Cleo Smith suspect hospitalised after self-harm incident, say police

As Cleo Smith spent her first night back with her relieved family, new details emerge about the 36-year-old man suspected of abducting the four-year-old.

The man arrested over the alleged abduction of Cleo Smith. Picture: Simon Hydzik/7 News

As Cleo Smith spent the first night with her relieved family, new details emerged about her suspected abductor.

It is understood the 36-year-old man in custody sustained head injuries in a self-harm incident while in his holding cell and was taken to hospital by police.

WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch says the man will be brought back to full health before being questioned.

The man was arrested nearby the home from where police rescued Cleo at about 1am on Wednesday.

The Australian has been told the man was in custody and had been subjected to some questioning on Wednesday when he repeatedly banged his own head against a wall shortly before midday. “I think it was once he realised how much trouble he was in,” one person familiar with the events said.

WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch on Thursday said police were looking to further question the man after he has been treated by medical professionals.

“We’ve had to take him to hospital a couple of times to check on his medical status,” he said.

“I do know there may be some bleeding he suffered in a self-harm incident.”

Mr Blanch said he believed the man’s treatment was a “precautionary measure, not a serious incident”.

“The important thing to police, if we’re going to interview someone related to offences as serious as this, we’ve got to make sure they’re in full health,” he told Sunrise on Thursday.

Asked about the tip off police received which led to Cleo’s rescue, Mr Blanch said while he wouldn’t rule out paying out the $1 million reward, it wasn’t likely.

“It was literally a needle in a data haystack and we got to a point where we could sort of see the picture that we believed fit the circumstances and it did lead to that house, it led to the person in that house and we went there,” he said.

 

“Police solve crimes through what I say is data overlays so we put the phone data over number plate recognition data, CCTV, witness accounts, forensics and when you layer them on top of each other you solve crimes and that is merely what we have done here.”

Police confirmed the man was not at the Carnarvon property where Cleo was discovered. The man, who was known to police, was a local and was apprehended nearby, Western Australia Police Force Commissioner Chris Dawson said.

Superintendent Rod Wilde, the lead investigator, said the man was assisting police and charges were expected to be laid, possibly later today.

The man became a suspect on Tuesday, according to police, when authorities were alerted to the house where Cleo was found. It is understood the man acted alone and is not on a sex offender list. Superintendent Wilde noted the alleged crime appeared opportunistic rather than planned.

Police have confirmed the man, who was taken to Perth for further questioning, was not known to Cleo’s mother, Ellie, and stepfather, Jake Gliddon.

Detectives and intelligence analysts acting on community reports began seeing a pattern of suspicious activity in the cul-de-sac in the suburb of Brockman, allowing them to identify the suspect.

“There were lots of things, there were car movements, there were phone movements ... the jigsaw fit the puzzle,” Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch said.

The first photo of Cleo Smith after she was rescued from a Carnarvon house early on Wednesday morning, after being missing for more than 2 weeks.

It is understood police received several tip-offs around Carnarvon, which allowed authorities to piece together more details before a final tip off late on Tuesday.

“Where we were last night, some things started to fall into place,” Deputy Commissioner Blanch said. “It was a mixture of information and our detectives acted on that information and that led to finding Cleo.”
After the raid, there were media reports of unusual activity at the house: the man was doing laps of the property on Tonkin Crescent in his car before pulling onto the driveway; he moved his dog from the back of his house to the front; a neighbour saw him buying nappies in the local supermarket. However, the police officer in charge of the investigation - Rod Wilde - has said there was no single piece of information that led to the arrest. Of the claims neighbours saw the man buying nappies, Mr Wilde said on Wednesday: “certainly we will speak to them but none of that information came to police”.

Deputy Commissioner Blanch and Superintendent Wilde made the call to enter the house at 12.46am (3.46am AEDT) on Wednesday.

Cleo’s mother, Ellie Smith, and stepfather, Jake Gliddon. Picture: James Carmods/ABC

Footage outside the home where Cleo was found, just minutes from Cleo’s home and even closer to a police station, showed a grey Mazda car, which resembles a vehicle previously described by police.

Police have previously announced they were following up on two leads related to the campsite where Cleo’s parents were staying.

The house where Cleo was found. Picture: Colin Murty

One lead, provided by fellow campers, suggested skidding tyres could be heard about 3am on the night Cleo disappeared. Two motorists had told police they saw a car leaving a road which enters the Blowholes Campground between 3am and 3.30am that night.

Police are holding footage captured on body-worn cameras from officers involved in the rescue, but this footage has not been released to the public, Deputy Commissioner Blanch Blanch said.

“I’ve seen (the footage), it’s burned into my memory for life,” he told Radio 6PR. “You cannot look at that and not just feel it in your heart. It was an unbelievable moment.”