Terence Kelly confesses to abducting Cleo Smith from campsite

Cleo Smith’s abductor Terence Kelly has confessed to kidnapping the four-year-old from her family tent and keeping her captive for 18 days.

Kelly, 36, was arrested after detectives raided his Carnarvon house at 12.46am on November 3 and found the little girl alone inside a bedroom playing with toys.

Terence Kelly was not home when detectives found Cleo. Credit: Nine

The next day he was charged with child abduction and flown to Perth where he remains in custody at Casuarina Prison.

During an appearance in Carnarvon Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Kelly pleaded guilty to child abduction via video link.

With a freshly shaved head, Kelly appeared solemn and spent much of the hearing looking down. He spoke only one word, “guilty”, when magistrate Ben White asked him to plead to the kidnapping charge.

He admitted taking Cleo from her family’s tent on October 16 at Quobba Blowholes campsite as her parents slept metres away.

Following one of the largest missing persons investigations in Australian history, she was rescued 18 days later after four detectives stormed his home in a midnight raid.

In the days after Cleo’s rescue, WA Police acting Commissioner Col Blanch said mobile phone data and CCTV footage of a car entering Carnarvon the night Cleo vanished led police to raid Kelly’s house.

More than 10 weeks on, the details of why Kelly took Cleo or how police solved the case have yet to be revealed in court.

Cleo’s family have declined to speak to media since her safe return, only issuing a statement thanking the community for their support and requesting privacy.

Last week it was announced that Nine Network, which publishes this masthead, will pay almost $2 million for an interview with the family in what is believed to be one of the largest deals in Australian television history.

Previous record sums include the $1 million each paid to miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb, who were trapped underground for two weeks in the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania, and undisclosed amounts paid to survivors of the Lindt Cafe siege.

Before Kelly’s admission, his former neighbour Esther Mingo told media outside court that she hoped Kelly would “open his mouth up” and tell the truth.

She also voiced repeated frustration that none of his family members were attending his court hearings.

“He’s got stacks of family ... Where are his mother and father, why don’t they come here?” she said.

After the hearing, Ms Mingo and two other women refused to speak to the media. His lawyer, Kate Turtley-Chappel, also declined to comment.

Member for the North West Central, Vince Catania, said the guilty plea was a huge relief for the small, coastal town.

“I think this is the start of the healing process for the family, Cleo [and her parents] Ellie and Jake, but also the community of Carnarvon and the whole of Western Australia,” he said.

“It was great to see a sense of community get together to help find Cleo; it’s great obviously for her parents to be able to have their daughter back in their arms. The outcome has been the best we could have hoped for.”

Kelly will appear in Perth District Court on March 25 for a date to be set for his sentencing.

He is also facing a new charge for assaulting a public officer the day after his arrest. He is yet to enter a plea to that charge and the matter was adjourned to February 28.

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