killer. Sketch: Anne Barneston

The accused Claremont serial killer has offered almost no defence, bringing the main proceedings of the marathon murder trial to a swift close.

Lawyers for 51-year-old former Telstra technician Bradley Roberts Edwards began and ended their defence in a matter of minutes on Wednesday, filing a solitary piece of evidence: a two-page document listing the maximum temperatures recorded in the City of Gosnells in 1996.

It means the outcome of the trial will hinge essentially on whether Justice Stephen Hall – who is hearing the matter without a jury – determines the prosecution has proved Edwards’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Edwards’ legal team had flagged earlier in the trial that they had commissioned experts to assess the DNA and forensic fibre evidence that is central to connecting him to the three murders. Those experts will now not be called.

Edwards himself rose to his feet to confirm that he would not be taking the stand.

Both the prosecution and the defence will now have four weeks to prepare their closing submissions.

The sudden end to the main proceedings came as prosecutors closed their case by showing an edited version of the 14-hour police interview conducted after Edwards’ arrest on 22 December 2016.

“Brace yourself, Bradley. We have some results here,” detectives told Edwards at his Kewdale home during the marathon interview led by Detective Senior Sergeant Joe Marrapodi.

His head slumped on his right hand, staring at a table, Edwards appears to cry quietly after he is informed of the match.

“How could that be,” he says, his voice straining under the stress.

As Edwards struggles to compose himself, Marrapodi tells him that “now is the time to accept responsibility”.

“Your daughter said your most prized virtue is your honesty. This is your chance to show she is right,” Marrapodi says.

Edwards is accused of abducting and murdering Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon in 1996 and 1997. All three women disappeared after nights out in Claremont, a wealthy suburb in Perth’s west. He has pleaded not guilty to the three murders.

He initially pleaded not guilty to attacking an 18-year-old woman while she was asleep in her home in Huntingdale in 1988 and abducting and raping a 17-year-old girl in Karrakatta cemetery near Claremont in 1995, but admitted he was responsible for the attacks on the eve of the trial.