Police operation in Glenorie linked to person of interest in death of Johnny ‘Fingers’ Birch
A black hat found in a northwestern Sydney backyard has been seized by police in a second operation in as many days, after a man’s body was found nearby last week.
NSW
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A black hat found in a northwestern Sydney backyard has been seized by police in a second operation in as many days after a man’s body was found nearby last week.
Investigators, sniffer dogs and a police helicopter gathered at Post Office Rd, Glenorie, for several hours on Saturday, searching thick bushland behind nearby properties before the hat was found perched on a piece of machinery parked in a local resident’s backyard.
Officers told residents they had allegedly received a tip-off about sightings regarding a person of interest in the area, and The Sunday Telegraph understands the hat was seized by investigators and taken away for further examination.
A local resident said police had entered their property and found the hat discarded on a bobcat loader, which they said did not belong to them.
A six-hour police operation on Wylds Rd, Middle Dural, on Friday, a week after Johnny “Fingers” Birch’s body was discovered in a Glenorie paddock, left the Old Northern Rd closed, residents unable to leave their homes and bus services to nearby schools cancelled as heavily armed police searched the area in their “ongoing investigation”.
Officers spoke to an 80-year-old woman at the scene on Friday, before the property was searched with assistance from tactical police. No arrests were made.
Saturday’s investigation site was 4km from where Birch’s body was discovered by officers partially buried and wrapped in a tarp, around noon on March 14, after his girlfriend reported him missing and contacted police.
Strike Force Halderen was formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the 39-year-old’s death, with investigators probing whether Birch was killed after being hit by a car and whether the collision was deliberate or accidental.
The day Mr Birch’s body was found a 24-year-old man, and a man and woman, aged 34 and 35, were arrested for questioning, but they were released without charge 12 hours later.
Originally published as Police operation in Glenorie linked to person of interest in death of Johnny ‘Fingers’ Birch
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